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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;all_fakes, post: 440577, member: 55&quot;]Thanks for the link.</p><p>&nbsp; &nbsp; There is one interesting lesson in one of the listings.&nbsp; The link doesn&#039;t open for me on this PC, so I&#039;m going by memory; but one item is a bentwood box, painted in a NW Coast Native style, starting at $500, estimate $1000-$1500.</p><p>&nbsp; &nbsp; The lesson is not limited to Native items; but it illustrates what happens when an auction-house that does not specialize in Native items takes items on consignment from people who may - or may not - know anything about them.</p><p>In the mid 1960s and up to the early 1980s (I could be wrong about the exact dates) there was a non-native lady who responded to the need for museum gift-shops to have inexpensive native-style items to sell.&nbsp; Her name escapes me at the moment; but she designed a line of bentwood boxes and had them manufactured; they were widely sold in the museum shops, but were not consigned to mainstream stores.&nbsp; As a result, they are not widely known.</p><p>Native bentwood boxes are painstakingly hand-made, using a tricky kerfing method to bend a straight board into a four-sided box; then hand-painted or carved, and a bottom and perhaps a top added.</p><p>&nbsp; &nbsp; The boxes she designed were made in the same way, but by machine; and the designs were printed on the board, not hand-painted.&nbsp; And they are much smaller than most native boxes.&nbsp; Her designs are good, but not up to the best native standards.&nbsp; They are good enough that I&#039;d have to have the auction item in hand to be 100% sure; but I&#039;ve seen enough of these that I&#039;m 99% sure from the photo.&nbsp; I&#039;ve got two of her smaller boxes, they are fun items to put pens into on a desktop.</p><p>The kicker is that the original prices were $5 - $20 depending on size; and current values might reach $50 - $100 if not misrepresented as real Native bentwood boxes.</p><p>Just an illustration that there is no substitute for experience, and for learning from others, and for being very wary about trusting an auction description.</p><p>And I wouldn&#039;t be surprised if this item sells for a very good price; it only takes two bidders who are unaware of the real origin of the item.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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