Ok, so they know there are a bunch of them out there, "about 836,000".  Whew!  And I am supposed to believe all that authenticity is valid, right?

Ohhhh, let's move on: Here is the number one entry for the google search

http://www.artbusiness.com/certaut.html  A: To begin with, there is tremendous abuse in the "certificate of authenticity" or COA business, especially at online auctions, particularly on eBay. Unless a certificate of authenticity originates from and is signed by either the artist, the publisher of the art (in the case of limited editions), a confirmed dealer or agent of the artist (not a third party or reseller), or an acknowledged expert on the artist, that certificate is pretty much meaningless.

Whoa!  Hold your horses!  Look at that second sentence up there.  Did you see it?  It's in parenthesis.  It says, "in the case of limited editions".  No matter how "limited" that edition is, it's still nothing more than a copy of the original.  And it really doesn't matter whether you tack on a fancy name like "giclee" or you print off from your handy desktop Epson.  We've got people worried about certifying that copied art is authentic.  Is that not the biggest oxymoron of the day? 

So what does it all mean?  The human race is now reduced to printing off little pieces of paper to tack to the back of a reproduction (you may call it a fake if you like, much shorter, easier to say, unless you own one) to say it's AUTHENTIC.  Authentic what I ask?  An authentic piece of paper that's been through a computer?  Wow, I've got a few of those laying around the office.  Authentic signature of the artist maybe?  Wouldn't it be better to have the artist's signature on something real rather than a copy?  Maybe it's the little logo label that the gallery sticks on it that's authentic? That'll get you a long ways toward fame and fortune.

Folks, we need our heads examined.  When we are reduced to pretending that a piece of paper makes a reproduction real or valuable, well, surely there is something better waiting out there.  Go buy an ORIGINAL.  Real paint on real canvas.  Real paint on real paper.  Real pastels.  Real charcoal.  Real.

Oh, and have a lovely day too!

Later, Cooper