Fake Paintings how to identify fake artwork before you buy it

Tips by Dr. Mark Sublette an art expert on how to spot fake artwork. Learn the keys when buying artwork of what to look for and questions to ask. Learn what forgers do to fake paintings to look important.

Fake Paintings how to identify fake artwork before you buy it

One of the biggest problems with dealing in early American paintings is that you have fakes and frauds. One of the reasons you come to a person like me is my expertise and my specialty. I'm going to tell you, “Yes, this is right,” or “no it isn't.” What I want to tell you today is how you, as a consumer, can look at something and potentially maybe have an idea that it is a fake or a fraud – something that was made to actually try to fool the person who's buying it. One of the things we see are old paintings, and I see this on eBay a lot, I'm afraid. You'll see an old painting that goes up, and it has an attribution. If it's attributed to an artist but isn't signed, that's a red flag. One of the most common things people do when they're trying to do a fake and a fraud on an early American painting (is) they take an old painting that might be an OK painting – that might be worth two to four hundred dollars, but it has a little look like some other artists. Like, in my case, I'll see Maynard Dixon's – they try to attribute it to him. Often what they do is they write Maynard Dixon or M Dixon. First of all, if they date it, which often