Bear Thompson - fake or not?

Thank-you all-fakes and komokwa for sharing your knowledge on this (and there is lots here)!
The frog mask in post 28 - the one with the cedar bark would fool me.
So no two pieces would be the same?

 

The fake in #7 sold for $525.00! I sure would be upset if I was the buyer and found out it was fake.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bear-Thomps...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

I was wondering about the one in #7, but hadn't checked yet for closing price. $525. I guess dishonesty pays.....
As mentioned, the addition of real cedar-bark to these fakes does make them look more real; a disquieting development.

As far as no two being the same, that is generally true with good artists.

A major contemporary artist, Robert Davidson, Susan Point and many others would only make one of any design; they may do a series of similar ones, but normally artistic inspiration will intervene even if they try to do the same item again.

However, there are minor artists who produce identical or nearly identical items; I'll mention Artie George, who is able to make enough small items, key-chain fobs, or such, to stock rotating displays at many shops. The items are small, and the designs have been simplified, so he can do it. He's native, and the items are hand-made; thus they are genuine, though not especially valuable.

And in the past, the same kind of marketing pressure resulted in artists (I'll mention Ellen Neel, or Eli Tait) creating standard designs that they could do quickly and repeatedly, and these do look very much alike. Ellen Neel ran a stand in Stanley Park for many years, and had a series of standard designs so that one of her 8" "totemland" poles would be quick to make, and she could keep her stand stocked. The kids helped carve and paint them, and so in later years she'd often sign them and stamp "made by the Kwakiutl Indians in Stanley Park" on them.

So if one sees an identical copy of a contemporary mask, it is pretty certain that it is not genuine; and if say Robert Davidson was asked to make a duplicate, he would sign it; (one of the signs of a fake is that it appears to be nearly new, but is unsigned.)
When considering the multiple copy issue, one would take into consideration the stature of the artist; the more famous, the less likely to make duplicates.
And many of the fakes are based on real older pieces, by artists whose work survives in very limited numbers, and based on pieces pictured in the museum publications....so one would have to believe that either the piece has been stolen from the Burke museum, or that a new piece by Charles Edenshaw has surfaced, and surprise, it looks exactly like the one in the Burke.

 

Another type of duplication is found in "flats," NW coast carvings intended to be hung on the wall, and almost two-dimensional.
Again, these are often simplified designs, and lesser artists will produce a lot of hummingbirds, for example, nearly identical. Same reason as above; they want to sell a lot of them in many locations.

Major artists probably won't be making these, and I haven't actually seen fakes of the flats; but it is an instance where one does see duplicates by native artists.

 

Thanks all_fakes, great information!
I wonder if the auction house has any idea that piece is a fake? They have been in business for 50 years (on their website), I'm sure their reputation is important to their business.

 

I don't know, CX....most auction houses have a disclaimer in their auction terms, typically: "No representation is made as to the age, authenticity or ethnic origin of the items. Buyers must inspect and satisfy themselves as to the nature of the items on which they are bidding."
But auction houses vary greatly in how they use that disclaimer. The most reputable will not sell an item they believe to be fake, despite their disclaimer; others will knowingly sell fakes, but will be very careful about their descriptions; others will rely 100% on the disclaimer, and if questioned, will say they are only repeating what the consignor told them.

A fun example: several years ago at a live Allard auction, there was a frame of small bone carvings, with a little bone name-plate, saying "Eskimo carvings, collected on St. Lawrence Island." I knew them to be 100% fakes, made in Indonesia (a topic for another thread, I suppose), and I was on good terms with the auctioneer, so I took him aside and said, you know, these are fake. He said, "We'll have to do something about that." So he removed the bone nameplate, and when bidding was opened, he described it as "Contemporary bone carvings, most representing Alaskan themes."

Technically entirely correct. There are ebay sellers who do the same thing.

