Fakebusters II

The following sections are included:

• Table of Contents

• Preface

In the late autumn of 1903, Professor R. Blondlot, head of the Department of Physics at the University of Nancy, member of the French Academy, and widely known as an investigator, announced the discovery of a new ray, which he called N ray, with properties far transcending those of the X rays. Reading of his remarkable experiments with these rays in the Comptes rendus of the Academy, the leading scientific journal of France, I attempted to repeat his observations, but failed to confirm them after wasting a whole morning. According to Blondlot, the rays were given off spontaneously by many metals. A piece of paper, very feebly illuminated, could be used as a detector, for, wonder of wonders, when the N rays fell upon the eye they increased its ability to see objects in a nearly dark room…

The following sections are included:

• Statue of limitation in general

• Application to sales of fake art

• Evaluation

The following sections are included:

• INTRODUCTION

• LIDDY'S THEORY OF ENGRAVED SCRIMSHAW

• FAKESHAW

• MATERIAL

• TOOTH SURFACE

• TOOTH EXTREMITIES AND CAVITY

• ENGRAVING

• PIGMENTS

• STRAIN CRACKING

• TWO FRAUDULENT TEETH

• SOME FRAUDULENT TUSKS

• CONCLUSION

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• PHOTO CAPTIONS

• REFERENCES

• AUTHORS BIO

The American Philatelic Society (APS) was organized in 1886 and the first president was the pioneer philatelic student, John K. Tiffany. Within 17 years, it was determined that a structured service was needed to assist members with the identification and certification of postage stamps. So on April 14, 1903, the Expert Committee issued the first photo certificate for an overprinted 1-tical on 1-solot stamp of Siam. The stamp was genuine…

The problems which the fake or copy present, has received much attention among art historians, philosophers, and art professionals alike within the last ten years.¹ This renewed interest has largely focused upon aspects of what constitutes originality or fraud, but also has elucidated the fact that making copies (rather than frauds) was a common artistic practice during classical antiquity, the Renaissance, the early baroque and most recently during the postmodern period. One academic conference, held in 1985 at National Gallery of Art Symposium, entitled “Retaining the Original,” was focused around the very nature of the question of originality and authenticity. In the introduction to the published papers, Henry Millon reminded us that historically, “making copies…constituted a major part of the artistic ‘enterprise;’ copies were valued and costly.”²…

The following sections are included:

• A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO DNA

• DNA AS AN AUTHENTICATION MARK

• DNA TECHNOLOGIES RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

• THE DEVELOPMENT OF DNA AUTHENTICATION MARKERS STABLE FOR 100 YEARS
  • Design of Secure DNA Mark
  • DNA Mark Construction
  • Formulation of DNA Marks in Print Vehicles
  • Accelerated Stability Testing
  • Improving Detection Sensitivity

• THE DEVELOPMENT OF DIRECT READING NANOBARCODES BASED ON FLOURESCENT MICROBEADS AND PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY
  • New Fluorescent Dyes and Phosphors
  • Development of Nanobarcodes
  • Synthesis and Assembly of Microbead Nanobarcodes Using DNA Templates
  • Construction of Nanobarcodes Using Photolithography

• THE DEVELOPMENT OF DIRECT READING DNA MARKS AND HYBRID SYSTEMS

Over the last twenty years, I have served as curator and director of several small and medium size museums including the Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas; the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, Tennessee; the Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama; the San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas, and, most recently, the Fuller Museum of Art, Brockton, Massachusetts. The largest budget approached three million dollars, minute in comparison with the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the National Gallery. Our resources were limited and the demands of building maintenance, programs, acquisitions, and conservation far outstripped the amount of money available to be spent. Each museum housed between five and thirty thousand art works and generally speaking the collections were eclectic. It is not unusual at these city museums to find extraordinary oddities ranging from the finest Wedgwood collection in the world in Birmingham to the most extensive group of Latin American folk art objects to be found anywhere in San Antonio. Each year museums of comparable size are offered thousands of art works in all shapes and sizes from all periods and cultures. Only rarely does the staff have the expertise to evaluate and determine the authenticity of the eclectic group of objects both in the collection and being offered. With few curators and in many cases even fewer local experts to call upon, the museum professional must be both bold and creative.

By calling upon visiting scholars when passing through or when lecturing either at the museum or locally, considerable expertise can be tapped without any outlay of funds. Furthermore, in my experience, scholars, both American and foreign, are always willing to be both supportive and cooperative. There is no substitute for the personal contact, however, and the most successful research I have undertaken to determine authenticity has been based on a personal interview or exchange of information after an acquaintance has been established. There is no substitute for the actual examination of the artwork, regardless of how good the transparency, video, or photograph is.

My presentation consists of three separate experiences relating to the authentication of three paintings whose authenticity had been questioned, in two instances, for several generations. Without the support and cooperation of strangers these mysteries would never have been solved.

The following sections are included:

• A Complex and Exotic World

• Defining Fine Arts

• Travel Plans

• Assessing the Risk–Can the Object Travel?

