Well, maybe a partial solution anyway. I've been reading but not
commenting on this situation because everyone else was saying it all.
Sue and others have very correctly pointed out that even with filing of
a legal action field and the certainty that high-quality fakes were
created and sold, NOTHING has been proven in court about who was
*knowingly* involved and exactly what they did.
Just because Jamie Mendez (or anyone else) is mentioned in the suit does
not mean they are guilty. Let's remember that. Let's also remember that
those named in the suit have probably been advised not to comment
publicly no matter how innocent they may be. So we have not heard from
Jamie or Kerry and probably won't until the suit is resolved.
There was the call to name names early on when the scandal broke to
"protect the community". Some were in favor of that while others pointed
out that innocents could be named and their businesses instantly ruined
by a wrong accusation.
That is The Problem, of course, not the fakes themselves. Everyone knows
that fakes are bad for the hobby-business. The question is what do you
do when you find a fake? The person who offered/consigned/sold it to you
may not know it is a fake. Naming their name could be a terrible injustice.
But, at the same time, buyers, auctioneers and dealers want to be (and
should be) protected by being alerted when something like this comes to
light. Here's what I suggest as a reasonable policy for the future:
The moment a fake is discovered, the person who discovers it should
notify the movie poster buying/selling/collecting community -- by naming
the SPECIFIC POSTER only. Not where it was purchased or the names of
those who may have been involved. Just say, "on such-and-such date, I
discovered a fake FRANKENSTEIN half-sheet and have confirmed that it is
a fake by consulting with this expert (nothing wrong with naming the
people who discover/verify that the poster is a fake. In fact, this
should be required so there are no false reports and we have the opinion
of at least one expert in the field confirming that the poster is a fake).
That way, an "all-points bulletin" goes out over the wire, altering the
entire community to "be on the lookout" that a fake of a specific poster
has been discovered. This would not endanger anyone's reputation, but it
would prevent any more of the fakes of that particular poster from being
sold to the community. i.e., once people were alerted that there was one
fake FRANKENSTEIN half-sheet, any additional FRANKENSTEIN half-sheets
that appeared would be subject to the most careful scrutiny, second and
third-party verification for authenticity, etc.
This would cut into the fraudsters profits considerably if they could
only sell one, maybe two, of a specific fake before the word got out and
it became too risky to try to dump any more of that particular poster on
the market. It would also help identify the perpetrators if they are in
the process of trying to place more FRANKENSTEIN half-sheets when the
alert goes out. Kind of an Amber Alert for posters.
If everyone would now implement this idea as policy and immediately
announce the specifics of a verified fake immediately -- as soon as it
becomes known -- it would go a long way to putting a damper on the whole
fake business without running the risk of smearing an innocent or of
generating a personal defamation lawsuit.
It's not a perfect solution, but I think it would help a lot, and it may
be all that we as a community can do. Besides being more vigilant, of
course. We have to stop accepting that a pricey poster is genuine just
because it is a pricey poster. The worlds of antique furniture and fine
art collecting discovered this a long time ago.
This applies even more to linen-backed posters. I know the restorers and
linen-backers won't like this much, but for their own protections we
have to subject linen-backed posters to an even closer examination and
second/third-party verification than non-backed posters simply because
it is harder to tell if a linen-backed poster is real.
Now, if the printing/reproduction technology, and the techniques for
faking the look and feel and smell of old paper get to the point where
even the experts can be fooled by a fake (and we may be getting close to
that day) well, then... there won't be anything to be done about that.
It will then be up to the fraudsters to be smart enough not to flood the
market with too many undetectable fake FRANKENSTEIN half-sheets in order
to keep the value up.
-- JR
Susan Poole wrote:
This truly is a sad day but I would like to remind everyone that
nothing has been proven other than the fact that these posters are
fake. If you read the allegations, particularly those in Paragraphs
14 and 15 of the complaint that relate to Mendez, there is, in my
opinion, a rather large jump to conclusion. Until the case is fully
adjudicated, I think everyone should refrain from character
assassination.
Sue
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