Ignorance error for a $16,500 sideboard by Albert GUENOT

On April 2007, French auction house TAJAN sold a sideboard by Albert Guenot, but failed to provide the name of the artist. We fixed this!

 

At DOCANTIC, we investigate the proper identification of 20th Century furniture, and provide accurate documentation. Here’s an example from our case files!

 

TAJAN got pulled over by DOCANTIC PATROL for missing person violation: Lack of Artist!

 

On April 4th, 2007, French auctioneer TAJAN listed a lacquered wood sideboard estimated around $16,500 for sale at auction. According to their records, the sideboard was edited by Pomone, but they gave no information about its artist’s identity. Missing persons alert!

By cross-referencing our massive database, our investigators at DOCANTIC located the exact same sideboard reproduced in four different catalogs from 1947 to 1948. This evidence confirms TAJAN’s attribution that Pomone had indeed edited the sideboard. Good job… so far, TAJAN! Going one step further, DOCANTIC unearthed additional facts on the chest that proved the name of the original artist – Albert Guenot!

Of the four references that DOCANTIC uncovered, the Albert Guenot sideboard appears below. Hard to miss, right?! But the auctioneer did.

 

 

 

The true price of an artwork depends heavily on several tangible criterias: 1. The Condition ; 2. The Provenance; and, 3. The Time period. Still, the art world relies on the identity of the artist and the work’s legitimate photo reproduction in period books and magazines, as benchmarks for valuation. There is no doubt that if TAJAN  had accurately ascribed the designer, and provided additional documentation on the wooden sideboard, the hammer price would have been greatly affected.

DOCANTIC patrols the market to make sure that 20th Century furniture and works of art receive proper attribution and accurate documentation, so that collectors may sell and/or purchase works at the correct price. To protect and to serve the art community, that's our job!

 

 

How do we classify our files? Find out here.

 

Book ’em! The auction house or the art dealer provided little or no corroborating evidence in the form of documentation for this item.

 

Time Off!  The expert made a significant mistake on this item. His attributed period came in way off. No early parole!

 

Missing persons alert! The auction house or the art dealer failed to uncover and identify the artist for this item.

 

Identity theft! They’re guilty of the worst crime of all: mislabeling the artist with another alias. And Picasso painted the Mona Lisa, right?!

 

 

 

The Fact Sheet on DOCANTIC PATROL

 

The obsessive, nitpicky and no-holds-barred investigative team at DOCANTIC maintains an unparalleled database of original documentation for 20th Century, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco & Design furniture and works of art.

At DOCANTIC we believe that designers deserve proper identification for each work they have created, and that any art lover should confidently pay the right price for his or her purchase. We see the art world filled with both talented artists and con artist and, therefore, also riddled with innumerable attribution errors and outrageous pricing mistakes. By supplying authentic period photographs, DOCANTIC catches and apprehends the undervaluation (or overvaluation) of furniture and works of art. That’s our mission. We stop errors dead in their tracks. We serve and protect 20th Century furniture’s reputation.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, DOCANTIC sets the bar for the identification of 20th Century furniture, and shares with every art lover the information that has been kept under wraps by a handful of experts for far too long!