Norval Morrisseau, and his long-time agent Gabor Vadas, hit Toronto in the fall of 2007- their mission: root out the fakes… We have seen fake Morrisseaus turn up at auctions in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal as well as on ebay. Wherever the word has gone out that Norval Morrisseau is a bankable Canadian artist whose prices are climbing rapidly, can the forgeries be far behind?
John Goldi, thecanadasite.com, c 2007-2010
People are still at it, consigners, auctioneers, and buyers… Dealing in fake Morrisseaus, that is… Typical is this work purported to be a Morrisseau – the auctioneer announced it as a “Morrisseau” and sold it as such at a remote rural country auction. But was it?
Ask yourself, if the same week that genuine Morrisseaus were fetching $8 to 12,000 at fine art auctions in downtown Toronto, why would a consignor want to park his “Morrisseau” at a remote country auction? Why would anyone with a genuine work of a major Canadian artist, at any time, try to sell his masterpiece at a remote location where the money ain’t, and neither is the knowledge, among buyers or auctioneers… And there’s your answer…
Fakes tend to home [sic] in on places where the smarts ain’t. Hoping to catch a live one. If you ever do get a valuable genuine work of art in a remote auction consider yourself lucky. Country auctioneers are not fine art experts. Hell their expertise is whippletrees, hooked rugs, and carnival glass. It’s easy to slip fakes past them. And they have no time to research fine art even if they wanted to. And many prefer to smile when a fake waltzes in the door. To them it’s buyer, not auctioneer, beware when we’re all trying to make a buck. But people who know they have a real master work don’t seem to want to sell it in backwater auctions where few people will know about it. They want maximum publicity to provoke the most interest and bring in the big bucks from people who are looking for real works of art.
John Goldi, thecanadasite.com, c 2007-2010
Randy Potter - Auctioneer
The real ones and the fakes mixed in… So how can you tell them apart? The pitfalls are many, not the least of which are art dealers, of which there are many, and all trying to support their wives, their mistresses, their illegitimate children, and still make those payments on their Bentley. May be Norval can help…
Randy Potter Auctions circa 2005
So, how do you, a beginner, protect yourself from buying a fake? First you can’t trust the auction houses. They haven’t got a clue. They sell thousands of paintings, sketches, and prints a year. They can’t possibly verify each and every one. They ‘d spend all their time researching instead of selling, and would go belly up. So they rely on the people who bring the art in to tell them what it is. “I got it from a gallery who told me they got it from Morrisseau himself. I can’t remember the gallery or who. It was a long time ago. But it looks like a Morrisseau to me…” Hmmmhhh… The auction house employee can’t spend hours sleuthing out the proof . He gets hundreds of these things a month. He makes his money selling not researching. Their interest is selling lots; you only care to buy one. The two interests don’t combine to a buyer’s advantage… So the auction house takes the consignors word, as far as it goes… But they ‘re of little or no help to you when you spend your money. Hey, they don’t want to put you off helping their bottom line… Ask probing questions, but it won’t get you very far most times. When we asked one reputable auctioneer if the antique McKenney and Hall print was really from the 1833 edition, as was printed on the front, or a later repro, he replied “I couldn’t promise you that. We didn’t have the back off. All I can say is if you don’t trust it don’t bid on it.” We didn’t… Good advice from a reputable auctioneer. If you yourself can’t verify its authenticity, for yourself , don’t buy it… Relying on others will, most times, cost you money and heartache… But when six Morrisseaus show up every one comes out… They look them over, silently, they turn them over and look at the back; nobody says much. More than one smirks.. They don’t want to share what they know or what they suspect. But hey, if they go cheap…
John Goldi, thecanadasite.com, c 2007-2010
Published on various Goldi Productions’ sites in October 2010
Filed in Goldi v Sinclair and Otavnik v Sinclair
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Open in new tab John Goldi testifies about Randy Potter Auctions in 2015
Randy Potter Auctions in 2019
A couple of things I would like to point out. This painting was purchased on January the 26th, 2000, at Randy Potter Auctions in Port Hope. It is a typical one of Randy – I went to Randy’s many of times, took look at the hundreds of Morriseau’s he was selling over the years, starting in 1999 and for many years after. I think we bought about eight all together. They were all this. They were from Norval Morriseau’s 1970’s high point, his BDP period. I coined that phrase to describe this unique signature on the back, which is black dry brush where you pinch off the paint and just with the remnants of what’s on the paint, you do that because you don’t want to hang around and wait for it to dry. It is just something you do quickly, that is why it looks like that. A very typical BDP, and I see Mr. Otavnik’s paintings. I’ve seen Mr. Moniz’s paintings, not on the web, but the actual painting in my hand, like this. They are all signed like this with Norval’s handwritten signature, the date and the title underneath.
John Goldi’s sworn testimony in Goldi Productions Ltd. v Sinclair
John Goldi testifies about Randy Potter Auctions
From the Randy Potter Twitter Feed in 2014
Q. Where is the auction house located that you bought these paintings?
A. One of them is in Pickering, and one of them is in Port Hope.
Q. And they are both owned by…
A. I haven’t got a clue.
Q. Who owned the auction house?
A. I haven’t got a clue.
Q. Who is your witness that you are supposed to have here today?
A. I’m not supposed to have…
Q. Who is Mr. Potter?
A. I’m not supposed to have a witness here today.
Q. Who is Mr. Potter?
A. Mr. Potter is an auctioneer. Whether he owned the building, the property, is not known to me. Auctioneers are often just hired hands who come into a building, do the auction and leave.
Q. What was the auction house in Port Hope called?
A. In Port Hope?
Q. Yes.
A. It may have been called Randy Potter.
John Goldi’s sworn testimony in Goldi Productions Ltd. v Sinclair
John Goldi testifies about Randy Potter sourced paintings
I went to Randy Potter’s many times and I saw hundreds of paintings. I looked at the backs, I look at the front. They were dirty, filthy. Some were clean, some were okay, others were really rotten filthy, with staple marks, double staple marks, they were cracked.
John Goldi’s sworn testimony in Goldi Productions Ltd. v Sinclair