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I remember reading a story about a painter who was forging works in the style of an artist that had been dead for 40 years. The police found it very difficult
by Lerc 2y ago
I remember reading a story about a painter who was forging works in the style of an artist that had been dead for 40 years.
The police found it very difficult to investigate because no-one wanted to have paintings they had spent money on to be discovered to be fakes.
The forger was given community service, changed his name to match the artist and served his sentence by painting and signing a mural.
- echoangle 2y agoI was pretty sure you meant this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Beltracchi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Beltracchi But he didn't change his name.
- hiccuphippo 2y agoI remember a case where a man was accused of forging a will. They figured out it was a forge because it used the Calibri font, Microsoft only added Calibri in 2007 and the document was supposed to be from a few years before.
- almostnormal 2y agoIn some parts of the world a will must be written by hand or needs an attesting notary.
- jamesfinlayson 2y agoYes I believe in Australia it needs to be physically signed in the presence of an authorised person and a witness.
- phaker 2y agoSurprisingly many forgeries were exposed due to Calibri, Wikipedia has a short list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calibri#In_crime_and_politics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calibri#In_crime_and_politics I feel like I remember the topic having its own list article but can't find any trace of it.
- sionisrecur 2y agoThis makes me want Microsoft to change the default font every decade just to make these cases easier to solve.
- reddalo 2y agoWell, they've recently change the default font to Aptos, so we're probably going to see these stories come up again soon.
- robocat 2y agohttps://youtu.be/diN5s8M8MCA https://youtu.be/diN5s8M8MCA
- Cthulhu_ 2y agoIf it's printed, the printer dots will expose some evidence too. It sounds like an ideal use case for an app, if it doesn't exist already.
- spullara 2y agoReminds me of this: https://javarants.com/cbs-bush-memos-fake-42187bacf095 https://javarants.com/cbs-bush-memos-fake-42187bacf095
- Beretta_Vexee 2y agoKids, do your forgeries with Latex, the default font hasn't changed in decades.
- ahartmetz 2y agoAnd it's awful :> Extremely thin, overly large serifs. Please don't use.
- Beretta_Vexee 2y agoFor on-screen display it's not optimal, but for print it's really pleasant.
- ahartmetz 2y agoI think it looks bad in print, too. I've had plenty of math homework printed from Latex. (I also dislike Times New Roman, it has the same "problems", just less extreme)
- mormegil 2y agoNot the same person but see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_van_Meegeren#M._Jean_Decoen's_objection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_van_Meegeren#M._Jean_Decoe...
- ahartmetz 2y agoAlso this guy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Kujau https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Kujau He became (in)famous for faking Hitler's diaries but also faked paintings, later going legal. There have been cases of others faking his replicas.
- stewarts 2y agoSimilarly, there's also Rudy Kurniawan, who was a wine counterfitter. Went to Federal prison, deported, and now is in demand to produce wine again in Asia because of how good he was at it.
- Cthulhu_ 2y agoI wonder / I'm sure there's crypto counterfeiters out there at the moment, but like, advanced scams; back when Bitcoin first became a thing you could get BTC medallions made that contained your crypto wallet private key (not sure if it was embossed, digital, or on a piece of paper inside); a scam I can think of is to sell those as a physical way to sell BTC, then have all of them refer to the same address. Or attach a website to it with fake wallet amounts and values - that works pretty well in Eve Online's most famous / common scam, where a user is linked to a website showing the scammer's transaction history "proving" that they sent money to the victim and lots of others.
- harimau777 2y agoI had a friend whose home was full of movie memorabilia. The boxing shorts from Rocky, the journal from Raiders of the Lost Ark, props from Star Wars, etc. all professionally displayed in shadowboxes along with autographs and photos. The only thing is that they were all fake. My friend's hobby wasn't collecting memorabilia, it was making fakes. He was quite open about the fact that none of it was real and would happily describe how he created each piece.
- davidt84 2y agoIf you're not trying to pass them off as authentic, I think they're just called replicas, not fakes.
- sen 2y agoThat’s an entire hobby, making replicas. It’s only “fake” if you’re trying to convince people they’re real.
- dfltr 2y agoThere's a whole fun additional layer of ethical replica hobbyists figuring out how to make replicas that are satisfyingly accurate to the original, but difficult for an unscrupulous third party to pass off as real. One of my favorite examples is Gibson replica guitars with period-accurate serial numbers, but the serials are intentionally stamped during the wrong step in the painting & finishing process to signal that they weren't assembled at a Gibson factory.
- potato3732842 2y ago>He was quite open about the fact that none of it was real and would happily describe how he created each piece. His heirs probably won't be so forthcoming.
- technothrasher 2y agoI remember reading an article about a guy who wanted to make a point about the antiques world, and made a copy of a very desired and rare old chair. He sold it for next to nothing to an antiques dealer without making any claims as to what it was or wasn't. Somebody thinking they'd found a steal bought it from the dealer and sold it on for a big profit. It eventually ended up at a museum, at which point the original maker approached them and told them it wasn't what they thought it was. They told him they were experts and could vouch for its authenticity, until he told them to x-ray it and they'd see modern screws hidden in it. Oops.
- xoxxala 2y agoThere is a film essay by Orson Welles called "F for Fake" about art forgery, an artist that creates forged works that gain value by being works of art in their own right, that then takes a sudden turn. I don't want to spoil it, but it's a fascinating look at art, truth and lies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F_for_Fake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F_for_Fake
- MarcelOlsz 2y agoIt's about Elmyr De Hory isn't it? One of my favourite movies.
- miunau 2y agoThe UK show "Lovejoy" based on John Grant's novels is also related. Many episodes revolve around art fakes, and people's feelings towards owning, producing or selling them. It's a great watch with lovely romanticized countryside vistas and Ian McShane as the lead.
- hashishen 2y agoone of my favorite films by him. the candid nature of this in comparison to his other work along with the editing style always stood put. you get a much more personal look into Orson's mind as you watch him cut from the editing room narration to a party he's laughing and joking at, seemingly for no other reason than him having fun while realizing he's seeing small details slip that the subjects would normally not share
- philipov 2y ago> changed his name to match the artist and served his sentence by painting and signing a mural If you kill Santa Claus, you must become Santa Claus!
- pbalau 2y agoI have to wonder if the fakes made by this unique forger aren't works of art in their own merit...
- RIMR 2y agoTony Tetro? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Tetro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Tetro Pretty close to this story, which may have exaggerated a few things.
- Beretta_Vexee 2y agoMy father restored paintings. There are a great many fakes in circulation, either consciously or unconsciously. A classic case is when an heir discovers that one of grandfather's badly preserved paintings is on the side. If it's not restorable, a new painting is made and reintroduced to the market in place of the old one, which is destroyed. The new painting benefits from all the traceability of the old one. Many experts are not fooled, but they don't get a commission if there's no sale, and nobody wants to have proof that their painting is worthless. Fakes are only revealed when their number affects the quotation and sale. As long as everyone's making money, no one really cares.