 

My wife thought of a plan: contact the auction house, tell them "I represent a collector's group, and we'd like to invite the artist to speak; we'd pay good money. Or if the artist is not available, we'd like to print his bio in our literature - we're sure the seller would have researched the carver. Oh, and by the way, I'm in close touch with many of the NW tribes, and they'd like to honor him with a feast...can you tell me which tribe he's from, so we can have the appropriate ceremony?"
Just to see what they said.....

 

lol, might be worth a try and see what they say.
Yes, the disclaimer is there, but if I was the buyer I would be looking to get my money back. I would like to think that a good seller could be fooled but when the mistake is pointed out they would cheerfully refund the money and hopefully learn from it.
I know on ebay it would be a lost cause but with an auction house it might make them aware of the fakes and to look closely at native art in the future.

 

Well now that you mention Allard Auctions, Steve......here is my last one way personal conversation from 2013 with the owner.....
I don't bother helping them anymore , or buying from them as they have turned to the darkside.....

Hi Steve :
It's been a while & I hope this note finds you well.
As usuall I like to peek at your auctions to see what's going on on your side of the country, & look for that gem to add to my collection, & as we've discussed before I'm also casting an eye around for those Indonesian carvings flooding the Indian Art market & to offer up my expertise on listings I find to be off the mark.
So if I may...
Portland 0/4 13
#51. is an Iroquois Rattle use by the False Face society
#60. is a $10 art card with so much foxing it's worthless
#64. is also an art card
#106. is a southern style Makah canoe
#142. is a Chiefs Raven Rattle
#195. are Chinese rush baskets made for export
# 229, 230 , & 260 are all Indonesian Fakes.
Seattle 0/4 13
#532. are Alaskan Eskimo hand held dance fans
#533. is an Indonesian Fake
#545. is an African Tutsi friendship weaving

" To the best of my knowledge "

The last time we talked about the Indonesian carvings copying NWC Indian designs you said.........and I quote.

"Hey Stephen, Thanks and yes, I do know that. That's why I use "style" in the
description.

And, even though they are foreign carved, people still like them and pay
well for the pieces. So we always have a few. I guess it's "a profit thing".

Steve Allard


Heck, there's nothing I could say about your desire to put food on the table , & your stance was honest and straight forward, but looking at your upcoming auction listings I find that I have to ask..." What happened to the word STYLE , when listing those Indonesian fakes ? "

Your ad says...
"*We have the best selection of NW Coast carvings and relics, Indian baskets, and antique tradebeads we've had in a long time!"

If you're promoting those Indonesian fAKES as authentic NWC 1st Nations carvings......then your best selection ......well ... it really isn't !
So there you have it.
I've said my piece & you can do with the information what you will.
Just know this , I've only taken the time and effort to contact you out of respect for you and your business , which i hold in high regard........& wish to keep doing so.
Respectfully yours,
Stephen
The Red Cedar Gallery
Montreal, Canada

 

Don't bet on that !!

 

And I could go on.......and on.............and on !!!

 

No two carvings SHOULD be the same......but All-Fakes makes valid points why some are .
Years ago a famous artist whom everyone enjoyed was caught making a copy of a mask he made for a top Gallery's special client and all hell broke loose.
Almost every major gallery shunned that artist for several years.

Today, he's back to being one of the more important collectible artists, & the past is...well.....in the past !!

 

Thanks komokwa. The response from the auction house is sad. I do wonder though if they had to refund money a few times if they would change their mind on selling these items.
Maybe (I'm hoping) some buyers will pick up on this thread and contact one of you fellows about their purchase.
Thanks again for starting this thread and sharing your knowledge - I had no idea there were so many fakes out there.

 

Komokwa: Now I know why I haven't been to an Allard auction for years....and as soon as I mentioned the lack of Indonesian "flats," I realized I had seen some. As always, your collection of photos is amazing.

