The reputed print from the Biblia Sacra series by Salvador Dalí.
www.artistsmagazine.com ■ November 2008
■ David Phillips writes for FineArtRegistry.com, an online tagging and registration service working to bring order to the world of art. He has written profiles of artists, as well as many investigative articles about art.
The print is in a gilded frame behind glass, sealed so the back can’t be seen. It looks official: one of Salvador Dalí’s Biblia Sacra series. It has a penciled “Dalí” signature in blue, as well as the artist’s original signature “in the plate” (reproduced as part of the print). With the print is a certificate of authenticity, signed with a flourish by—wait a minute— it’s signed by the owner of the company selling the print.
In this case, the sale takes place at an auction (held by Park West at Sea) aboard a cruise ship. The man who owns the company, Albert Scaglione, isn’t an art expert at all, certainly no recognized expert on Salvador Dalí. Yet he’s signed, the certificate of authenticity and the appraisal for this print, which sold for $18,000. The language in the documents is flowery with charming anecdotes about Dalí and the Albaretto family (who reputedly had the print in their collection), designed to lend weight to the claim of the print’s authenticity.
At $18,000, the item
seemed a bargain, a good
investment. A couple on the
cruise ship snapped up the deal. But
was there any evidence that the sig-
nature is really Dalí’s? After all, his
signature is easy to forge.
When the couple got home, they looked online and found that
they may have been duped. They took their print to a local TV station, Orlando 6, and asked for help. Mike Holfeld of the Problem Solvers at Local 6 contacted the Fine Art Registry and Frank Hunter of the Salvador Dalí Archives.
When seekng truth, where does one begin? There are two catalogues raisonné of the graphic works of Salvador Dalí. One is The Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dalí, compiled by Albert Field with the full cooperation and support of Dalí himself. The other is a catalogue raisonné of Dalí prints and lithographs by Ralf Michler and Lutz W. Lopsinger. These two books list Dalí’s genuine prints and some of the forgeries. Going to these tomes is the first port of call. If the print is listed and meets the descriptions and requirements, then the truth-seeker is off to a great start in verifying the authenticity of the piece; however, if the the piece isn’t listed as an authentic Dalí print in these two books, it’s time to start worrying—and digging.
This particular print, which sold for $18,000 and has a number and signature on it, isn’t listed in the catalogues. The edition number, g.a.EA 201/251, means Giuseppe Albaretto Artist’s Proof number 201 out of a total of 251. Checking this with the current authority on Dalí’s graphic works, Frank Hunter (who helped Albert Field compile the Official Catalog and took over as President of the Salvador Dalí
References:
Archives