Topic: PY butterfly - Fake or not?

[SophieB]

Hi all,

Although I like it, this PY butterfly does not seem right to me (for one thing, I cannot remember any antennae done this way - on the ones I have seen they were all separate). Is this another fake?

http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/gorringes/catalogue-id-2906443/lot-22143060?searchitem=true

If it is a fake as I suspect, there seems to be a little collection of them being sold at auctions at the moment.

SophieB

[Nick77]

Hi Sophie,

Yes it's yet another fake, apart from the low quality butterfly I don't think that ground is like any genuine PY I've seen and if you enlarge the image the P is clearly orange/brown.

Makes me wonder if one person is spreading them around different auction houses?

Nick

[SophieB]

Hi Nick,

With my computer, I could not say for sure what colour the P was.

Yes, it seems that a little hoard of PY fakes is being spread around the country's auction houses. I plan to email Gorringes but in view of what happened at Lindsay Burns (and to some extent at McTears), I am not convinced this has any impact.

SophieB

[KevinH]

Some years ago, there were several batches of up to 13 weights offered for sale through various sources, including places like Christie's South Kensington. It would not surprise me if several weights from those batches are now being put out into the market again.

[daveweight]

Hi Sophie
I have a PW fake, type 2 with the spaced letters, and the butterfly looks very similar to the one you are referring to - picture attached
Dave

[SophieB]

Hi Dave,

There is a 'family' resemblance, but yours is the nicer of the two. 

SophieB

[SophieB]

Hi All,

Contacting auction houses does work sometimes. I am informed that Gorringes has withdrawn the PY fake butterfly from their sale.

SophieB