forgeries

13 Stories

New Development in Mystery Over Bolsonaro's Vax Status

Brazilian authorities say anti-vax former president's records showing he'd been vaxxed were falsified

(Newser) - Jair Bolsonaro has long minimized COVID-19, as well as health and safety measures taken against the virus, including vaccination. Yet confusingly, records show that the former Brazilian president received a COVID shot more than two years ago, apparently to help him circumvent travel restrictions and other rules that required he...

Group 'Destroys' $20K Warhol Sketch by Hiding It Amid Fakes

MSCHF stunt meant to 'destroy any future confidence in the veracity of the work'

(Newser) - The art collective that brought you Lil Nas X's Satan Shoes says it's latest stunt involved "destroying" a one-of-a kind Andy Warhol sketch. Brooklyn-based MSCHF (pronounced "mischief") acquired Warhol's "Fairies," a 1954 minimalist ink sketch of three nude fairies playing with a...

Prince Charles Entangled in $136M Art Fraud Case

Forgeries were allegedly loaned to his charity

(Newser) - Prince Charles and his charity have been caught up in a royally big scandal over an alleged art hoax involving paintings supposedly worth $136 million. The Claude Monet, Salvador Dali, and Pablo Picasso paintings were loaned to Dumfries House, the headquarters of the Prince's Foundation, by businessman James Stunt,...

Art Expert Gives Museum Some Really Bad News

The Terrus museum copes with terrible news

(Newser) - A museum in southern France suffered a terrible blow when experts declared that over half its paintings are forgeries, the BBC reports. The Terrus museum, dedicated to the work of painter Étienne Terrus, apparently knew nothing of the fakes until an art historian informed them. "It's a...

Infamous Hitler 'Diaries' Resurface

Famed forgeries going to Germany's Federal Archives

(Newser) - Botched exclusives are clearly not a 21st-century invention: Germany's Stern magazine stepped in it big time in 1983, when it published passages from Hitler's never-before-seen diaries. Except the 62 notebooks, which the magazine paid about $6 million for in today's dollars, were fakes. Konrad Kujau, the...

Brooklyn Museum Legally Forced to Store Fake Art
Brooklyn Museum Legally Forced to Store Fake Art
in case you missed it

Brooklyn Museum Legally Forced to Store Fake Art

Museum hoping court will free it from deal forcing it to hole 229 forgeries

(Newser) - The Brooklyn Museum is desperately trying to extricate itself from a strange legal predicament that is currently forcing it to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars storing forgeries and replicas. The museum unwittingly walked into the trap back in 1931, when collector Michael Friedsam bequeathed it his 926-piece collection of...

Notorious Art Forger Rebrands as Genuine Faker

Ken Perenyi sold work as copies after the FBI caught on

(Newser) - Ken Perenyi has painted some of the world's most famous artworks—only he didn't paint them first. For nearly three decades, Perenyi grew rich as a forger of 18th- and 19th-century classics, then rebranded himself as a creator of fine reproductions when the FBI began snooping around in...

Major Art Trove Now Believed to Be Fakes

German 'hippie' behind multimillion-dollar forgeries, say investigators

(Newser) - A treasure trove of some 35 Expressionist artworks supposedly worth millions are now believed to be forgeries engineered by a one-time German hippie who has been living like a king, reports Der Spiegel . The art world had been amazed as the "lost" artworks from the early 20th century surfaced...

Japanese Swindle Could Cost Lehman $250M

Forged docs from Japanese firm secured big loans

(Newser) - Possible fraud involving forged documents from a Japanese trading firm may have cost Lehman Brothers $250 million, the Wall Street Journal reports. The investment bank loaned funds to a Japanese biotech firm last year; the transaction was secured by top trading company Marubeni Corp. But the biotech firm filed for...

Tiffany Presses eBay to Police Forgeries

Showdown may force online auctioneer to monitor—at a big cost

(Newser) - A legal battle between Tiffany & Co and eBay could change the face of online auctioneering forever, the Wall Street Journal reports. The jeweler says eBay should be responsible for checking its millions of listings for counterfeit goods, while eBay maintains that it's up to the trademark holder to flag...

Cops Nab 9 for Selling Forged Bowl Tickets

Police uncover 50 fake passes, dope, and more than $6K in cash

(Newser) - Cops in Scottsdale, Ariz. nabbed nine people today for selling forged Super Bowl tickets, the AP reports. Police cottoned onto the scam when a Massachusetts couple reported doling out $2,500 for the fake passes. Cops tracked suspects to a Motel 6, where they found dozens of forged tickets, marijuana,...

Stradivarius Market Hits High Note
Stradivarius Market Hits
High Note

Stradivarius Market Hits High Note

Rush for 300-year-old violins sparks intrigue, drives price to millions

(Newser) - The price of violins by 18th century Italian master Antonio Stradivari has shot through the roof in recent decades, with the instruments now worth 500 times their weight in gold, reports Der Spiegel. Three powerful dealers control a shadowy worldwide market rife with intrigue where frenzied collectors seek out the...

Gauguin Sculpture a Fake
Gauguin Sculpture a Fake

Gauguin Sculpture a Fake

'The Faun' outed as impostor after decade in Chicago art museum

(Newser) - After a decade on display at the Art Institute of Chicago, a ceramic figure allegedly sculpted by Paul Gauguin was revealed yesterday to be a fake. The museum discovered 'The Faun,' a half-man, half-goat figure, to be the work not of the 19th century French artist, but of a...

13 Stories