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