Constantin Brancusi was a Romanian Abstract Sculptor and one of the most dynamic and revolutionary sculptors to emerge in the 20th century.  With some commentators proclaiming he was frankly the best.

He is also one of the most faked.

 In  just over a year, Freemanart have been instructed to investigate four separate incidents where sculptures believed to be by Constantin Brancusi have been passed as originals in major art fraud attempts in North America and Europe. The fifth landed on our desk this week, A sixth is pending.

 All of the sculptures we have investigated to date have proved to be illicit forgeries and yet were supported by copious amounts of authentication documentation from the once powerful and believed to be spotless scholar who was the all knowing and determining expert on Brancusi's works.

Discredited and exposed as a charlatan, the true extent of the Brancusi fake scam may never be known.

The modus operandi of the fraud is similar in most cases:

 Approach a respectable company or business man with the notion to front a loan against the collateral of a Brancusi work, fully authenticated on paper by 'the' expert, with the promise of buying it back or settling a purchase deal, and it seems pretty sound.

 River stone works are a favourite which are part of a group of very early works by Brancusi only recently discovered in a village where he worked as a young man.

End of story:

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Danaide  Brancusi 1913

This sculpture by Brancusi broke the world

record at auction for a sculpture, going

for $18,159,500 (£12,374,446) at Christie's

in New York.

The great Brancusi sculpture investment scam:

 The opportunity of a lifetime comes along when you are offered by a broker a share or the option to buy outright, a small Constantin Brancusi work which is fully authenticated by the ultimate expert on Brancusi and supported and yes you guessed it, found in his village where he worked as a young man in Romania.

 There are lots of reasons to keep the deal hush, hush. Including avoiding export duty from  Romania, or import Duty into North America or Canada or avoiding the death duties which may be payable by the widow of it's previous owner who the dealer is trying to help out!

Always the same though , its rubbish and a scam!

We know of two investors who were caught in this way, one a very elderly lady in Canada who put all she had into the deal.

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FAKE BRANCUSI SIGNATURES

 Another case goes back much much further and implicates people 'close to' the sculptor himself and the same expert again, this time in Bucharest.

Back in Romania, a suggestion of a good long term investment was made to the purchaser of a small marble sculpture believed to be by Brancusi and supported with firm, absolutely watertight documentation.

We are talking of hundreds of thousands in investment here and the work following the deal then transits to North America where years and years later the problem of authenticity rears its ugly head.

I am afraid the advise is obvious.

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Brancusi's works fetch in the millions today, so if it's too cheap then its either wrong or stolen

*We are unable rather than unwilling to show you images of the Brancusi fakes we have uncovered nor

name the names of the people involved with the scams and deceit. This is because of the laws of liable !

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Massive scale faking of reproduction Bronzes

 On top of the works of art which have been fabricated and faked back in Romania, other fakers of greater international standing and notoriety have surfaced in recent years..

Most recently in Britain, Shaun Greenhaigh was charged and convicted of fabricating a Brancuis sculpture which was sold to a very dignified source>

 Guy Hain on the other hand, a Frenchman who went inside for his massive fraud worth $60 million was up to his eyeballs in dodgy - doings when 2,500 molds and models for bronzes were seized from his studio and confiscated by police.

It is believed that up to 4,000 works of art found their way onto the art market via art dealers and auction houses. Granted, they were not all Brancusi's.

A good spread of forgeries were evident from other artists such as Jean Arp, Carpeaux, Barye and Alberto Giacometti whose works, like Brancusi's fetch millions today.

WORRYING!

  Freemanart have bases and Forensic Laboratories in Canada, the UK, Germany, Italy, France and Spain and Expert investigators and associates on the ground in Romania ready to undertake investigations and enquiries into any work of art purportedly by Constantin Brancusi, Or those works possibly bearing forged documentation in support of their authentication and authenticity - or works by Brancusi bearing Brancusi's signature or monogram which may be concerning to clients. We also work closely with scholars and academics and the recognized expert on the work of Brancusi for authentication corroboration.

You are welcome to contact us in the strictest confidence

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