"Eyes, sensibility, common sense, knowledge, experience are the best protection against a fake, and my definition of a fake is anything that pretends to be something it isn't." - June Wayne, co-founder of the Tamarind Institute, quoted in The Print Collector's Newsletter, May-June 1972.

"If you like the damn thing, and you know what it is and you want to buy it and you want to spend two thousand dollars for it, I may think you're a horse's ass, but I'll also defend your freedom to do it." - Clinton Adams, co-founder of the Tamarind Institute, interview with Lee Catterall, author of The Great Dali Art Fraud & Other Deceptions, on December 2, 1987.

"Woe to you!" master artist Albrecht Durer declared on the title page of his series of woodblock prints, Life of the Virgin, in 1511."You thieves and imitators of other people's labor and talents. Beware of laying your audacious hand on this artwork."

Durer's stern warning did not bring an end to the menace of fine print fraud, nor did the series of prosecutions across the United States in the 1980s and 1990s. Warning: Most of the Dali fakes at issue in those cases remain in possession of victims who were unable to obtain refunds. Not surprisingly, many of the victims are trying to unload their "prints" on the Internet at outrageous prices. This activity is not illegal unless the prints are misrepresented. Use of the term "original print" to describe a mere reproduction of a painting may be legally insufficient as misrepresentation because of the changing practices of artists in the use of new technology. Consumers interested in purchasing fine prints should gain a familiarity with the medium before spending a cent on this garbage pile. To begin with, take a look at the Federal Trade Commission's 1994 warning about Art Fraud.

Don't be fooled by Dali's signature on a print. He signed thousands of blank sheets of paper that later were used to reproduce Dali images, usually paintings. More often, his signature was forged on such reproductions. He signed his name in so many ways that experts are at a loss in verifying an authentic Dali signature. Before buying any Dali print, also consider Dali's Abuses, which constituted overt participation more than mere facilitation, in the manufacture of hundreds of thousands "limited edition" prints bearing his name and his surrealistic images. While many of the paintings are authentic works of Dali, they have been reproduced in numerous "limited editions" and sold as "original" lithographs, etchings, etc. The painting most commonly reproduced for such fraudulent purposes was Lincoln in Dalivision, "prints" of which Los Angeles art appraiser Dena Hall testified in the Hawaii trial have become as commonplace as "pancakes at the pancake house." Other favorite Dali paintings used as models by the print fakers were Corpus Hypercubicus, Metamorphosis of Narcissus and Hallucinogenic Toreador. Dali assuredly did not participate in fraudulent prints bearing his name and images that were not his, which are referred to as "fake fakes" and are far less numerous than fakes based on Dali's actual paintings.

Lincoln in Dalivision:
"Pancakes at a pancake house."

Since publication of The Great Dali Art Fraud & Other Deceptions in October 1992, law-enforcement authorities completed their effort at closing down a vast web of fraudulent operations of print sales. Specifically, these further developments have occurred, referenced here by parts of the book that are updated.

Autograph time: Dali offers in 1979 to sign his name for a boy and the boy's father, while (l. to r.) fraudulent Hawaii art dealer William Mett, Dali secretary Enrique Sabater, Mett accomplice Marvin Wiseman, Dali friend Ramon Guardiola and Dali attorney Michael Stout look on.

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Aloha and caveat emptor. Please e-mail comments, questions and further update material to Lee Catterall.

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