Thursday 26 February 2015

Rubbish and fakes on LiveAuctioneers

LiveAuctioneers.com would be a useful site if they would just scrutinize their sellers one tiny bit. Most of them are legitimate auction houses, selling legitimate art. Yes, they make mistakes and may be fooled by a fake now and then, but that's simply human error and to be expected.

However, there are a few (mostly American) auction houses, claiming to be reputable and long-running, who sell fakes and dubious works by the dozens. Let's be charitable (and cautious) and simply call them extremely incompetent.

Is there any reason (apart from money, obviously) why rubbish auctioneers like Best Auction For You, Wilson Fine Art and Antiques, Wholesale Art Auctions LLC, Art Everywhere Auctions, and Fine Art Online Auctions (to name just these five) are not simply thrown off LiveAuctioneers? If I was a real auction house, like most on LiveAuctioneers, I wouldn't want to be associated with these three and similar ones in any way, as they give auction houses a very bad name.

Furthermore, by pre-listing the exact same works again and again and again every few days, they are flooding the site ("art-bombing"? "Auction-bombing"?), making it a lot harder to find the interesting lots (certainly when you are looking for famous modern names like Picasso, Chagall, Kandinsky, ...)

The many houses which sell giclee prints without making any false claims of being original or authenticated are bad enough, but at least they don't sell "original" oil paintings with fake certificates (they often violate copyright laws, but that's less problematic than selling fakes estimated at tens of thousands of dollars in the hope that some sucker will fall for it).

I do love "Acrylic paintings" by Paul Klee, hand signd by the artist, when acryl paint was only commercially available only after his death... but when they are valued at $60,000 to $80,000, it becomes criminal instead of funny.

11 comments:

  1. Hi,

    I enjoyed reading your: http://auctionaugur.blogspot.com/2015/02/rubbish-and-fakes-on-liveauctioneers.html
    I have a story to share with you too, and hope that you can help me spread the news
    I bought a Forgery of a Pablo Picasso's drawing because of a claver advertisement on The Saleroom.

    Bishop and Miller Auctioneers via The Salesroom Knowingly Sold Fake Picasso's Drawing and did not disclosed all the facts.

    Ok, here it goes:
    The Picasso's Drawing was advertised as unsold at Christie's London in
    Feb, 2016, lot #292. The advertisement claimed that their drawing was
    featured in a book by H.Asmodi, Pablo Picasso, Ballettzeichnungen, Feldafing 1956.
    I asked about the provenance and what happened at Christie's London in February.
    Bishop and Miller sent me 9 images from Christie's catalogue and told em that the drawing simply did not sell
    After buying it I contacted the Picasso Foundation in Paris:
    I was told that The Picasso Foundation was called-in to Christie's London to examine the drawing in February, 2016
    The drawing was declared unauthentic, fake Pablo Picasso by Picasso Foundation. Christie's London canceled the sale and rejected the drawing from their auction house.
    Christie's London told me that they were contacted Bishop and Miller auctioneers that they're selling a known fake Pablo Picasso's drawing, but Bishop and Miller ignored their outrage.
    They place it for sale withholding the whole truth about it. Sold it as lot#600 on their September, 2016 sale.
    To this day Bishop & Miller Auctioneersr have not refunded the buyer and claim that they did nothing wrong.

    A shot video to make it easier to understand.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAgR4mIJ0Uc

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtHjd-wsjFk

    @BishopandMiller #BishopandMiller #dishonestAuctions Bishop & Miller Auctioneers The saleroom

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Tara (is Tara your first name or family name?),

    I'm sorry to hear about your problems. I prefer not to get involved in this kind of thing, certainly because the Picasso Foundation (and similar French foundations for 20th century artists) aren't really unproblematic, sometimes declaring really authentic works as "fake" for unclear reasons (a family feud may be enough to create such problems). This kind of problem is where you need lawyers to sort out all problems and find out what's simply a disagreement about attribution and authentication, and what is actual fraud. I'm sorry that I can't help you any further.

