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Forgery

Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud.[1][2] Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidden by law in some jurisdictions but such an offense is not related to forgery unless the tampered legal instrument was actually used in the course of the crime to defraud another person or entity. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations.

"Forger" redirects here. For the Soviet aircraft, see Yakovlev Yak-38. For novels and films, see The Forger (disambiguation).

Forging money or currency is more often called counterfeiting. But consumer goods may also be counterfeits if they are not manufactured or produced by the designated manufacturer or producer given on the label or flagged by the trademark symbol. When the object forged is a record or document it is often called a false document.


This usage of "forgery" does not derive from metalwork done at a blacksmith's forge, but it has a parallel history. A sense of "to counterfeit" is already in the Anglo-French verb forger, meaning "falsify".


A forgery is essentially concerned with a produced or altered object. Where the prime concern of a forgery is less focused on the object itself – what it is worth or what it "proves" – than on a tacit statement of criticism that is revealed by the reactions the object provokes in others, then the larger process is a hoax. In a hoax, a rumor or a genuine object planted in a concocted situation, may substitute for a forged physical object.


The similar crime of fraud is the crime of deceiving another, including through the use of objects obtained through forgery. Forgery is one of the techniques of fraud, including identity theft. Forgery is one of the threats addressed by security engineering.


In the 16th century, imitators of Albrecht Dürer's style of printmaking improved the market for their own prints by signing them "AD", making them forgeries. In the 20th century the art market made forgeries highly profitable. There are widespread forgeries of especially valued artists, such as drawings originally by Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, and Henri Matisse.


A special case of double forgery is the forging of Vermeer's paintings by Han van Meegeren, and in its turn the forging of Van Meegeren's work by his son Jacques van Meegeren.[3]

if tried : 6 months

summarily

if tried : 10 years

on indictment

Civil law[edit]

As to the effect, in the United Kingdom, of a forged signature on a bill of exchange, see section 24 of the Bills of Exchange Act 1882.

The 1839 novel by , Pierre Grassou, concerns an artist who lives off forgeries.[19]

Honoré de Balzac

was a prominent forger in the 1880's, including of the writings of Robert Burns' Scottish poetry.

Alexander Howland Smith

The documentary F for Fake concerns both art and literary forgery. For the movie, Welles intercut footage of Elmyr de Hory, an art forger, and Clifford Irving, who wrote an "authorized" autobiography of Howard Hughes that had been revealed to be a hoax. While forgery is the ostensible subject of the film, it also concerns art, film making, storytelling and the creative process.[20]

Orson Welles

The 1966 heist comedy film centers around Nicole Bonnet (Audrey Hepburn) attempting to steal a fake Cellini made by her grandfather.[21]

How to Steal a Million

The 1964 children's book written by Roald Dahl revealed the "golden ticket" in Japan was a forgery.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The 1972 novel by , The Word concerns archaeological forgery, the finding and translation of a supposed lost gospel by James the Just, close relative of Jesus Christ, as part of a large project to be published as a new Bible that would inspire a Christian revival, but which is possibly a forged document.[22]

Irving Wallace

The 2002 film , directed by Steven Spielberg, is based on the claims of Frank Abagnale, a con man who allegedly stole over US$2.5 million through forgery, imposture and other frauds, which are dramatized in the film. His career in crime lasted six years from 1963 to 1969.[23] The veracity of most of Abagnale's claims has been questioned.[24]

Catch Me If You Can

The graphic art novel , authored by Peter M. Kershaw, is based on the exploits of the 18th century English counterfeiters, the Cragg Vale Coiners, who were sentenced to execution by hanging at Tyburn.[25]

The Last Coiner

Cohon, Robert. Discovery & Deceit: archaeology & the forger's craft Kansas: Nelson-Atkins Museum, 1996

Muscarella, Oscar. The Lie Became Great: the forgery of Ancient Near Eastern cultures, 2000

at Library and Archives Canada

"Imaginary Images" in Detecting the Truth: Fakes, Forgeries and Trickery

Bibliographies of archaeological forgeries, art forgeries etc

Museum security mnetwork: sources of information on art forgery; with encyclopedic links

on the Trafficking Culture website, University of Glasgow

Fakes and Forgeries

on The Authentication in Art Foundation Website

Academic Classification of Levels of Forgery

on The Authentication in Art Foundation Website

List of Caught Art Forgers