Todd,
Only if the community doesn't insist otherwise -- which I agree it
probably will not. But if pressure could be brought to bear to reveal
the names of those who currently own the fakes (some people know these
names), then that might prevent these items from being sold or traded to
anyone else as anything other than fakes. This would be a big loss for
the current owners, yes, and hopefully they have or will recover their
original investment from those who sold them the fakes. In the cases of
trades, there's not much to be done about recovering the cost unless
some people are found sufficiently guilty by a court of law so as to be
ordered to pay restitution.
But, look, just because X got stuck with a fake... or perhaps Y dealer
who had to take the fake back and return the money... or perhaps X
auction house who had to make good on their warranty... just because
someone is now left holding a fake of a valuable poster does not mean
that person/organization is entitled to carry on the fraud and pass of
the fake as a "restoration/recreation/whatever" to someone else...
perhaps a couple of years from now when the current furor has died down.
If we know who has the fakes now (or who ends up with them after all the
legal fuss is over) that would go a long way towards preventing these
items from re-entering the market at a later date. Still wouldn't solve
the whole problem, of course. You're right that they should all be
burned. That's what the government does with counterfeit money. If there
are insurance companies involved in restitution and recovery, then the
insurance company would end up with the poster and should destroy it.
But who knows if they would.
But if both of our suspicions are correct, none of the above will happen
and these fakes will quietly re-enter the market at some point, and not
labeled as fakes, either.
This is why I've been pushing so strongly for the auctioneers/dealers to
*change* the way they do business when offering a very pricey poster.
Get a signed, independent "opinion of authenticity" from a recognized
expert in the field like yourself, or Bruce, or Ralph (who already does
verification as part of his business) or some other qualified expert and
include it in the auction/sale. If this "opinion of authenticity" were
signed and dated and identified the specific poster with details noted,
this entire growing problem could be stopped dead in its tracks.
This is really the only way to go if the vintage poster business is to
protect itself and its customers in the future. Doing nothing
differently and continuing business as usual is simply a prescription
guaranteed to produce more of the same problem we've already seen.
After all, one of the things the recent scandal has done is reveal some
of the "secret techniques" of exactly how to create such convincing
fakes. Without solid independent verification at sale time, this problem
is only going to get worse.
-- JR
Todd Feiertag wrote:
Jeff,
Personally, I think the fakes should be burned and destroyed, but
that's not going to happen.
The next best thing would be to take a giant rubber stamp, about 12
inches wide and about 4 inches high with the word FAKE stamped
numerous times all over the front of the poster or lobby card with
permanent ink, but that's not going to happen either. Even better, a
giant hole punch, with the word FAKE, pressed through the poster in a
bunch of places, but that's not going to happen either, especially
after someone paid big bucks for this nice reproduction.
Unfortunately, these fakes might be here to stay.
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