Art Fraud:
Every year people lose hundreds of millions of dollars in phony investments in art markets! Con artists sell counterfeit art and reproduction prints, like lithographs and etchings of the works of famous artists. Some of the most “popular” are fake prints of artists such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Joan Miro and Marc Chagall.
Many of these fake pieces are simply copies of lithographs produced without the artists’ knowledge or authorization. And after paying anywhere between $500 and $5000… the unsuspecting purchaser may get their new artwork valued at no more than $50… or the equivalent of a poster you might buy at a museum.
This is not a new phenomenon… throughout history wherever creative works have been considered valuable for collection… art forgeries have been made.
The most prolific production of art forgeries occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries during periods of passionate collecting, when profits for a successful deception was enormous. In recent years, skilful forgeries of paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso and other modern masters have appeared. Often art historians declare these fakes, but only after extensive and exhaustive technical examination.
With the introduction of the Internet and eBay style sites, many sales are done around the globe… sight unseen. The buyers are relying on digital images and due diligence as to the paintings history and authenticity.
Recently an art and antique appraiser researched many of the pieces before buying more than 20 paintings on eBay, where the paintings were advertised as lost masterpieces signed by famous artists.
After the dealer had spent approximately $60,000, he found out that many of the treasures he had bought were fakes.
The Technological Solution to Stop The Problem:
Brand Integrity International has developed an anti-forgery, anti-counterfeiting, anti-piracy system that employs human DNA gene segments and biological markers in combination with certain other unique materials (collectively, the “DNA ArtMark”).
These ingredients are incorporated into paints or other suspensions such as inks, resins, dyes etc. This fluid may then be applied either visibly or covertly onto the artwork or collectable surface.The materials making up the matrix have certain properties which may be detected when high intensity radiation is focused on the material. The materials are extremely rare and may be mixed to create a unique – and very hard to copy – pattern or properties for detection.
It is virtually impossible to “decode” and is economically impractical to duplicate.
Its various components, both individually and in relation to the other components, can be selectively shifted to re-combine in an infinite number of combinations for each product or each customer. This DNA Matrix can be identified and confirmed as authentic with an electronic reader enabling the marking to be verified by various levels of checking as may be required by a vendor or a purchaser for use on virtually any type of artwork or collectable.