[MSN] Frederic Remington forgeries

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Frederic Remington forgeries
Updated: 4/30/2006 6:49:46 PM
By: Cait McVey 
    
   
Laura Foster has been the museum curator since 1989. She said she's seen a
lot of forgeries come through the door:
http://news10now.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=65201

Usually, the owner isn't aware they've got a fake, but she said there are
several things the trained eye looks for. Take this reproduction of
Remington's 1908 sculpture "The Savage." 

"This 'Savage' is considerably shorter and narrower then the authentic
piece, and often the foundries will compensate for that by making it seem
more important by putting it on a slab of green marble," said Foster.

There have also been reproductions of Remington's paintings. Foster said
many of them were created during his lifetime. People just copied them out
of magazines.

But what the copiers didn't know was sometimes the magazines didn't show the
entire painting. 

For example, this forgery of Remington's "The Pool in the Desert."

"They cropped it and the pool in the desert is actually hardly identifiable
in this picture. You can see the very edge of the shoreline right down there
at the bottom," said Foster.

If you bring in what you think is a Remington, Foster will only tell you
it's a forgery if she sees a glaring mistake. She said to officially confirm
its authenticity, the piece must go through four experts, including Foster,
who only meet twice a year.

"It's all very tidy and legal and you get a really good, rock solid,
definitive opinion. And no opinion is given if all four of us don't agree,"
said Foster.

The committee is part of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody,
Wyoming. And if you want your piece reviewed, you'll have to send it out
West.