Quote:
Originally Posted by lumberjack
I believe the forgers were also selling museum quality Hine photos, something that was very un-Hine like. That should have raised a few eyebrows. Hine wouldn't have been considered an artist in his lifetime, he was a muckraker, not Ansel Adams. Nobody caught on to that at the time, which is willful suspension of disbelief.
lumberjack
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The Hine photos were proven to be forgeries by a paper chemist. Though the chemist was asked to do the tests because there were suspicions to strong beliefs that they were forgeries. Suspicions from collectors and dealers almost always come first. That's why boards such as this one are so important.
It's also possible they fluoresced under black light. I believe the Man Ray forgeries did, as well as the Hilter Diaries forgery.
There's actually a simple but remarkably reliable test I use for dating photos including modern and unstamped photos (though not the only test). But it's so straightforward that I don't say what it is, so as to not tip off forgers. It's particularly useful for modern photos-- say of George Brett or a supposed rookie Ken Griffey Jr-- where they can otherwise harder to date. It doesn't pinpoint year, but if you have a supposed original rookie year of Griffey you can be confident that it's period versus recent.