Expensive Fingerprint But is it a Pollock? Fine Art Registry Investigates
July 24th, 2007 by FineArtRegistry
Fine Art Registry Investigates Paul Biro’s Forensic “Authentication”
In the wake of the publicity generated by Teri Horton for her “find” (an alleged Jackson Pollock), the Parkers take their painting to Paul Biro for similar “authentication.” $40,000 later, all they have is Biro’s report that a fingerprint he found on the back of their painting is the same one he found on the back of the Horton painting therefore he can “confirm that it is by Jackson Pollock.”
The Parkers contacted Fine Art Registry™ who has retained a real fingerprint expert to examine the evidence. Middlebury Police Chief and veteran fingerprint examiner, Tom Hanley, is on the case.
Accompanied by Fine Art Registry CEO, legal correspondent, photographers and a video team, Tom Hanley examined the Parker painting and visited the Pollock Krasner House in Long Island to photograph fingerprints used by Biro in his “authentication.”
The full article (over 5000 words) tells the whole tale of what must be one of the most expensive fingerprint reports ever; how the Parkers came to have a huge Pollock-like painting in their garage; trips up to Montreal to snatch the painting away from Biro before it fell into the hands of Tod Volpe and his ex-con colleague; how more and more money was wired to Biro to meet his requirements and all that came back, eventually, was the restoration of the painting and an amateurish report which left the Parkers exactly where they had been when they started; why there are so many question marks surrounding Biro’s fingerprint analysis.
If it weren’t so serious, the antics portrayed in the name of fingerprint analysis in the Who the &%$# is Jackson Pollock? movie would be hysterical to anyone who knows the subject.
How come the media and the public are so easily fooled?
This is what happens when you get experts, they all have a different opinion. Just like the so called “Art Experts” who have different “gut” feelings the whole mess is hard to figure.