Bear Thompson - fake or not?

A thread on fakes.....I've seen dozens of items signed "Bear Thompson" recently, from at least three ebay sellers; and there are quite a few of them on Pinterest.

To me, these look like common imported fakes, with a few genuine touches added on, like real cedar-bark hair, or operculum shells, in one case. I wonder who is doing the modifications, and dumping them into "estates."

example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/221908953992?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

I would think that if the two people whose "estates" were the source of this fellow's wares were real collectors of PNW native works, you might have heard of them? Not that it matters a great deal, since even avid collectors can be fooled, of course.

 

Resurrection of Rants and Raves??

My post # 562

C'mon Steve....these are the worst of the worst fakes.
They're all the same designs as the regular known fakes but someone is roughing them up , gooing them up , and putting cedar bark on some in a clear attempt to defraud buyers.
& signing a non existent name .....that no one's even bothering to check out......

It's a joke !

But lemme just say this.....those folks bidding and buying and paying good money for these items ....deserve what they get ....... IN SPADES !!!

That said......if you look at what a decent NWC mask goes for on eBlech...& look at what these new breed of fakes are getting , with the odd exception, the fakes sell for under $200, & the authentic ones get higher prices.

The big problem is auction houses.....as I now see California Auctions with one of the fakes at $350 !!

That lends credence to the item....down the road !

 

So, is it 10",15", or 28"??

 

as if that even matters......they're just throwin stuff out there.....

 

Komokwa writes "someone is roughing them up , gooing them up , and putting cedar bark on some in a clear attempt to defraud buyers."

Yes, exactly. I tried writing an ebay guide, just in case somebody was checking out "Bear Thompson."
In the past that trick has sometimes brought some folks out of the woodwork......I managed to annoy the heck out of "Freddy Fencepost" once, anyhow.

But as an avid follower of fakery I find several things interesting about the Bear Thompson items. It is pretty uncommon, or used to be, to find any NW coast fakes with anything real attached, and I swear the chest we've both seen has what appear to be real opercula. Who would bother? And many do have some cedar-bark. That is more energy than most of the fakers expend.
And there are so many of them appearing, all at once, from multiple sellers...I find that curious also. Possibly a single importer has adopted the "Bear" thing, just as another did several years ago with the fake "Ye Olde Curiosity Shop" labels.
One trick I've known some fake-sellers to use is to intentionally saturate the market, even if prices are low; because over time that lends credibility. That is the trick used by ebayer Calabar/Ransom.h.h; sell one or two fakes every week, for 15 years or so.
Certainly true that the buyers deserve it; though I've often speculated that some of the buyers know they are fakes, and simply hope to resell for more than they paid.
And it just annoys me to see a new batch of fakes. So I thought I'd vent a bit, choosing one of the worst examples. I agree certainly with post #562...I rarely write the sellers, it just raises my blood pressure; but sometimes is informative about the motives/knowledge of the seller.

So, here is my speculation: Floyd Fagan aka "Freddy Fencepost" is known for carving fake masks, and putting fake signatures on them; and in the past I've seen sellers with large numbers - up to 30 - of his fakes, being sold as "from an estate." I kind of wonder if he has graduated to buying fakes and modifying them. The clumsiness of the "Bear" items reminds me of him, somehow.
If so, someone has probably seen "Bear Thompson" fakes at Vancouver BC flea markets.

(As Bakersgma mentions, nobody's ever heard of the "collectors" mentioned in the auction listings.)

I'm just venting and ranting, I guess.

 

I hadn't seen the California Auctioneers one; but there it is, another of the Bear Thompson fakes.
http://californiauctioneers.auction...841&archive=n&lso=lotnumasc&pagenum=2&lang=En

Estimate $700-$1100. Very distressing.
They are everywhere, and rather suddenly, it seems to me.

 

We should be talking about this on the phone & not bothering all the nice antiquers here......but for the sake of ..."I've learned a lot here bout stuff I didn't know about".....I'l continue the dialog & expand my opinions....tomorrow.

If ....they are everywhere & suddenly...that can only mean one thing......a container from Bali !

I'm not sure yet that it's Floyd.....but the more I talk it thru, the better handle I'll have on the situation......& it's a bad situation !

 

This is definitely interesting and informative... please do keep discussing it in the forum!

