They had absolutely no conception. And that's when the first real fakes came out. Because they couldn't take property out of Russia, they unwittingly bought fakes, which the government was manufacturing. So they were kicked in the face in Russia and then kicked again when people told them that what they had were fakes. Naturally, they were convinced that everybody was out to get them.
Fakes are a real problem in the Russian works of art market.
Forgers have become very advanced, 'even to the point of laser-copying the marks, so that they are incredibly accurate. Someone recently came into the shop with somebody I know, and we started to talk about works of art and he started to bring pieces out to show me. And I said that there should also be such a piece and such and such. One side effect of the opening up of Russia is that Schaffer was able to find out about the family's business in Kiev by having someone look up the records. We were in hotels, where, oddly enough, we are now,' he says.