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Nov. 9, 2005: A visitors letter
Comment:
unfortunately, I apparently bought one of
these forgeries you talk about on ebay before seeing your site. I'm
pretty disgusted and needless to say feel pretty foolish. I didn't
realize the problem was so bad on ebay as the dealer had a decent
feedback rating and I didn't realize about bid "shilling" and
all that and to be honest, I had no idea what a Picasso sketch goes for
if it isn't particularly intricate and it is on a small torn piece of
paper. I thought 900$!!!! seemed pretty fair...but alas, a fool and his
money etc...etc... I am just curious-can you tell me how you know so
quickly that something is a forgery without inspecting it close up. I am
going to stay as far away as possible from art from now on but I'm just
curious. All the "works" by Picasso on your site were ones I
was watching at one point or another and could fool me and apparently
others...Is there something that is a dead giveaway or is it different
every time? Are you sure about all of them? Thanks
S., United states
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Thanks
very much for your letter and for your interest in artfakes. First thing
first: You (as do many of our visitors) keep asking the same question
– and for good reason:
“How
come that we are able to tell the difference between the fake and the
genuine work?
We’re
sorry to say that the answer to your question is not as simple as one
should think. On our site you will find some articles about that issue,
but the main key to understanding art is a lifetime of meticulous
studying together with a deep interest for art and some skills of your
own. And that goes for any kind of art. Here’s another comparison: A
period within music is called the Vienna Classical Period, which I’m
sure you’re familiar with. Skilled people can tell the difference
between pieces of music by Mozart and Beethoven by listening but words
(explanations) fail, two comparable composers in some of their works
they are. Here’s another example: Identical twins look similar to
strangers at first glance (sight), but be sure their parents are never
in doubt who’s who.
So much to that issue, but we encourage you to read our articles and
start learning for yourself!
We hope you’ve got an idea now to what we’re getting at.
We could
of course tell you much about things like composition, lines, motives
and choice of colours (all of them the master’s fingerprints so to
speak) but this would sure carry us too far. Next time you consider
buying, our piece of advice is to seek out for a well-reputed auction
house.
Least but
not last: The concept at eBay called “feedback rating” (please take
notice: never negative!) has in our opinion absolute no value except
from the seller’s point of view – it’s all mend to fool innocent
and less skilled buyers.
Yours,
Team
artfakes
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