A venerable fake

Sotheby's has withdrawn an important "13th century" belt buckle from its 2 December old master sculpture and works of art sale . . .

We were contacted by Claude Blair, retired head of the V&A's metalwork department, who told us that the buckle is a modern fake. . .

Dr Blair, who left the V&A in 1982, is convinced that the buckle is one of the notorious Marcy fakes, marketed by Louis Marcy in the 1890s. Marcy worked as a dealer in both Paris and London, selling "medieval" metalwork.

The buckle surfaced in the collection of Dacre Kenrick Edwards, whose estate was sold at Christie's in 1961. It then passed to distinguished New York collector Germain Seligman, who lent it for an exhibition at The Cloisters (Metropolitan Museum, New York) in 1968. The buckle was offered at Sotheby's in 1995 (estimate £15,000-£20,000), but went unsold. It passed through two specialist dealers in New York and in 2004 was sold to an English collector via the London dealer Sam Fogg.

From the Art Newspaper. Interestingly enough, it seems that the buckle (and three related pieces) were exposed as recent French fakery way back in 1908.

Posted by David on December 2, 2008 10:31 PM