FAKES AND FORGERIES

THE LOVE OF MONEY may or may not be the root of all evil, but it is definitely the root of most art fraud. Counterfeit art—both fine and decorative—has been made since antiquity. But now, with some works of art selling for tens to hundreds of millions of dollars and with demand outpacing supply, the temptation for some unscrupulous people to tap into this mother lode by producing and selling fraudulent art isirresistible. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, art and cultural property crime—theft as well as fraud—is a booming criminal industry, approaching $6 billion annually. To counter such crime, the bureau three years ago set up what it calls a "rapid deployment force" to investigate art and cultural property cases. Not all art fraud is perpetrated for money. Some forgers have produced fraudulent works to seek revenge against an art establishment that had scorned them or whose values ...