What do you folks think of this listing, purportedly of an original E.H. Shepard draft illustration for Winnie the Pooh:
160029408719
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=006&it...TRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1
It seemed possibly legit, on the whole, though on the border of sounding too good to be true and even on the face of things there are some suspicious aspects. But after I entered a snipe on it, I looked around a bit more, and found this very recently expired listing for an identical-looking item:
280023688265
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2800...0023688265%26fvi%3D1
What the ???? Well, if 160029408719 is a fraud it's a relatively clever fraud. Or maybe I'm just not cynical enough yet.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: petronius,

Well it went for a pretty penny, almost $1300, but I'll wager the winning bidder is being suckered. Wonder if it's proper to send him/her a message pointing out the strangely similar expired item.

Has the fake art industry now trained its sights on EH Shepard and naive Pooh enthusiasts:
http://cgi.ebay.com/WATERCOLOUR-WINNIE-THE-POOH-ANTIQUE...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

This message has been edited. Last edited by: petronius,

send the link!

You know what, I ended up sending the link to the person. Have heard nothing, not that I'd expect to hear anything. Sent a question and the link to the seller too, out of curiosity, on the last day of the item, naturally I never heard back. Wonder if it's a generally honest seller but cutting corners in this instance, or just an out and out swindler. Certainly it isn't a case where one person or group of persons has listed the same item twice in succession under 2 different names, as the matting and framing are different. Maybe the 2 sellers are not congenital cheats but they happened to pick up the item from the same scam artist at a weekend fair or something.

The amount of fake art on ebay is appalling enough, and much of it is so crude it's amazing they get any bids at all, let alone from seasoned ebayers, to all appearances. My favorite one recently was this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/signed-VINCENT-quality-Pencil-Water...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Some person bid assiduously on this rubbish.... Then again, I very nearly bid on a blurry picture of an EH Shepard fake.

On the other hand, there are real treasures on ebay too, like this hitherto unknown picasso, # 110034816027 :
http://cgi.ebay.com/CHARCOAL-DRAWING-SIGNED-PICASSO_W0Q...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Unless people start noticing it in a hurry, someone is going to get a really super deal on an original picasso drawing.

Nor is there anything fishy about it in the least ...except perhaps the vendor has identified the wrong artist, it looks more like a Ludwig Bemelmans (Madeline).

From another thread:

quote:

Originally posted by modoman:
I won the item, and all the bidders are sending me messages calling me an idiot...

Whoah, was modoman being serious about this? other ebayers sending messages taunting a winning bidder about their bid?? Wonder if anything like this has this happened to anyone else.

Nothing like it has happened to me. The only times I ever got a message from another ebayer (other than seller/buyer) was to let me know of a related item they were listing. Looking at some of these fake art auctions, one is sometimes tempted, it is true, to shoot off a message to a bidder, "look you ass, it's fake!!!!!! puhahaha" Then again I've bid on some evil rubbish on ebay too, who hasn't.....

oh lordy, the crude Picasso fake has turned into a bidding war between 2 ebay newbies....then again, they could just be 2 shills, so rotten is the whole thing

I got to revise what I said above about the two sellers of alleged original Winnie the Pooh drawings by EH Shepard:

I don't think they were "fake" drawings, in the sense that someone made drawings copying Shepard with the intention of palming them off as originals. Rather, I suspect they were not original drawings at all, but rather prints of drawings. (And the two sellers may have been honestly mistaken, though perhaps careless, in thinking the thing was a drawing rather than a print.) This is because I've come to notice several old prints of Pooh drawings, such as this one (honestly labelled a print--although could the seller possibly take a blurrier picture):
http://cgi.ebay.com/PENCIL-DRAWING-OF-WINNIE-PIGLET-ART...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
It does seem possible an old but high-quality print could be mistaken for a drawing, though I'm no expert in such things either.

Here's an ebayer with a long and fine history who nonetheless cannot resist listing phony art:
http://cgi.ebay.com/M-VLAMINCK_W0QQitemZ200035296996QQi...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20121&item=200012738278
(--> *uh, better add: viewer discretion advised before clicking on this one...)
With the crude Vlaminck fake especially, what's annoying is this guy has opted for the common ploy of posing as an ignoramus who's stumbled on a treasure and doesn't realize it and so here's your chance to grab this magnificent find, unbeknownst to this clueless seller. "The art that's up for auction is an artwork by M. Vlaminck? I have never heard of this artist." The ploy is transparent on the face of it, and would be laughable were it not certain someone will fall for it. The seller is obviously being disingenuous and he is flirting with fraud. The phony Schiele he listed before is a shoddy imitation of a very well-known Schiele work.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: petronius,

Incredible find-- this ignoramus seller has listed an original watercolor by "P. GAUGOIN"--obviously unbeknownst to him it must be "P. GAUGUIN", hence a priceless work yet starting at a mere $150. The silly fool.
item #300041738134
http://cgi.ebay.com/P-GAUGOIN-WATERCOLOR_W0QQitemZ30004...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I am also in awe of the many Degas drawings finding their way to market on ebay. Certainly these finds must lead to a general weakening in the auction prices for Degas works, given laws of supply and demand. Christie's take note! E.g.
http://cgi.ebay.com/PENCIL-DRAWING-SIGNED-DEGAS_W0QQite...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Petronius, you are hilarious! And I am so happy to meet you here! As a dealer in art and antiques, fake art has long been my nemesis on Ebay. More than fake works by the masters and listed artists are fake antique oil paintings. The ones that are sold while the paint is still drying, yet are listed in the pre-1900 category and "roughed up", or otherwise altered, to give them that antique look. GRRRRRR