Not so fast ~ More on Fine Line Art Corp
November 9th, 2006 by artsy
Now we’re cooking, Bill. The clue you provided was an important one. I believe in transparency in the art market, so here’s what our research revealed:
You’ll recall in my last post that Bill purchased what was represented to him as a limited edition Picasso print from an online source known as finelinegallery.com. The certificate of authenticity that accompanied the piece was issued by Fine Line Art Corp with a New York City address.
The certificate of authenticity or “COA” is often used by unscrupulous dealers, online and off, to legitimize the art work and the steep price that often goes along with it. This is why no one should ever rely on a certificate of authenticity, especially if purchasing a work of art on the secondary market. Going a step further, if you’re considering the purchase of a famous name print and it is represented to be signed by the artist’s hand—you can safely assume it’s a fake, forgery, or other bootleg or pirated copy. Forget about “authentication” of any art work that doesn’t have reliable provenance. That amounts to about 98% of the works on the secondary market today and I believe that estimate is conservative. This is not to say, however, that all work on the secondary market is NOT authentic without reliable provenance, because much of it is. It’s just that it can’t be proven to be authentic with any credible evidence. But the subject of authentication will be reserved for a new blog entry on another day–an important subject in its own right.
Here’s what we found, Bill. We hope it helps you learn more about your purchase.
When someone registers a domain name, current policies require that the contact information for a domain name registration be included in a public database known as WHOIS. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the nonprofit body responsible for accrediting domain name registrars, requires all accredited domain name providers to make this contact information publicly available.
So we checked WHOIS public records for the domain name www.finelinegallery.com. We found that finelinegallery.com was registered with the following information:
Registrant Name: Antikco Antikco
Registrant Address: P.O. Box 1042
Registrant Address 2: P.O. Box 1042
Registrant City: New York
Registrant State/Province: NY
Registrant Postal Code: 10003
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone Number: +1.2127345730
Registrant Email: em17@mindspring.com
The information on the certificate of authenticity obviously referenced false and misleading information. The contact information certainly doesn’t match what’s on the certificate of authenticity. But at least we have a name. “Antikco Antikco”. Strange name combo but a name to go on nonetheless. We researched further and learned that there is an active web site domain operating as www.antikco.com. Interestingly, this site sells the same kind of art work that Bill purchased. So far so good. [I’ll note here that not surprisingly, all of the art offered for sale on this site claim to be by blue chip artists—the rock stars of the art market. Names like Picasso, Warhol, Dali, Chagall, Dufy, Miro…you get the idea.)
We went back to WHOIS and queried with the domain name www.antikco.com.
We found that antikco.com was registered with the following information:
Registrant Name: Hong Min
Registrant Organization: Hong Min
Registrant Address: P.O. Box 1042
Registrant Address 2: P.O. Box 1042
Registrant City: New York
Registrant State/Province: NY
Registrant Postal Code: 10003
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone Number: +1.2127345730
Registrant Email: em17@mindspring.com
IP [Internet Protcol] Location: US (UNITED STATES)-CONNECTICUT-TRUMBULL Record Type: Domain Name Server Type: Apache 2 Lock Status: ACTIVE Web Site Status: Active DMOZ no listings Y! Directory: Web Site Title: AntikCo Secure: No E-commerce: No Traffic Ranking: Not available Data as of: 16-Feb-2006
It appears that the Fine Line Art Corp., www.finelinegallery.com and www.antikco.com are related. The phone number listed for both domain names is the same, as is the P.O. Box address. The registrant’s email address is also the same. The contact phone number posted on the antikco.com and finelinegallery.com websites are different from those referenced in the WHOIS record.
If anyone else has purchased from these entities, we would love to hear about it.
Maybe the shadowy figure or figures behind these web sites will weigh in too.
Here is some correspondance from Fine Line Art Corp. I had sent them your comments and was asking for theirs.
I’m not complaining, nor do we wish to return the picasso. I have never been able to find any information on the fine line art corp, so when I found this web site www.FineArtRegistry.com I asked the question. Sorry if you took offense.
—–Original Message—–
From: e_gallery@finelinegallery.com
Sent: Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:25 AM
Subject: Re: No response?
Dear Sir,
Sorry that I didn’t answer your email a little bit earlier, as we have been away and just came back.
To the best of my knowledge, as per the lithograph that you are referring to is definitely a Picasso lithograph executed by Mourlot. This art work in today’s market, even
without a signature is worth well over a thousand dollars, let alone with a signature. We would be delighted if you send us back the art work and you will be refunded accordingly. Although the sale
condition that we sold you the art work is only one-month unconditional return. It is unusual that someone is complaining about the art work three year later. But we would do an exception for you, as the art work is worth much more in the current market condition. In addition, even the frame itself is $150. Therefore we have no problem to return you the money upon receiving the art work back.
We fully stand behind our work. Because our art work is authentic and definitely is worth the money that you paid for. As per your expert, to the best of my knowledge, you cannot evaluate art work through internet …. Let alone without taking the art work out of the frame. Most people prefer to buy well-established artist to keep up the investment value than to buy unknown artist.
Thanks!
Thanks for letting us know about the correspondence from Fine Line Art Corp or Antikco-Antikco or finelinegallery.com or whatever they are calling their online gallery today. I see that the individual writing the correspondence failed to identify himself. The email response they sent to you was interesting for a variety of reasons. I will elaborate further in another blog entry soon regarding it. Thanks for sharing, Bill.
I have 4 of the same ‘picasso’ COA from fine line art corp,even says hand signed which were part of my dear friends’ estate. he purchased them thru Silver Fox Antiques, #10, Clarksville st, Paris, tx 75460 in 2004. I have the receipts from the shop owner who really screwed him over. he even had extra homeowners insurunce put on them. Do I have any recourse against the shop or the bogus ins appraisal? I’d love to shut the shop down for such blatent business practices. any advice or recommended actions I can take would be greatly appreciated. the owner of shop also is or was president of the paris downtown merchants assoc. thanks for your info and time
Debbie Schiltz
debschiltz@comcast.net
I also purchased 2 so called picasso on Ebay from Finelineartgallery.com . I wonder if everthing they sold was a fake. They had very good feedback. Certificates are bogus I gather since the corp. doesn’t exist. I wonder if I can get a refund through Visa?