Fake South African art is becoming a major concern, warns specialist insurer

The proliferation of fake South African art is becoming a major concern in both the local and international arenas, driven in large part by the rising demand for (and value of) local art, as well as a historically underregulated and vulnerable South African art market.

This is according to Gail Bosch, Product Head at Artinsure, a division of special risks insurer iTOO, who says the company has settled claims running into millions of rands for works that were determined to be fake, and subsequently removed them from circulation.

“The majority of these claims were for works that were purportedly created by South African Artists, she says, adding that art experts have warned that there are now more fakes in circulation in the local market than ever before.

Bosch notes that an emerging trend is for forgers to move away from very high-valued forgeries, which are more closely investigated, and to a lower value tier, where they are more likely to slip through the cracks in terms of authenticity checks.

Sale lends credence
“Unfortunately, should this occur, the sale lends credence to the authenticity until examined by an expert,” she says.

“In our experience, collectors tend to discover that they have purchased a fraudulent work at the professional and commercial touchpoints, such as during the reframing or cleaning of an artwork, or during a professional valuation.”

Therefore, she warns, it is advisable to obtain an independent, third-party verification as soon as possible after purchasing an artwork, to confirm that the authenticity is sound.

Bosch says that it is positive news that new and emerging technology is available and constantly being updated to assist in the identification of forged works.

“In current times, the ability to document and record a body of work produced by an artist is available to everyone through technology which was not available a few decades ago. Living artists are urged to record all of their works for future authenticity confirmation to reduce the chance of their works being forged,” she says.

Protection for art dealers
However, considering the large number of fake artworks currently in circulation on the local market, there are ways in which art dealers can protect themselves from the risks posed by these forgeries. Bosch says that commercial art dealers in the secondary market can purchase Fakes and Forgeries cover from a specialist insurer like iTOO Artinsure.

“The cover indemnifies the dealer/auctioneer up to the selected limit for sums which they shall become legally liable to pay as a result of inadvertently selling a fraudulent work. This is subject to the works having been sold honestly and in the reasonable belief that the nature of the provenance was correct,” she says.

“This type of cover is becoming an increasingly important consideration for art dealers, especially as we are seeing a marked increase in the number of fakes inadvertently sold by reputable and well-known art galleries and auction houses.”