[edwest2]

Unfortunately, I personally know of an instance where thousands of dollars were added to the price of actual artwork sold at a live auction. It was an animation cel with a production background. My friend pointed out to the auctioneer that it was not a production background. They disagreed. Later, it turned out the background was found to not be a production background. In a similar case, an uninformed buyer did not realize the background was also not original. In the first case, there was a refund, in the second, no refund. The buyer did not understand the rather arcane wording in the auction catalog.


In the case of historical photos, I tend to stay away from certain sellers who appear to be selling post-war or 'archive' photos, but in this case, I cannot see how some buyers can be educated. In the case of a photoshop composite, one needs to look very carefully. I have a book that includes information about photo manipulation. It is sad but when something reaches a certain price, forgers move in.