Re:How a Sneaky Furniture Expert Ripped Off the Rich and Tri...
by at-fates-hands on Monday July 16, 2018 @11:52AM
(#17542273)
After reading some books on art forgeries and the underground art market, someone recommended I check out the wine industry and told me it was just as bad if not worse.
I'd point people to another great Vanity Fair article about wine fraud:
Re:How a Sneaky Furniture Expert Ripped Off the Rich and Tri...
by 98codes on Monday July 16, 2018 @02:21PM
(#17543630)
A similar documentary[0] around the art world blew my mind -- not only was one man fooling people into thinking his paintings were real, he was the one making them.
Re:How a Sneaky Furniture Expert Ripped Off the Rich and Tri...
by basicplus2 on Monday July 16, 2018 @04:34AM
(#17539646)
he recognized in them the handiwork of Pallot’s gilder and carver.
“I often use the same people on restorations, and I’m intimate with their strengths and weaknesses,”
Hooreman says. He knew that one of them, for example, was fond of painting a coat of melted-down licorice on the surface of reproductions, to make new wood look old and dirty.
In 2012, Hooreman saw a pair of ployants—folding benches—that were for sale in the Aaron gallery showroom and were billed as the onetime property of Princess Louise Élisabeth, the eldest daughter of King Louis XV, and acted on a hunch.
“I licked the chair and voilà,” he says. “I could taste the fraud.”
Re:How a Sneaky Furniture Expert Ripped Off the Rich and Tri...
by imron on Monday July 16, 2018 @01:48PM
(#17543296)
Sure but the reason the licorice was used was to simulate accumulated dirt and grime, so he's either licking licorice or he's licking centuries of dirt and grime. Lucky for him it was licorice!
Re:How a Sneaky Furniture Expert Ripped Off the Rich and Tri...
by jaggederest on Monday July 16, 2018 @03:28PM
(#17544243)
I think it's very interesting that they don't use radiometric dating, like carbon dating, to establish the age of the parts of the chair on an absolute basis.
I suppose the forgeries could be constructed using extremely old wood, but even then, the glue or other parts would have to be relatively modern, and would provide a contrasting age.
Re:How a Sneaky Furniture Expert Ripped Off the Rich and Tri...
by evasote on Monday July 16, 2018 @07:11PM
(#17545962)
Carbon Dating is typically for things at least 500 years old. While that might be useful for furniture, it wouldn't apply here.
Glue is useful - an older chair would have used hide glue, made from real animals. If a modern, non-hide glue was used that's an immediate giveaway. However, modern furniture builders still use it quite a lot in high end work today
Re:How a Sneaky Furniture Expert Ripped Off the Rich and Tri...
by jaggederest on Friday July 20, 2018 @01:39PM
(#17577136)
There's other types of radiometric dating, like looking at isotope ratios to see whether it was made before or after atmospheric nuclear testing, if there are parts that would be different (typically metal pieces)
Re:How a Sneaky Furniture Expert Ripped Off the Rich and Tri...
by airstrike on Monday July 16, 2018 @08:49AM
(#17540864)
Why can’t you like both? Surely you can appreciate that the French monarchy had a non-zero impact in the French culture and identity that remains to this day
Re:How a Sneaky Furniture Expert Ripped Off the Rich and Tri...
by BrandoElFollito on Tuesday July 17, 2018 @09:41AM
(#17549646)
Sure, let's cut some throats and see some blood flowing. /s
I am a French republican at heart, proud of my country, and see our history as a complicated layer of events which all brought something in. As much Versailles as the Revolution, as the years of Christianity and the sweet laicity we have today.
[0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5728684/
I'd point people to another great Vanity Fair article about wine fraud:
A Vintage Crime https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/07/wine-fraud-rudy-k...
[0] http://artandcraftfilm.com/
“I often use the same people on restorations, and I’m intimate with their strengths and weaknesses,”
Hooreman says. He knew that one of them, for example, was fond of painting a coat of melted-down licorice on the surface of reproductions, to make new wood look old and dirty.
In 2012, Hooreman saw a pair of ployants—folding benches—that were for sale in the Aaron gallery showroom and were billed as the onetime property of Princess Louise Élisabeth, the eldest daughter of King Louis XV, and acted on a hunch.
“I licked the chair and voilà,” he says. “I could taste the fraud.”
That's dedication. I don't even want to imagine the years of dirt and cruft he'd be licking if the chair was authentic.
Orson Welles’ F is for Fake is essential viewing if you’re interested in forgery.
Although, Elmyr has a little more of a superhero-esque aura around his forgeries than this guy.
I suppose the forgeries could be constructed using extremely old wood, but even then, the glue or other parts would have to be relatively modern, and would provide a contrasting age.
Glue is useful - an older chair would have used hide glue, made from real animals. If a modern, non-hide glue was used that's an immediate giveaway. However, modern furniture builders still use it quite a lot in high end work today
La Marseillaise is 'the national identity' more than Versailles.
I am a French republican at heart, proud of my country, and see our history as a complicated layer of events which all brought something in. As much Versailles as the Revolution, as the years of Christianity and the sweet laicity we have today.