With the exception of the fashion world, there are few other industries which face such copying and fraudulent behavior as the world of art does. Each year there are thousands of ancient coins, artifacts from Ancient China and Egypt and pieces of art which are produced to mimic the original, and then sold for the same cost as the original would be priced. This means that many collectors get scammed and lose money, with nothing to show for it but a fake piece of art. Naturally you need to do all that you can to avoid buying fakes but sometimes they are so well done that it is hard to tell. In order to be able to offer you some tips on avoiding buying fake pieces, we spoke to the curator of the Sadigh Gallery here in New York, and here is what she had to say.
Online
Buying coins and artifacts online is just not a good idea and if you can avoid it then you certainly should. If you decide to buy online then there are 3 occasions when this might be alright, the first is if you are able to visit and see the piece, the second is if it is from a highly reputable and verified seller like a gallery or an art shop, and the third would be if it is low priced and worth the risk. Beyond these three reasons, avoid buying online.
Do Your Homework
In order to get the piece that you want without getting scammed, it isn’t enough to simply know which piece you are looking for. Instead you need to know exactly what you are looking for, what material, what design flaws, what marks of authenticity and also what you should look for in a copy. Coins would be a great example here, many of the fake coins are made with different metals which is a tell-tale sign, others are too perfect to be the real thing and many have poor engraving or obvious marks which wouldn’t marry up with the real piece. Get as much information as you can on the piece that you are looking for and use that as your guide. If you have the piece in your hand then you can even look on your phone in the store, to see if all the details add up.
If In Doubt
There is no sure-fire way to guarantee that you won’t buy a fake piece of art but the best rule of thumb to have is that if there is any doubt in your mind about the piece’s authenticity, don’t buy it. Of course you can make an exception for a low cost piece but anything which ill set you back quite a bit of money should be treated in this way. If you follow your gut with this then you may occasionally miss out on a genuine piece, but the positive is that you can ensure that you won’t be losing money to a scam.
Be careful out there art lovers!
