Recently, many people have begun to buy prints (lithographs, etchings, woodcuts, etc.) by major modern artists (Picasso, Chagall, Braque, Dali, Miro, Matisse, Warhol, etc.) from online sites, both at fixed prices and at auction (from sites like eBay and Setdart). Unfortunately, many, if not most, of the offerings are fraudulent. Some sellers claim that junky reproductions (like plates from Dali's Biblia Sacra and Divine Comedy) are worth thousands of dollars. Worse yet, many sellers forge signatures and certificates of authenticity. This guide will help you to avoid the pitfalls and to buy smart. I NAME THE NAMES OF SEVERAL DOZEN CROOKS WHO SELL ON THE INTERNET. Sent as an email attachment, so there is no shipping charge. Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back. Many of the worst crooks on the internet are up in arms about this report, and for good reason. Unfortunately, eBay executives like Bill Cobb, even though they know about the fraud, do nothing. The crooks discussed are: Signinsignout, xxcenturycolors, tcdyson (Tim Dyson), artbanky, rogallery, yartbank, mzkantiques, stressmeout30, tidouda, osguil, kunstgalerie, benwulun, spookie68, artintherightplace (and his new identity, artthou_wherefor), penrickcollections, poormansestatesales, gallery015b, millenium_art, ctrzaska, lithographart (and his new identity, freedofdowntown), grandgalerie (and his new identity, legrandpalais), madelinesart, classicbooks, baruchhasem, sartenejas, farrellpedo ("The Print Archive"), jcbricabrac, bazuk2005, art.c0m, booboo4903, sur-papier, kostko18, carriageclocks, ejfineart (and his other identity, authentic-art-from-20th-century-masters, which he changed to only-fine-art), mikevoltage, masterprintsxx, jason6957, plgili, sparklermagic, lovethepicture, jellybelly7197, mzkfineart, graingergallery, moderndays, ericthecrusher, oldno.14, dandrews02, sami9605, watcurb, dw-fine-art (Dominique Weiss), greatexpressions, fineartdiscounters, clfinearts, poormansestatesales, artfever-france, marinara88 (now changed to litoartexxi after being suspended by eBay for selling fakes. Also uses username arteuniversal), litografias, lovethepicture, wayanbebas, arte40, art-magister, art_and_auction, krisgallery, art-moderne, i4-treasure, ars4860, jordi5937, art.architecture, j.c.fineart, artplus4u, caroldeb57, bcib65, artdeal (a criminal named Alex Kreze in Slovakia), penrick collections, dublinkahnart, 7painted-buntings, tauroartgallery, schokopezi, skylab44 (and his other indentity, peterjan27), paris_arts75, okn321, artandinsects, workofgod191, iln-prints, interartgalerie, one-leonardo, joe11110000, aesthetics_fine_art, movie-movies, thekollector25, passion.estampes-it, 4611sergio, corsart, borgy6qa1, stevenskf, snowwhiteandthe7, thebullfighter, terrypgr, dalisurrealism, secessionart, kunib55, artifacts23, hobbybook_lady, fineartvalue, 2006valbona, undertonecity, deco-paris, collectablearttreasures, .owl, consignmart203, shesmine, dylaravita, rjw_shop, jimstimpson, dynamicsjimbo, realart4u, schatz36, salesofourstuff, sky-mobiles, mexxwell02, picartgallery, atelierrosenberg, rludwick1234, sutterfieldconsignment, morrisq3, prestigecollectible, kathryn2193, apollofineart, theartexpert, mrhaney4, vanity-blue, 24hunk, miguel65, frogypond, cas6, kingst, cadjor, multiple-business, takithe, artonyar, mecknes, estateclearence, okn321, art_passion_galerie, roumagnou123, exlart, matbri, unixell, 8silga8, nolis888, machins66, angelique92150, bbgrupo ("underground wordpress com"), pearlartcouple, dougivy, marinart, fairsales1974, fairsales1976 (these last two are both Jeffrey Hauser, a criminal living in Scottsdale, Arizona). ***** Also, there are several independent websites specializing in selling fake prints. Examples include artbrokerage(dot)com (perhaps the worst), Celebrity Art Gallery (run by Gerard Marti, in Hawaii), europeanworldgallery(dot)com, and elithographs(dot)com (run by Olga Zoria). And then there are the overpriced junk dealers like Ro Gallery (rogallery) and Spaightwood Gallery (Spaightwood Galleries has lots of stuff with fake signatures too).... EGE (Everything Goes Enterprises, a.k.a. USA Auction Liquidators, a.k.a. Robert Coker) sells overpriced junk and worthless reproductions--many of their descriptions are extremely inaccurate, but at least their terms of sale are honest: they won't take any responsibility for anything they say or write, all sales are final, if you buy a fake, tough luck. setdart.com, an online auction house in Spain, sells lots of fakes simply because they don't have an expert in prints and thus have no idea of what they're doing. And masterworksfineart(dot)com, which has a selection of authentic works and a selection of reproductions, and doesn't let you know which is which (although their distinction between "hand-signed" and "hand-signed with a guaranteed signature" is interesting). And of course, any work of art with a certificate of authenticity from Herman Darvick or Daniel Hersh is pretty much guaranteed to be fake. And John Re (a.k.a. John Ree, art.antiques.and.collectables AND hamptons_on_the_water) sells only fakes. And he knows it.
