Fakes and forgeries

A fakes and forgeries seminar at Goldsmiths’ Hall is returning after a five-year hiatus as concerns emerge of a rise in Paul de Lamerie forgeries.

A surge in websites selling ‘cold-cast bronzes’ – sometimes passing them off as original metal alloy sculptures – has led to calls for tighter rules to distinguish them from genuine works.

Vintage Cornishware collectors and dealers have been warned to be aware of possible fakes on the market following the conviction of a couple for fraud.

In 2013 Antiques Trade Gazette was kind enough to print a letter from me in which I protested the practice of dealers and auctioneers of labelling as ‘suffragette’ any piece of jewellery that combined stones approximating to suffragette colours of purple, white and green.

The 'Oath of a Freeman', one of the most infamous forgeries in US history, heads to auction at Heritage this month. It comes for sale from Justin Schiller, the antiquarian bookseller who in 1985 attempted to broker its sale for $1.5m.

A trading standards investigation has unearthed a ‘medal factory’ in Derbyshire, sparking the fear that thousands of fake military awards and badges could be in circulation.

A group of smuggled Mesopotamian ‘antiquities’ destined for collectors in the UK was discovered to be fake and seized by Border Force.

The organisers of Asian Art in London are to abandon the event’s ‘best objects’ award after doubt was cast on the authenticity of one of this year’s winners. The Danish auctioneer which won the award however is standing by the Yuan attribution for the flask after conducting a scientific test.

To address the increasing number of fakes, The Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) has launched a new digital ‘hallmark’ for editioned bronzes.

An investigation in Germany into an Israeli art dealer, charged with being the ringleader of an international fraud ring, has concluded after the two central allegations against him were dropped.