Faking and Frauds Relating to Antiquities
| Published date | 01 October 1933 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X3300600407 |
| Date | 01 October 1933 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Faking and Frauds Relating to
Antiquities
EVERY detective knows that the sale of spurious works
of art and antiquities can be one of the most interesting
variations of fraud. Fakes sufficiently skilfully made to deceive
the expert are comparatively rare and costly to produce,
but
the
percentage of profit is correspondingly high. Factories for
faking antiquities are astonishingly numerous and in pros-
perous times they are hives of industry.
It
is easy to estimate how rampant and progressive the art
of faking must be now that incredible prices are paid for
objects of value.
Of
recent years the taste for antiquities has
developed immensely; most of the authentic objects of incon-
testable beauty are in the possession of museums or collectors
who are never likely to part with them. But the public never
ceases to search for antiquities; old collectors continue to
collect and new collectors start collecting, dealers can no longer
supply the demand, prices are high, the skill of imitators in-
creases, and in consequence when the authentic article cannot
be found it is made to order.
To
reproduce a work of art is no
offence;
but
to sell the reproduction as a
genuine
antique is
fraudulent. Only the experienced collector can realize how
frequently and with what impunity such frauds are perpe-
trated.
In
the limited space at my disposal I will try to deal very
generally with the cause and effect of faking in its fraudulent
sense, though, in compiling this article I find it difficult to
work to a plan, so great is the temptation to side-track into
incidents of purely antiquarian interest.
For
convenience I
have subdivided the article as follows:
(1)
Faking.
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