This article was originally attributed to William Faulkner but turned out to be the work of a BRI office drone, Fern Gurgleman. Nevertheless, enjoy these other stories of blatant fakery.
WARHOL’S BALDWIN PERIOD
In February 2008, a fine-art collector bought six Andy Warhol paintings from a pair of art dealers at a bargain price of $100,000. But after the sale, the collector started wondering about the low price, so he took one of the pieces to an appraiser. Almost instantly, the appraiser could tell it was a fake because of two clues: First, it was signed “Andy Warhol, 1996”—nine years after Warhol’s death. And second, the painting was not, as the sellers had claimed, a portrait of Matthew Baldwin, of the famous Baldwin acting family. How did he know? Because there is no Matthew Baldwin of the famous Baldwin acting family.
Shenyang Botanical Park, a small zoo in China, scored a major coup in 2007 when it acquired a zebra. They proudly showed it off and charged visitors the equivalent of 60 cents to have their picture taken with the exotic African animal. One problem: It was obvious to almost anyone that it was a white horse with black stripes sloppily painted on it. When pressed by a reporter, a zoo official said, “It’s from Africa. What do you call it if it’s not a zebra?” The “zebra” is still available for pictures and rides.
In 2009 Fox News host Sean Hannity showed video from a November anti-healthcare reform rally in Washington, D.C. that had “20,000 to 45,000 protestors.” The next night, Jon Stewart observed on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show that in the video, the colorful fall leaves switched to summer green: “Did they just put two different rallies together?” Stewart was right; Fox added footage from a much larger summer protest to make it appear that more than a few thousand people showed up to the fall protest. “It pains me to say this,” said Hannity, “but Stewart was right.”
A Japanese company offers a “Dial-A-Flattery” service for people who need a compliment.