Art forgers are almost as prolific as the artists themselves.  Without proper training, guidance, or experience, it can be very difficult to distinguish a legitimate print from a fake.

    There are two types of people selling fakes;  those who do it on purpose and those who do it by mistake.  Unfortunately, either way, you end up with a spurious print.

    I would like to stress that fake Escher prints have been put on the block at reputable auction houses, as well as listed on eBay.  It is not in an auctioneer's interest to remove questionable prints from being sold...they make their money off of commissions. I'm sad to say I've watched fake works sell for thousands of dollars after I had advised the auction house the work they are selling is fake. A good auction house will allow you to return a print if it proves to be fake.  That said, the fine print of many major auction houses is that they are not responsible or liable or even accept returns if the work is fake!

    Here are two fancy ways of saying a work is Not Made by Escher's Hands:

    1. "In the manner of" - exactly like that, it is Escher-like, but not Escher. It might be an image of an Escher artwork, but the seller is saying it is not real.

    2. "Attributed to" - it seems like something Escher did, but the seller is not saying it is.

    It is beyond the scope of this site to lay out all the ways people create fakes, it also would not be beneficial to do so, as motivated counterfeiters would know what not to do. That said, be wary of too good to be true deals and, please, ask before buying. Every work I sell is unconditionally guaranteed to be authentic. I have many years of experience of helping people around the world determine authenticity.

    You've made it this far, let's look at some common fakes...

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