Bard act to follow: CSI team targeting forgeries
IT may be more than 200 years since his death but Robert Burns has never been more popular among wealthy collectors.
Now a team of experts at a Scots university are hoping to help auction houses root out even the most convincing Burns forgeries by applying CSI-style forensic techniques.
With manuscripts and first editions by the Bard going under the hammer for tens of thousands of pounds, bidders are desperate to know they are purchasing the genuine article.
Forgeries by notorious Victorian counterfeiter Alexander ‘Antique’ Smith, who went to great lengths to make his work appear authentic, have proved a particular problem for collectors.
Now experts at the University of Glasgow hope to provide the last word on forgeries after applying for £750,000 of funding to establish a state-of-the-art authentication service backed by forensic techniques.
‘There are dozens of fakes still out there in private collections,’ said Professor Gerard Carruthers, a leading Burns expert involved in the university’s bid. ‘I have had several phone calls from auction houses over the past year as well as national institutions and at least a dozen private individuals in the US and Europe.
‘They have been caught out in good faith in the past so they are keen to have access to our expertise.’
Professor Carruthers said deeper research into Burns’s writing style had yielded a wealth of additional information for the team.
‘We thought he had four writing styles as he went through life,’ he said. ‘Now we are thinking he has six. We have noticed the size of his dashes change as he got older, there are changes in his literal lines of embellishment. Something new is always coming up to distinguish Burns’ work from the fakers.’
The scientists used mass spectrometry to analyse the ink and paper of authenticated and forged manuscripts by the 18th century poet, best known for writing Auld Lang Syne and Tam O’ Shanter, and whose works can fetch up to £90,000 at auction. The process lifts ink from the paper surface in a way that does not visibly damage the original material and can be conducted outside the laboratory.
The tests proved so detailed that researchers could tell that Burns was mixing an ink made from carbonised ivory, sulphuric acid and stale beer with another ink made with wine to achieve lustre and consistency on some documents.
The team tested 12 documents – three real Burns documents and nine fakes from the 1890s by Smith, who is among the most renowned Burns forgers and whose efforts are now collectors’ items in their own right. He was forging documents in Edinburgh from the 1880s and was widely reputed to have given his works an antique appearance by dipping them in weak tea.
Professor Carruthers said the team intends to apply for the £750,000 grant from national institutions this year for a three-year project. He believes the study will enable mass spectrometry to be used more widely in the authentication of valuable historical documents and, eventually, the wider art world, with implications for scholars, libraries, archives, auction houses and collectors.
‘Dozens of fakes still out there’