Let’s be clear, since the beginning of time there have been fakes and counterfeitspassed around in the world of antiques and art.
In the past, including perhaps well into the latter 20th century, the consumers’ interests in these areas when purchasing were protected by people such as established and expert antique dealers or qualified public auctioneers.
However, over recent decades the picture has become increasingly grim – and no pun is intended there!
Some highly experienced auctioneers will now admit both publicly and privately that the quality of some art forgery is so good that they are no longer 100% confident in their abilities to tell whether or not it is genuine or a reproduction.
One of the areas that have been hardest hit is that of Chinese antiques. The value of some items has now been hugely reduced – not because they are necessarily fakes but rather because nobody is confident any longer that they aren’t!
What is happening in the art world now is that ever-increasing weight is being put on to the question of provenance. It’s also important that there is a clear audit trail from the point of sale of an item back to the point of origin.
The good news is that there are systems available that give art forgery protection. There are various flavours of those that can be applied, subject to the nature of the item concerned.
Anybody that has either a professional or simply a personal interest in antiques and art needs to take this subject very seriously indeed. Some sections of certain antique market places have already been effectively destroyed by forgeries and the impossibility of telling genuine from fake items.
Unless we take action to stop the spread of this disease through other areas of the art world, the problem is going to get worse and worse.
If you want to know more about Art Forgery Protection, Please give us a call at1300664202 or contact us.