Is it wrong that I laughed when I read the article? I wonder how organized this was. Hard to believe that someone in the museum didn't know what was going on.
If you buy an ancient coin or artifact, it's primary appear and the reason for most of it's value is that it is from the time period it purports to be. With a painting, isn't the primary appeal what it looks like as opposed to who made it or when? Finding out your painting is by Todd of Van Wert rather than Giovanni of Milan does not change what it looks like.
Your argument is fine, except for when Todd (a nobody) signs his work as Giovanni (a famous and well respected painter), there is now fraud involved.
I was actuality expecting the amount of cash having been sunk into the false paintings and lost to be more.
that's sad..some forgeries are worth collecting ...but one needs to buy & appreciate them as such and not pass them off as the real McCoy.
I submitted a Judaean coin for certification and slabbing a few years ago and received the dreaded letter from the third party graders that "the authenticity of this coin can not be confirmed" I went through several stages of outrage. 1. You're mistaken—of course it's authentic! 2. How could I be so gullible to have purchased a fake coin? 3. That's it! I'm done with this ridiculous hobby! Anyway—I'm still here and haven't given up on ancient coin collecting.