 

Strange... this listing says 15" in the title and description (which looks about right based on the photos), and then the seller added this to the bottom of the description: "NOTE NOT 28" but the 10" listed in the description!!!!!"

Um, where did the 28" come from... I didn't see it in the description. And to my eye, it clearly looks taller than 10" in the photos.

 

seller has so many listings he likely mistook one for another.....

 

The top one is listed now by a seller who's been offloading these onto ebay.
The bottom was on ebay years ago.
As you can see the recent one has a darker patina, & scuffing meant to make the mask look older.

This is just the 1st of many I'm going to show so you can get an idea of the extent of the problem.

Of course the main overriding problem is that to the average joe & joelle these may look like authentic 1st Nations masks......but they are recent Indonesian carvings out of Bali and other towns.

Tip #1--- it is very rare for a Northwest Coast artist to make the same mask twice.

 

Same seller has this one up now.!!

To my mind this is the quintessential FAKE.
The original In the book SPIRIT FACES , is a Don Yeomans Haida mask....and all the rest....each & every one , are Indonesian fakes !




Here are just some of the others that have been for sale in the past several years...... I mean....REALLY !!!

 

It's a shame they put in so much effort to making fakes. If they did the same type of work but with original designs, and took credit as the creators, couldn't they create their own following? Or would the $$ always be much less?

 

Now to address BEAR THOMPSON......

This is just one of those signed masks up now. Signed Bear Thompson - 1961.
I contacted the seller......what an S.O.B. !!!!

The original mask made in 1994 is in SPIRIT FACES on page 51 ...& it's by the world renowned Haida artist Robert Davidson.......all the rest.......are Indonesian FAKES.

Signing them or any like them is Fraud......but these guys are making a killing off them, & hurting the genuine native art market..!



Here's more that don't BEAR any signature ....




Now PLEASE take notice of the last one.
This is what's got All-Fakes & my hackles up !!
This well carved well scuffed POC....has what looks like actual Canadian pacific coast RED CEDAR BARK attached to the top of the mask.
Again signed Bullshit Thompson.......






And here's another that sold on eBay by the same Primitive *****.....seller ....
Signed , sealed and delivered !
And the seller says ...years of ritual use !!! Mahahahah !!! My Butt !!!!

Bear doesn't exist ...& all these puppies are Indonesian carvings....once benign ...now meant to separate buyers ( IGNORANT Buyers..) from their hard earned cash !!!

And to boot.....it's all a Federal Crime in the USA , to do so !!!!!

 

Here's a bronze Dogfish ( shark) mask by Ben Davidson.....at least it's genuine.

Yes Pat the Indonesians are some of the best carvers in the world, but their own cultural carvings do not generate much more than tourist fancy......
BUT....
I suspect that there are dark forces with ...lot's o' loot...behind the massive influx of fakes from Bali !!!

 

Yes, dark forces...when I first started watching the NW imports there were a few major importers, and many had online catalogs, which at least were honest as to their origin: "replicas carved by our craftsmen in Bali."

So one could communicate with sellers, or others, and point out that a particular item had to be fake, if it was identical to one in the catalogs. I suspect they found it more profitable to sell in quantity to middlemen, who would likely neglect to mention the origin of the items to the ultimate purchasers. And none of them now have catalogs available to the public.

Even though customers of course owe it to themselves to know what they are buying, and buyer beware always applies, it is incredibly hurtful to struggling artists to have an industry dedicated to the production and marketing of fakes.
I much appreciate your collection of photos, komo; my own is much more modest.

 

As to price differential, a Balinese replica, in one of the few shops selling them honestly, might be $50. Sold dishonestly as genuine, often $200, $300; and I've seen fakes go for thousands, rarely.
So there is an incentive for dishonesty. But in the USA, it is indeed a federal crime, 5 years in jail, $500,000 fine. Doubled for a dealer. Pretty stupid, but prosecution is very rare. I did have a contact in the Indian Arts and Crafts board around 2004, and she allowed me to make some suggestions, and also explained why prosecution is difficult.
For one, many of the fakes represent Canadian cultural objects, and may technically not violate US law

 

Ya....I need to get a life......i have over 1700...and it doesn't make a dent.

I was just thinking that this new batch of dark scuffed masks....& other carved images is showing up now because the older clean one's were not being bought anymore .....I mean it's all about what product will move !! $$$$$