Antique fraud allegaions

[MrBern]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/garden/22hobbs.html

John Hobbs, a London antiques dealer known for superb English and Continental furniture, stratospheric prices and wealthy American clients, had been accused by his longtime restorer of selling fakes.

deception and audacity on an extraordinary scale.

MR. HOBBS insisted that he used Mr. Buggins only for restoration and making authorized copies of antiques.

Records from Mr. Buggins’s workshop appear to tell a different story. Photographs illustrate how he transformed plain, relatively inexpensive pieces of furniture into high-end antiques.

Mr. Buggins insists that until the time of his lawsuit with Mr. Hobbs, he was unaware that his works were being offered for sale as antiques. “I’m absolutely stunned,” he said.

flier, center, from John Hobbs, for an “Italian early-19th- century” table. Dennis Buggins, Mr. Hobbs’s restorer, said he made the piece from odd parts, like a panel that originally joined the two end sections of a wardrobe, top, and a set of legs

 

[dhermann1]

Anyone who has watched that great series "Lovejoy" is not surprised at this. The antiques and antiquities market is a real pool full of sharks. Caveat emptor!
Remember the little brouhaha at the Getty Museum a few years ago? Almost put them out of business. A phoney 6th century BC statue of Apollo, I believe it was. And how about the alleged stone sarcophagus with Jesus's name inscribed?

 

[Tomasso]

The antiques and antiquities market is a real pool full of sharks. Caveat emptor!

Yep.