Fakes and forgeries

COMMENT: Damaging claims like this should be beyond question in their robustness, or they are just irresponsible, says Ivan Macquisten

The Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association is taking the fight to forgers after one of its members was instrumental in bringing serial forger Allan Formhals to justice.

The Chinese government is considering regulation of the country’s burgeoning but problematic art market.

An international award scheme set up two years ago has honoured Cranfield University’s programme of research into art market fakes and forgeries.

One of the UK’s most prolific and accomplished art fraudsters has been jailed for two years after admitting he created up to 1000 forgeries.

TWO years since it launched, the jewellery trade’s anti-crime alert network, SaferGems, has been helping to forge stronger links between the UK’s 43 different police forces.

DETECTIVE work by a Cornish auctioneer has led to a jail sentence for a 40-year-old former art teacher who defrauded galleries and members of the public by selling fakes.

FOUR people have gone on trial in Germany on charges linked to a multi-million pound art fraud exposed as a result of scientific testing on paint.

BONHAMS are to work with Cranfield University in Bedfordshire with the aim of making new technological advancements for authenticating porcelain more accessible for use in the art market.

OFFICERS from the Metropolitan Police Service’s Art and Antiques Unit have arrested a man in connection with the sale of fake Churchill memorabilia.

YOU’D have thought he’d be glad to see the back of it. But duped art dealer David Smith of Neptune Fine Art has bought back the fake Lowry picture he originally purchased for £330,000.

THREE people have been arrested in Germany in connection with a multi-million pound art fraud involving a number of apparently major 20th century oils sold on the international market in recent years.

THE Ashley-Russell case will be the focus of the next Fakes and Forgeries seminar at Goldsmiths' Hall in London on November 22.

EXPERIMENTAL technology designed to determine the age of ceramics by scientific means is now being put to use at the heart of the Chinese works of art trade.

EBAY buyers have taken matters into their own hands after the online giant failed to act against sales of fakes, despite being alerted to the problem on numerous occasions.

SPECIALIST dealers believe fake medals from the XXIXth Olympiad in Beijing are appearing for sale on eBay.

SCIENTISTS in the United States have unveiled a ground-breaking piece of technology to identify fake pictures.

THE V&A is to put on an exhibition of fakes curated by the Metropolitan Police Service's Art and Antiques Unit.

ON September 17, eBay delivered a petition to the European parliament demanding a law change to stop luxury brands controlling where their goods are sold.

A NEW crop of fake carriage clocks, believed to be made in China, has appeared on eBay.