SECRETS OF THE ART WORLD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2622, 15 June 1904, Page 69

SECRETS OF THE ART WORLD.

Few spheres of life are more permeate-d n ith trickery and fraud than the art world. The great increase in art-collecting during recent years has induced many to enter the profitable profession of art-dealing who are both ignorant )f their business and unprincipled in carrying it on. Fii-st and foremost amongst the practices indulged in by some dealeis is the "knockout," which eats like a canker at the very loot of fair dealing, and makes the acquirement of desirable- art objects at auction sales by tho amateur collector almost an impossibility, unless he is prepared to pay an exorbitant figure. When an art sale is announced, a ring of dealers will arrange for on© of their number to bid for the choicest; lots, the others refraining from competing with him, and at the conclusion of the sale they adjourn to a neighbouring loom, and there hold an auction amongst themselves. —Amateurs, Beware ! — Or lot us suppose a dealer is pariicularly desirous of obtaining a picture about to bo i,-ut up for sale which is. well worth £500. He informs the other members of the ring, bids up to about £100, naturally having little competition ; then, if no further hid is made, lie, by the rules at every auction, becomes the purchaser as the highest bidder. To compensate his unscrupulous friends, he pays them 15 per cent, or 20 per cent, on the purchase price, which they divide amongst themselves. It might be said that this proceeding does not pietcnt private buyers from purchasing, but the amateur is "generally deceived by the apparemly diffident manner assumed by those who should know the value of the picture, and at once jumps to the conclusion that ihe top value has been reached when £100 or so has b^en offered, thus leaving the room at the mercy of the "knock-out." A x'U'e sometimes adopted by shady dealers prior tc their selling a picture from their stock is that of .-ending it to a wellknown auction room, instructing an accomplice to buy it for them at as high a figure as possible. Then it is simple, when an intending purchaser comes along, for the dealer to refer him to Messrs So-and-so, the auctioneers, as to the pr.ee paid for it, thereby engendering his confidence, and with groat generosity offering to let him have the work for that price, plus 5 per cent for his trouble.