• The Condition Report

• Loan Agreement

• Object ID

• Additional Documents

• Packing

• Getting the Right Packer

• National Gallery of Art Guidelines

• Transit

• Fine Arts Shipping Companies

• Freight Forwarders

• Specialist Services

• Recovery of Stolen Fine Arts

• Exposure in Transit: Climate, Shock, and Vibration

• Policy Exclusions

• Eliminating Damage

• Couriers

• Worth the Effort

• Endnotes

• Reference

• Author's Note

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Application of Raman Microscopy to the Detection of Forgeries
  • Egyptian Papyri Fakes
  • Book of Frames
  • Other Examples

• Conclusion

• References

The following sections are included:

• Mass-Spectrographic Examination

• Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (ED-XRF) Method

• Infrared Radiation

• Color Alterations of Stamps

• NOTE

For his final class in forensic physics at King's College London, Professor Robert Flowers, van Dyke beard and matching red hair, chose the subject of radioactivity:

“One can examine very small traces of certain elements by irradiation in atomic reactors or cyclotrons. The ingestion of such poisons as arsenic and mercury can be identified by making them radioactive. Parts per billion can be detected when the irradiated atoms emit energetic particles like gamma or beta rays. Many unwanted substances ingested into the body are slowly eliminated in the hair. By analyzing the radioactivity along the length of the hair you can even ascertain when the poison was administered since we can use hair length as a calendar…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Historic Review

• Application of X-ray Analysis and Infrared Spectrometry to Artifacts
  • The New Instrument for XRF at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna
  • SEM-EDX and FTIR

• Case Studies
  • Identification of Pigments in Miniature Paintings
  • Identification of Writing Materials in the Archives
  • Provenance of Medieval Silver Coins
  • Classification of Iridescent Glass Artifacts of Art Nouveau

• Conclusion

• Acknowledgements

• References

• List of Figures

The following sections are included:

• TOWARD SYSTEMATIC AUTHENTICATION

• A SPECIFIC FOUNDATION TO MANAGE AUTHENICATION

• ELEMENTS NECESSARY FOR RELIABLE AUTHENTICATION

• PROMINENT RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS

• PROGRESS AS OF OCTOBER 1999

• WEBSITE AND ORGANIZATION

• CONSULTANTS AND PERSONNEL

The following sections are included:

• INTRODUCTION

• WHAT IS AN ORIGINAL?

• WHO ARE THE EXPERTS?

• BUILT-IN OBSTACLES TO AUTHENTICATION
  • No Standards Exist

• THE DECLINE OF THE EXPERT/DEALER

• CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

• CHOOSING AN APPRAISER

The following sections are included:

• NIA FRAMING POLICIES & RECOMMENDATIONS

• NIA AFTER-FRAMING PRESERVATION & RECOMMENDATIONS
  • Light
  • Heat
  • Humidity
  • Atmosphere Polluted with Industrial Gases
  • Old Houses and Seaside Areas
  • Cleaning Works Under Glass
  • Cleaning Works Under Plexiglas

• WARPING OF FRAMED PRINTS

• NIA RECOMMENDED HANDLING & STORAGE OF FRAMED ART

The following sections are included:

• INTRODUCTION

• PRINTING PROCESSES: GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND ERA OF USAGE
  • Relief or Letterpress Printing
    • Flexographic Printing
  • Offset-Lithography
  • Rotogravure Printing
    • Engraved or Intaglio Printing
  • Lithography
  • Photogelatin or Collotype Printing
  • Screen Printing and Serigraphs
  • Electrostatic Printing

• DEAD GIVEAWAYS FOR NEWLY PRINTED PIECES
  • Ink Stink

• EVEN A BLIND MAN CAN TELL
  • Letterpress Images
  • Offset-Lithographic Printed Surfaces
  • Engraved or Intaglio Printing
  • Screen Printing
  • Rotogravure Prints
  • Photogelatin and Flexography
  • Electrostatic Printing

• VISUAL DIFFERENCES IN PRINTED INK FILM BY PRINT PROCESS
  • Ink Film Differences between Offset-Lithography and Letterpress
  • Early Letterpress Ink Films
  • Letterpress Prints Made After 1851
  • Paper and Ink Relationship on Letterpress Printed Work

• IMPERFECTIONS, WHICH DISTINGUISH PRINTING PROCESSES
  • Scratches and Dings
  • Work-Ups in a Letterpress Print
  • Hairlines between Linotype Letters
  • Illustrations with Plate Routing Marks and Tack Marks
  • Toning or Scuff Marks on Offset-Lithography Prints
  • Ghosting or Slipped Images

• IDENTIFYING TYPESETTING METHODS AND PERIOD OF USAGE
  • Foundry Type (1450 - 1993) and Monotype (1877 - c. 1979)
  • Linotype (1886 - 1975) Faces Compared to Foundry Type
  • Phototypesetting (c. 1954-1985) Type Characteristics
  • Strike-on and Photo Headline Devices (1950s - c. 1975)
  • Computer-Generated Typesetting (1985-Present)

• HALFTONE PICTURE REPRODUCTIONS
  • Print Image Differences between Offset and Letterpress Halftones

• CONCLUSION

• APPENDIX: IDENTIFYING PRINT BLEMISHES

The following sections are included:

• First-line inspection

• Functional inks an patterns

• DOVIDs/ISIS

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• What is Raman and How Can it Help?

• Experimental

• Results on Comparative Analysis of Black Ballpoint Inks

• Real Cases

• Results on Crossed Lines

• Conclusions

• References

The following sections are included:

• ICAI, FFE, Roster 10/99

• CONSERVATION RELATED ORGANIZATIONS

• REGIONAL CONSERVATION ORGANIZATIONS

• CONSERVATION DEGREE PROGRAMS