Forgery and the Pre-Columbian Art Market

Summary

Why forgery? "Because," as Willie Sutton once said, referring to why he robbed banks, "that’s where the money is." Forgery is a common problem in the art market with works by contemporary living artists as well as "old masters" having been and, continuing to be, faked. Some segments of the market, specifically pre-Columbian antiquities, are worse than others in the sheer number of forged and faked works being offered for sale in upscale galleries, online, and by independent, direct-to-the-collector dealers. The history of pre-Columbian art forgery is a long one beginning with the Spanish Conquest and steadily gaining in momentum after 1821. This paper will look at how the art market, historically and in modern times, drives the manufacture of forgeries, and at some of the modern producers and purveyors of these false works.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Precolumbian Antiquities Market: Reflections, Critiques, and Effecting Change   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14361