    Bye,
    Francis

    ReplyDelete
  3. The reason Picasso Foundation declared this artwork Fake at Bishop and Miller Auctioneers is because a second artwork almost identical appeared in NY just before the sale in Feb 2016. The second drawing from NY had a gallery receipt and matched the margins of the one featured in the book by H.Asmodi, Pablo Picasso, Ballettzeichnungen, Feldafing 1956. SO both drawings were examined by Picasso Foundation in London and obviously the one without any gallery recipes, with smaller user margin one the paper was declared unauthentic. That is very understandable. The second drawing had receipts form a gallery in Zurich dating back to 1946, that drawing was declared authentic, and later sold by Christies' in June:

    The second, authentic drawing sale result lot #176, June 23 2016, London:

    http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/drawings-watercolors/pablo-picasso-deux-danseuses-6008966-details.aspx?from=searchresults&intObjectID=6008966&sid=0dda5ceb-a5e4-4328-8128-70273ff6b91f

    So whoever took this unauthentic drawing from Christies' London in February was told that they have a forgery, but they were so dishonest that they took this drawing to Bishop and Miller Auctioneers located at:
    19 Charles Industrial Estate Stowmarket Suffolk IP14 5AH and placed it for an auction in September of the same year. The auction house knows this person because he is a regular buyer.

    ReplyDelete
  4. As an artist, I'm interested in putting my work out to auction--it's a great way to bypass some of the art world nonsense-- but concerned about being associated with fakes. The fakes on live auctioneers are egregious and I completely agree that they should be booted off.

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  5. Yeah, I found this blog after noticing a fake on liveauctioneers.com. After I informed them of the fake, they swore by their experts vetting and the seller's reputation. So sad, so long.

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  6. I'm a big Bruce Lee fan, researcher and collector. With almost 50 years experience, owner of a couple authentic autographs (signed checks) and visibility to hundreds of Bruce Lee autographs over the years the number of fake Bruce Lee autographs on liveauctioneers.com is unforgivable. Yes, some are good fakes but fakes all the same. Most aren't even close. And if anybody really thought they were real they'd be bringing way more than $250 - $500. Liveauctioneers.com knows they're fake but they don't care because you can't hold them liable and they still get paid. Stay away.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I, too, have noticed lots of fakes... not just in art. Designer clothes, watches, sunglasses, also, abound at liveauctioniers. I have reported several auction "houses" who are obviously fake but no one at liveauctionier ever replied to my reports and the "houses" continue on, unchecked. I was disgusted enough by this to swear off liveauctioniers forever.

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    Replies
    1. And it's getting worse and worse. You should see the listings from ART-TORG in Prague, Czechia. All amazing reproductions but all fakes.

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  8. I will not bid on items at liveauctioner again. The painting they sent was a fake.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Liveauctioneers is just the platform like eBay. There are good sellers but a lot of them are bad. It's very easy to be tricked. And I've been in the art business for most of my life.

      Delete
  9. Ever since you wrote this the problem has gotten even worse. Basically anything without a complete provenance should be considered fake even though it may be described as authentic. I am an experienced art collector/dealer and I estimate that 35% to 50% of all drawings and paintings being sold through the auction platforms is fake. I cannot list all the auction houses but here are some: 500 Gallery aka Collection W in Franklin MA, Miami Auction Gallery, etc. The list is endless. Some get their fakes from a mill in the former Soviet Republic as well as Russia. In fact; the best copies are coming from these countries right now. What makes it worse is that auction houses listed as being in London are actually operated by Russians. CULTURAL TRADITION for example. Search for the sales history of Wook Kyung Choi and you will find it. Or have a look at ART-TORG in Prague, Czechia. They are currently the biggest distributor of fakes in Europe. All copies sold as real. It is just out of control. In fact. I am thinking of getting out of the art business entirely.

    ReplyDelete