 

So many fakes, we could go on and on. I haven't talked about the bone "fetishes" yet.....or the baskets....
But yes, there are more fakes out there, and a bigger industry making them, than most folks realize. Is one reason Komokwa and myself are so incensed, and have been for years.
It is a long story about the bone items, but in brief, in 2004 the US Wildlife folks busted an Indonesian fraud ring; they were illegally obtaining ivory from endangered species, shipping it to Indonesia to be carved, then sending it back to Alaska to be sold as genuine native items. After the bust the illegal items were destroyed; but they also confiscated 10,000 small bone carvings, made from local cow (water buffalo to us) bone.
These otherwise legal carvings were auctioned off; so you could imagine most were bought by wholesalers and large dealers; and also, the 10,000 represented stock on hand, likely only a few months production. These hit the ebay market shortly afterward, and that's why you'll see so many frames of "Eskimo bone fetishes." Such as http://www.ebay.com/itm/252121468521?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
This is an Ethiopian style item, so far as I've been able to determine; bead importers have been making rip-offs of Maori, African, and all sorts of other pendants for beading since the 1960s, openly sold by country of origin, usually Indonesia.....and more recently, secondary sellers have realized that they can be repacked as NW or Eskimo antiques....and buyers don't notice the designs are from elsewhere, because they don't subscribe to the bead import catalogs. See http://hohbead.com and search for bone pendants.


But imagine, since 2004, 10,000 fake bone items have been made in Indonesia, every month. Where do you suppose those are sold?
I'll have to find my link to the Fish and game article, it is eye-opening.

 

http://www.fws.gov/news/NewsReleases/showNews.cfm?newsId=3728CDF1-65BF-03E7-2EB6B9419ABFC5C1

Sorry, it was 2005.....
"In addition, the collection includes more than 10,000 carved cow bone amulet pendants carved into various shapes, including harpoons, birds, eagles, eagle claws, bears, bear skulls, waves, fishhooks wolf heads, antlers and walrus."

 

So the items in the auction are carved on cow bone rather than antlers and not done in the time period mentioned in the listing? That is so much money to spend on something that isn't true. The seller does offer a money back guarantee so maybe that would make someone comfortable to purchase from them.
So it seems that any area of native art should be suspect if purchasing from someone that you don't know, no matter what they may write on the listings or webpage

 

So the items in the auction are carved on cow bone rather than antlers and not done in the time period mentioned in the listing?

That would be my opinion. Indonesian water buffalo, called cow by the locals.
It is harder to ID small bone items from photos than say, large wood masks. But I have monitored the sale of around 300 of these lance-shaped items on ebay, over the last 10 years, from maybe 50 sellers; the lances/gaming pieces/fetishes, whatever you call them are commonly found in framed collections which also contain items direct from the import catalogs, many based on Egyptian, East Indian, Maori originals.
Eskimo artifacts are typically fragmentary; and what are the chances that these 13 have remained together over centuries?
Or maybe the Ethiopians have been copying Eskimo pendants? Or the Eskimos of centuries ago copied the designs of contemporary Ethiopians, via time-travel?

I was alerted to this many years ago at an auction while looking at a frame of these.....a kind bystander said to me "You know these are fakes, right? I'm a beader, and they are found in all the bead-importers catalogs." Sure enough, they are. But if you don't know that to start with, how would you know to check the hohbead catalog, or to google Ethiopian pendants?



Here are the search results for Ethiopian bone pendants:
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...98B2FF7B627440431420B6CAB674B1092&FORM=IQFRBA

 

You can get bags of such items from the bead importers, 50 pendants for $25. Resell them....I mentioned an ebayer now NARU? He got $175 for a single item, having written on the back "Glacier Bay, 1904"

I bought a bag of them....here are some....


I've been asked, "but they can't be imported pendants from the bead-makers, many don't have holes." Right. The importers figured out they were being sold as Eskimo artifacts, so they stopped putting holes in them.
One of the bead importers even has a program where you can provide a photo, and they'll make pendants to your specifications; minimum order 100 pieces, for around $50 as I recall.

 

Notice how some are very dark? Some of the catalogs give you the choice of buying them white or "tea-stained." So I took some of the white ones I'd bought, put them in tea for a while, and yep, that is exactly the color you get; a short dip for the medium color, a long dip for the very dark.

Some are very generic, but others clearly made to look vaguely NW. Darn...have I hijacked my own thread?