A most extraordinary auction went virtually unnoticed in Paris last November. The view was for just four hours, and the sale was held in the little known Salle des Ventes des Domaines, which disposes of property impounded by the French State.
On the block were 153 lots of 19th-century bronzes described as “originals and reproductions”, but the true source of the pieces was not given. They were in fact just some of a huge hoard seized from the notorious faker Guy Hain, currently in prison in France for producing thousands of fake bronzes (see The Art Newspaper, No. 117, September 2001, p.67).
The sale contained a mix of genuine and fake objects by and after Barye, Mène, Bonheur, Rodin and many others, for Guy Hain had bought good pieces when he was still dealing in the Louvre des Antiquaires, and had also used genuine pieces to copy. The French State preempted two lots before the sale, both works by Fratin. Estimates were extremely low, starting at only E25 ($21, £17), and the whole sale totalled just E230,000, with many of the reproduction pieces failing to find buyers.
Those dealers and specialists who did hear about the sale were shocked that the French State could put known fakes on the market, even though they had been stamped with “reproduction”. “The stamp was very faint and could easily be removed,” noted Sotheby’s specialist Alex Kader. “I think they should have been destroyed. Some of them were of very good quality; in fact, for me it was a good opportunity to handle Hain bronzes and get to know them, in case any come on to the market.”
This, of course, is the main worry: that unscrupulous traders may pass these works off as genuine. The bronze market was badly hit after the Hain affair was first revealed, and took a long time to recover. Now, however, with greater awareness and documentation (particularly since the publication of the catalogue raisonné of Barye by Alain Richarme), dealers and auction houses are less likely to handle duds—or so they claim.
Alain Richarme of the Paris gallery L’Univers du Bronze said, “It is extraordinary: the State puts the Hain works on sale, gets the proceeds of the sale, even withdraws two pieces for museums, and already receives payment for reproduction rights for Rodin’s work!” He did not, however, think the market would be affected: “The fakes are easy to identify,” he said. G.A.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as: Faker's bronzes sold at auction