Business Finance Media Technology Policy Wealth Insights Interviews

Art Art Fairs Art Market Art Reviews Auctions Galleries Museums Interviews

Lifestyle Nightlife & Dining Style Travel Interviews

Power Lists Nightlife & Dining Art A.I. PR

About About Observer Advertise With Us Reprints

When Art Forgeries Are Exposed, the Fakes Don’t Simply Disappear

Some countries permit or even mandate the destruction of works deemed inauthentic; others regard that finality with suspicion, Dutch art investigator Arthur Brand told Observer. "Experts could be wrong. Something that doesn't seem right might turn out to be authentic."

This story begins where most would end. In late April, a father and daughter—Erwin Bankowski and Karolina Bankowska—pleaded guilty in Federal District Court in Brooklyn to selling counterfeit works attributed to such artists as Banksy, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol that had been produced by an artist in their native Poland whom they had commissioned. More than 200 of these fakes had been consigned to auction houses in the U.S., netting a total of around $2 million in sales. The pair will be sentenced in August, and are likely to serve time in prison before being deported to Poland.

Sign Up For Our Daily Newsletter

Thank you for signing up!

By clicking submit, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime.

The question is what will happen to those 200-plus paintings. Will they be destroyed? Will they be kept in government evidence lockers? Is there a chance they may find their way back into the art market? The court’s plea agreement with Bankowska stipulates that she “disclaims any ownership…right, title or interest” in any artworks previously sold and that she will “turn over to the government” any remaining fakes in her possession. What the government will do with those items—and what the buyers of these fakes will do with the paintings they purchased—remains unclear.

“I expect the items in government custody to remain there at least through sentencing and the resolution of any forfeiture or restitution issues,” Todd A. Spodek, the New York City lawyer who represented Karolina Bankowska, told Observer. After that, he doesn’t know. “Some works may be........

© Observer