Non-sport : eBay glass art counterfeiter arrested

[drcy]

Dale Chihuly is a world famous glass artist who happens to live in my neighborhood.

Newspaper article (http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Dealer-of-Chihuly-fakes-facing-prison-4994503.php)

[bn2cardz]

Since he lives in your neighborhood you can ask him a question I asked my art teacher when he introduced his artwork to us when I was in school.

"Has he ever attempted to blow himself a glass eye?"

[JoeyF1981]

Wow what a idiot. I live in federal way so not too far away.

[thecatspajamas]

Sounds like he was a real go-getter, fabricating a paper trail from beginning to end! Scary the lengths that some people will go to for fraud rather than lift a finger for honest work.

[baseballart]

Interestingly, Chihuly hasn't blown glass himself since 1979. He has had others blow the glass for the works he conceived.

[drcy]

For the benefit of those who don't know, Chihuly lost an eye in a car accident and couldn't blow glass after that due to lack of depth perception. His works are sometimes multi stories tall, so we're not always talking about making a wine glass.

Cleaning one of his works:

http://thehistory.childrensmuseum.org/sites/default/files/images-1000px/5_1_d_Exhibits_CurrentExhibits_ChihulyCleaning.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4090/4965313802_004bbe69c0.jpg

[baseballart]

David

I too had thought that the lost eye stopped his glass blowing, but wiki suggests it was a damaged shoulder that actually did that .



Max

[BigJJ]

I'm cracking up. Imagine if the guy hanging from the rope was interviewed for a "curator" position with the museum. And then he gets the job, and is told to get up there. (I know it's likely someone from the Chihuly Studio doing the cleaning, the image struck me as funny.)

I had two Chihuly paintings, which I sold. Great color and size. The paintings, which are representative of flowing glass, are done entirely by Chihuly. And they are less likely to break. My favorite though are the large installations, of chandeliers, and of floats on water. Number of fake Chihulys out there and also a number of remnants (pieces created by the Studio and discarded or taken) and broken remnants, that are offered as a finished and actual piece of art as intended by Chihuly. Just need to do a little homework if buying his work on the secondary market.

[pariah1107]

Not to exonerate the convicted party here, but it seems this fraudster was buying trinkets on ebay, then reselling them on ebay after engraving Chihuly's sig & forging certs.... isn't there some culpability on the part of ebay? Ebay allowed this to go on for more than a year after being notified of the fraud by Chihuly studios.

For example, the article indicates he sold some of his forgeries through a Renton auction house. What if he bought the items at the Renton auction house, then engraved them, and resold them at the same auction house. I think any reasonable person would say that is beyond unethical, and borders on criminal activity on the part of the auction house as well as the forger.

[drcy]

Perhaps of further O/T interest (nothing to do with forgery), my sister's boyfriend is a glass artist who worked for Chihuly doing the etching and finishing. He's the guy, Paul L., pictured and named in the article. I visited his workshop a couple of weekends ago, and it must have $200,000 worth of equipment-- specialty saws, lathes, giant belt machines, kilns et al. He's an interesting guy. He was an ER physician and also a physician for Tibet mountain climbing expeditions and on a leprosy colony, then quit medicine to get his MFA and become a glass artist. Must be one of the few people with an MD and an MFA. If I have questions about medicine or glass, I go to him.

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2015304703_glassartists13m.html

[mybestbretts]

What a great story. I have never been a great fan but enjoy seeing his work.
Have been to the exhibit in St. Petersburg, fl.

[RichardSimon]

Not to exonerate the convicted party here, but it seems this fraudster was buying trinkets on ebay, then reselling them on ebay after engraving Chihuly's sig & forging certs.... isn't there some culpability on the part of ebay? Ebay allowed this to go on for more than a year after being notified of the fraud by Chihuly studios.

For example, the article indicates he sold some of his forgeries through a Renton auction house. What if he bought the items at the Renton auction house, then engraved them, and resold them at the same auction house. I think any reasonable person would say that is beyond unethical, and borders on criminal activity on the part of the auction house as well as the forger.

A story worth mentioning due to some relevance to the above:

I reported this to LE but nothing happened:

A few years ago a blank Babe Ruth Foundation check appeared on ebay.
It was bought by someone I knew and who was a probable forger.
A month later, guess what, the check appeared on ebay again, only this time it was filled out and of course had a forged Babe Ruth signature on it. (the check number was identical to the blank one that had appeared one month earlier). I had printed copies of the blank and the newly filled out check.
This one piece was only the tip of the iceberg for this person and I told LE that. But nothing happened in this instance.

[Runscott]

.....

[drcy]

I remember the debate on the subject. The city decided that, whatever was there, it had to be something that produced revenue, due to the economy, limited park space and city budget constraints. The public could help decide what went there, but it had something revenue producing, like a glass museum or ticket-based bumper cars fun land.

When it was up for discussion what should go there, citizens would say "We should have a free kids park there."
And a city official would say "We can't do that, because it has to be be revenue producing."
And a citizen would say "Why don't we have a free park there?"
And the city official would say, "It has to be revenue producing."
And a citizen would then say "We should have a free park for kids there."

Zoom to the end, and the city installed a Chihuly glass museum.

For those who've never been to Seattle Center, it is a beautiful huge outdoor city-owned park in downtown that contains the Space Needle, monorail, opera house, museums, basketball and soccer stadiums, restaurants, the glass museum and more. Anyone can walk around in it, and it has large green lawns and trails and fountain for free use, strolling, frisbee strolling and picnicking, but if you're going to attend the opera or eat at restaurant you have to pay. There's nothing abnormal about the Chihuly museum having a fee.

http://www.seattlemonorail.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Monorail_ExploreSeattle11.jpg

[pariah1107]

Spent many Bumpershoot/Pain in the Grass concerts at the Seattle Center. Had no idea they opened a Chihuly glass museum there. Near the EMP is a great location.

For some reason I thought you guys were talking about the Chihuly museum at Union Station in Tacoma. Let's face it guys, we all know what these glass factories are used for in Washington....;)

[Runscott]

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