Art Prints Forged

Saw this item in the Reuters Newswire and
immediately thought "Shipboard Art Auctions" --

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Take a second look at that
signed Picasso print you bought on eBay.

A ring of art counterfeiters has sold thousands of
prints since 1999 bearing the forged signatures of
Picasso, Miro, Dali and other famous artists to
buyers around the world.

"Thousands of people will learn they ... bought a
fake," said Chicago-based U.S. Attorney Patrick
Fitzgerald, who announced indictments on Wednesday
charging two Americans, a Spaniard from Barcelona,
and two Italians from Milan and Monsummano with
multiple counts of fraud.

U.S. authorities will seek to extradite the Europeans.

Sale prices ranged up to $50,000 for counterfeit
prints that came with forged artists' signatures
and fake certificates of authenticity that were
sold in galleries, at art shows and through
Internet auction site eBay, Fitzgerald said.

The counterfeits were produced in Spain and Italy,
with the volume of fakes such that two of the
alleged conspirators warned another one not to
flood the market.

While buyers are stuck with the bogus works,
prosecutors offered a Web site where they can
provide details of how they were scammed:
www.usdog.gov/usao/iln.
[Invalid Link
See:http://chicago.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/p.../mar19_08.htm]

(Reporting by Andrew Stern; editing by Michael
Conlon and Todd Eastham)

Cheers,
John in LALALand (On the Left Coast)

On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:11:57 GMT, J Carnaghie
wrote:

Saw this item in the Reuters Newswire and
immediately thought "Shipboard Art Auctions" --

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Take a second look at that
signed Picasso print you bought on eBay.

A ring of art counterfeiters has sold thousands of
prints since 1999 bearing the forged signatures of
Picasso, Miro, Dali and other famous artists to
buyers around the world.
(snip)

Funny - I always thought that the 'art' sold in any of the ship's art
galleries were fakes!

Charlie

On 2008-03-20 18:11:57 +0100, J Carnaghie said:

Saw this item in the Reuters Newswire and immediately thought
"Shipboard Art Auctions" --

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Take a second look at that signed Picasso print
you bought on eBay.

A ring of art counterfeiters has sold thousands of prints since 1999
bearing the forged signatures of Picasso, Miro, Dali and other famous
artists to buyers around the world.

Is this real?

Or some form of spam?

Cya

Non ham wrote:
On 2008-03-20 18:11:57 +0100, J Carnaghie
said:

Saw this item in the Reuters Newswire and immediately thought
"Shipboard Art Auctions" --

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Take a second look at that signed Picasso print
you bought on eBay.

A ring of art counterfeiters has sold thousands of prints since 1999
bearing the forged signatures of Picasso, Miro, Dali and other famous
artists to buyers around the world.


Is this real?

Or some form of spam?

Cya

Check the Reuters News Wire. It is real very, and
there are lots of "extra" art pieces out there.
Maybe, just maybe, your great purchase is indeed a
fake.

Cheers,
John in LALALand (One the Left Coast)