Art fraud affects art collectors at all levels, from buyers who spend a few thousand dollars to art collectors and investors who buy multi-million dollar art. Unfortunately, many art buyers find out the truth long after they were duped by a dishonest seller, and rarely receive a refund.
Why have auction houses sold a Counterfeit Calder Sculpture over 75 times since 2004? bit.ly/CounterfeitCal…
— The Fine Art Blog (@thefineartblog) May 11, 2013
To con artists, Counterfeit Art is an appealing business with a low cost of goods. Patricia Cohen, The New York Times, stated "between 1996 and 2008, Knoedler earned approximately $60 million on fraudulent artworks and cleared $40 million in profits".
Earlier this year, the Calder Foundation documented a series of pink and black Sculptures, Lithographs and Textiles, all of which violate the Artist’s Intellectual Property Rights and are often fradulently misattributed to Alexander Calder.
One of the misappropriated works documented on the Calder Foundation website that caught our attention is a small metal sculpture that has sold at public auction over 75 times since 2004, at auction houses including Wright, Phillips, Drouot, Bloomsbury, Galerie Fischer, Van Ham.
Since 2004, the Sculpture has been misattributed over 40 times as a sculpture by Alexander Calder and more than 35 times as a sculpture created After Alexander Calder.
Documented as Alexander Calder Pink Elephant by Van Ham
Sold for $3,616 on 12/3/09
Sold for $3,616 on 12/3/09
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Documented as Alexander Calder L'Élephant Noir by Wright
Sold for $5,000 on 10/12/10
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So far in 2013, the sculpture has been sold more than four times by auction houses online and off,
including: artnet, Chantilly Encheres, Artprecium, Fraisse & Jabot.
Documented as After Alexander Calder Black Elephant by Fraisse & Jabon, 4/11/13
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You could say the small Counterfeit Sculpture misattributed to Alexander Calder has more aliases than Al Capone, and has been documented with a number of Titles:
- L'Élephant Noir
- Sun, Moon & Stars
- Celestial Elephant
- Black Elephant
- Pink Elephant
In fact, this small Sculpture not created by Alexander Calder has sold for almost $25,000., even though it was not conceived, designed, nor painted by Alexander Calder nor even authorized by anyone from the Calder Family or the Calder Estate.
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Google Search any one of the erroneous Titles above and/or or images shown in this Article, and you will see the Sculpture continues to be sold by unscrupulous art sellers.
Many auction sellers further the deception by accompanying the misattributed Calder Sculpture with a fraudulent “Certificate of Authenticity" also known as a "COA", allegedly written by George Gordon which also indicates that the Scultpure was approved by the Estate of the Alexander Calder which was never granted.
The mobile elements were loosely based upon and have been misappropriated from images that Calder made related to his projects for Braniff Airlines.
As we have written in the past in Fine Art or eBay Fake Art?, an Article by Joseph K. Levene , “Certificate of Authenticity” (COA) Fraud is rampant; there is nothing worse, no matter how well written, than a fake COA. The bottom-line is that no COA can transform a counterfeit Work of Art into an Authentic Work of Art, and the fraudulent certificate by George Gordon is no different. As the Calder Foundation states "As works of art, these unfortunate objects are of no interest and have no historical place in Calder's life and work".
However, one thing you will never see is a Calder Application Number which is necessary to demonstrate that a Work by Calder is genuine. Curiously, many of the auction houses that have offered this small misattributed sculpture as well as the Counterfeit Textiles and Lithographs also have sold Authentic Calders that do have Calder Application Numbers.
On May 1, 2013, Titled "Black Elephant", the Sculpture was sold for $4,715 by artnet with a Certificate of Authenticity; estimated $4,000–5,000, the counterfeit Calder attracted five bids.
Certificate of Authenticity included with artnet lot sold 5/1/13 for $4,715.
A summary of issues you should be aware of regarding this counterfeit sculpture:
- Offered in 2 colors, Pink or Black, neither authorized by Calder
- Offered for sale with a range of different titles
- The monograph signature "CA" that appears on the Sculpure is a forgery.
- There is no authorized edition of 999.
- Many purported sculptures have been sold repeatedly, each with the same edition number.
- The Certificate of Authenticity (COA) from George Gordon is counterfeit, pure fiction!
- Sometimes documented with a 1973-2002 date, which is impossible since Alexander Calder passed away in 1976.
- Other times, it is erroneously documented as a sculpture created in 1972 or 1973.
Everything about this Misattributed Sculpture allegedgly created in an edition of 999 is fiction, or to put it in Art terms, a blatant Counterfeit even though numerous galleries, brick and mortar auction houses and online auctions continue to sell it.
If you purchased one of these pink or black elephants, and thought it was an Authentic Sculpture by Alexander Calder, you need to realize the bad news; this purported Work is counterfeit, not created by Calder or the Calder Estate, and will never have any value similar to the Textiles and Lithographs also offered by sale by deceptive sellers.
