Introduction

Usually art forgeries are not the a big problem. In Museums, in galleries and at ordinary auctions they are pulled aside. Yet some of the “best” art croocks, people doing art falsifications have succeeded to pull the legs of many art experts.

At online auctions “the picture” is quite different, especially concerning places like eBay. Lawlessness rules here. 40.000 paintings alone at eBay.com are constantly sales objects at this place, and thousands of painting and alike from other countries are constantly flowing in as a swarm of bees looking for nectar. England, Germany Italy and others are among those countries. Hundreds of those are falsifications, most probably put there in full knowledge of what they are and what they are not, namely genuine pieces of art.

Our purpose (www.artfakes.dk) is to informe the visitors in the unlucky fact that a firm can start an online auction, and at the same time claim not responsible for what it is doing. The most of the eBay Internet places are pure El Dorado’s for selling false paintings, stamps, graphic and much more. There seem to be no control whatsoever about what unscrupulous salesmen throw in the heads of less gifted buyers, who have no background in distinguishing between the genuine “thing” and the fakes, who cannot see through the mask of a criminal mind, because they have no expertise.

Under normal circumstances the police investigates the selling of falsifications but eBay, "
the World's Online Marketplace" seems to be a lawless meeting place for croocks and their victims, a company raking it in on behalf of people’s lack of knowledge, when it comes to estimate the genuineness of a work. In the year 2004 eBay has a Net Revenues of $935.8 Millions taking home by a firm that exclusively offers its technical  it-expertise, a company that is "guilty" in spreading fraud. Nothing suggests that eBay or the authorities care to stop this kind of business.

www.artfakes.dk will do its best to broadcast the swindle that are still going on at eBay. We will continually inform about false art put for sale at other online auctions too, but also at places where nasty business methods are taken place, when the goods have to do with art and art fakes.


Preben Juul Madsen
artwriter, journalist and editor
© www.artfakes.dk