Artist numbers cause forgery worries

Lenkiewicz print: The Painter with Mary - Project 14

Art dealers have said they are concerned forgers could be cashing in on the death of a Devon-based artist.

It follows the discovery of two limited edition prints of work by Plymouth painter Robert Lenkiewicz with the same number - something that supposedly cannot happen.

Two copies of a print entitled "The Painter with Mary - Project 14" signed by Lenkiewicz as number 29 of a limited edition of 50 have been brought to light after an auction.

One art dealer has said it could be the prints were incorrectly numbered by Lenkiewicz when he was alive but that it is "very worrying" if it is not.

They're numbered, they're checked - it should be an impossibility

Michael Wood

The two pictures came to light after Graham Walker, from Devon, and his wife went to an auction of Lenkiewicz works at Rendells in Ashburton.

They were puzzled to see among the lots listed a fine art print, known as an Artists' Proof, with the same limited edition number as a print they already had.

Graham Walker said: "We were concered that there was a problem. So we went to the auctioneers the day of the auction.

"Their response was: 'That's your problem, we don't want to know about it'."

Robert Lenkiewicz died in August

There is no suggestion that Rendells auctioneers or anyone else connected with the sale have acted improperly in any way. The picture was clearly listed in the sale catalogue.

The BBC repeatedly asked Rendells for an interview, but they have declined to comment.

The BBC has also contacted the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, which oversees auction houses. It said it is now working with Rendells to help solve the mystery.

Art dealer Michael Wood, who has been trading Lenkiewicz works for more than 30 years, said it is quite possible the prints were accidentally numbered incorrectly by Robert Lenkiewicz himself.

Higher prices

However, he said: "I'm very concerned. With infrastructrure that a large publishing company has, that should just never happen.

"They're numbered, they're checked - it should be an impossibility."

The prints were produced in 1997, by Washington Green in Birmingham. They too said it was theoretically impossible for there to be two prints of the same number.

Lenkiewicz prints are now produced by Fisher MacKenzie, a company set up in 1998 by the artist and his business partners to publish his work.

The firm also declined to talk to the BBC, but its official website carries a warning: "Please be very wary as we have been warned that people may attempt to counterfeit prints at this time."

Lenkiewicz pictures are now fetching higher prices since his death in August.