| eBay may be a great tool for modern day | | | | cashing in on the eBay art auction scam. It's |
| painters to profit from their work online as | | | | disheartening to know that a fraud/conartist |
| their paintings usually sell for hundreds or | | | | can profit from his crime by writing a book |
| perhaps a few thousand dollars at most. So | | | | on it, but thats just the way the cookie |
| investors are able to afford to take a risk | | | | crumbles. |
| on the art. | | | | |
| | | | Here's some of Kenneth Walton quotes from an |
| But when paintings start selling for very | | | | interview with the Wired magazine.. |
| large amounts of money, art collectors seem | | | | |
| skeptical to gamble online. One highly | | | | "My description of the Diebenkorn painting |
| notorious case of art fraud that didn't help | | | | was just a complete fable to make me look |
| the cause was back in 2000 when a Californian | | | | like a hapless everyman rube who found this |
| lawyer who went by the name of Kenneth Walton | | | | painting in his garage, didn't know it's by |
| sold a fake Richard Diebenkorn painting for | | | | Diebenkorn and puts it up and there's these |
| $135,805. | | | | letters in the corner but he doesn't know to |
| | | | mention and they just happen to appear in the |
| Very simply, he played dumb and pretended | | | | corner of one of the photographs. |
| that he stumbled across the piece at a garage | | | | |
| sale, additionally he also helped the eBay | | | | I was forced to quit selling on eBay and eBay |
| auction along by recruiting his accomplice or | | | | banned me for life and I had to give up my |
| business partner to repetively keep bidding | | | | law license, so I really didn't know what to |
| on the work. It was eventually found to be a | | | | do for my career." |
| forgery signed by Walton, which later got him | | | | |
| plenty of media coverage and the attention | | | | "I don't know if I could necessarily call it |
| from the watchful eye of the FBI. | | | | redemptive. It was very cathartic, and it was |
| | | | a way for me personally to come to terms with |
| Well anyway, he has recently written a book | | | | what had happened. Even if no one buys it, it |
| "Fake: Forgery, Lies, & eBay" based on the | | | | was great for me to go through the process of |
| previously mentioned crime. Obviously he | | | | writing. |
| seems to be exploiting this incedent and | | | | |