How do you know your limited edition giclee print is genuine or fake?

PJ Campbell,
owner

Piccadilly’s Fine Art Galleries

Part 1

What’s wrong with this picture?

With state of the art giclee printing, it can be very difficult to tell an authentic reproduction from a counterfeit.

I had my first run in with fakes about fifteen months ago when a couple, “newbie” collectors, came into my gallery. They had purchased work that they thought was from Thomas Arvid. The knock-offs were faded and I immediately thought they were fake.

As I listened to their story about how they came across these “sold out” prints, all the signs were present: the so called art dealer was not authorized by Thomas Arvid, the prints had been sold out for over two years so they were hard to come by, they were priced at 5,000.00 each but if they purchased one, they would get the other one free (always, if it sounds too good, walk away) and finally the transaction was taking place in the back of a van.

Remember, common sense tells you that if it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true.

I immediately pulled out Arvid’s inventory list to check the size, the date and specifics of each piece. The most glaring discrepancy came from the size of the fakes: each was reduced by two inches from the original size that Arvid had intended.

With dismay, the couple looked at me and said, “what do we do?”

Part II

Where to go from here?