Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-01-02
Millions Paid Annually by
Americans for Counterfeit Art

New York, Dec 22.-The American
national bill for bogus art is generally
admitted to amount to many millions
Of dollars annually, for in such things
this seems to be the land of the every
minute-born sucker, An effort to re-
duce the size of this bill is to be
| made, it is reported, this winter by a
group Of New York artists, assisted
perhaps by members of a Boston or
ganizatiCn which has for it's object
| to assist meritorious art movements
| of various kinds
The Salmagundi club of this city
| endeaVored two CT three years ago tc
| secure legislation at Albany against
| fake masterpieces, but seemed to find
| that no way could be devised for pre-
venting their sale while the manufac
Iure goes on unhindered abroad. The
| newest idea is to try 10 educate the
| average American 10 be cautious-Ie-
garding the purchase of pictures all
antiquities as he is in purchasing Sc
! (uI1IISS VI real SSIdCS.
The great trouble, the promoters OF
| this campaign of education say, with
! most American business men and
| their wives is that they do not appear
! to understand how easy it is for clever
! counterfeiters to produce a picture OF
a piece of statuary or an object OF
| bric-a-brac that looks old, venerable
and very much the real thing. They
! also do not understand that every day
! people of modest wealth are as liable
TO be duped as are the very rich.
) Everybody knows, of course, that
many of the multi-millionaires who
have art collections have been
! swindled time and again. Every roy
atty may be fooled. Everybody remem-
| bers the case of the masterpiece al
legged to be by Corot which King Ed
ward in all his innocence gave to an
art association some time ago and
which was promptly challenged by
competent critics as bogus. What
most people do not appreciate, how
| ever, is that through exhibitions Of
works asserted to be by old masters
| the public in various American cities
/ is fooled year after year.
The low prices at which master
| pieces" are often sold to Americans
| ought, the connoisseurs say, to arouse
suspicion. Any undoubtedly genuine
work of art nowadays commands it's
figure in the primary art centers of
the WOrld-that is in London, Paris,
or to a certain extent in New York.
The demand for we'll authenticated
pictures has been such that the appre-
citation in values has been startlingly
rapid. Dealers in London are today
begging TO buy back from their Gus,
toners works at from three to twenty
times what they were sold for ten or
fifteen years ago. Every scrap that
one of the old masters ever drew or
painted is preserved. and held fol
prices that sound almost fabulous.
Yet, in spite of the scarcity of gen
uine pictures and antiquities, the num-
Ter of schemes for rigging the Amer
lean market increases all the while.
One Partisan dealer, the magnitude of
whose operations is internationally
famous, employs number of expert
copyists who initiate we'll vOuched for
works which he buys at auction. The
original is kept in the owners privat"
collection, perhaps to be sold quietly
years afterward, while the copy is put
into one of his exhibitions that ar
sent over to the United States. The
circumstances of the purchase of the
master piece at famous sale are cor.
rectly given to the American public,
the only "out" is that the masterpiece
itself never comes to these shores.
One feature of the dispersal of bo-
gus works of art to which attention
will undoubtedly be given in any
campaign of education is the conduct
of the big auctions that are held III
various cities These take place ali
nually with just about the same &C,
compartments. Every appearance of
responsibility is scrupulously kept up.
The exhibition is proclaimed in well
printed circulars announcing that
distinguished art dealer Of Paris or
London has acquired in his European
travels a number of choice works
which are to be shown to the public
of the city. They are on free eXhib
ition for three or four days and then
are auctioned off for what they will
bring. In such collections number Of
really good things are usually include
ed. To these the dealer points with
pride as having been acquired from
well known and reputable art houses
of New York or London. They are
sold along with the other works, but
the wise one note that the obscure
persons by whom they are bought are
not familiar as residents of the city.
The same genuine picture appears in
various cities auction after auction
while works that are unquestionably
fraudulent are disposed among Amer.
lean homes.
Another very common device for
getting rid Of bogus art is through
the sale of estates. A wealthy man
dies leaving a collection of pictures,
bric-a-brac and furniture, gathered
through many years of changing
taste. It contains probably some
things that are good, some very bad.
When che whole collection is put up
at auction a lot of other works which
the original collector never saw In
his life are mixed in and rafIled off to
tho 0vIbIic which attaches no SiguifI-