10 fake artworks have slipped into the world’s most respected museums, baffling curators and scholars alike. Art forgery is a genuine menace that institutions must constantly wrestle with, and every so often a bogus artifact ends up on display for years before the truth emerges. For the crafty forgers, the lure of sky‑high price tags is often enough motivation to keep churning out convincing fakes.
10 Fake Artworks Unveiled
10 The Three Etruscan Warriors
Back in 1933, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York welcomed three newly acquired sculptures that were said to represent ancient Etruscan warriors. The pieces were supplied by art dealer Pietro Stettiner, who swore they dated to the fifth century BC.
Italian archaeologists were the first to voice doubts, suggesting the statues might be modern fabrications. Yet the museum’s curators dismissed the warnings, confident they had secured a bargain and reluctant to lose the works to a rival institution.
Further scholarly scrutiny revealed oddities: the statues displayed atypical proportions and shapes not consistent with known Etruscan art of that era. Their bodily parts were unevenly scaled, and the collection showed an unexpected lack of wear.
The deception was finally exposed in 1960 when archaeologist Joseph V. Noble recreated experimental statues using authentic Etruscan techniques and demonstrated that the Met’s pieces could not have been produced in antiquity.
Investigations uncovered that Stettiner was part of an organized forgery ring. The conspirators duplicated the sculptures from existing museum collections, even borrowing images from the Berlin Museum’s catalog for one warrior and a drawing on an authentic Etruscan vase for another.
The forgers also struggled with studio constraints, leading to mismatched body parts and even a missing arm on one figure because they could not decide on a suitable pose.
9 The Persian Mummy
In the year 2000, a diplomatic tug‑of‑war threatened to erupt among Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan over a mummy and its ornate coffin said to belong to a 2,600‑year‑old princess. The remains were uncovered after Pakistani police raided a residence in Kharan, acting on a tip that its owner was attempting to peddle illegal antiquities.
The proprietor, Sardar Wali Reeki, claimed to have stumbled upon the mummy following an earthquake and tried to sell the whole assemblage to an unnamed buyer for £35 million. Iran immediately laid claim, arguing the find lay within its cultural sphere, while the ruling Taliban of Afghanistan also entered the fray.
After being placed on display in Pakistan’s National Museum, scholars noted that parts of the coffin were unmistakably modern. Moreover, none of the regional peoples—Iranians, Pakistanis, or Afghans—had a tradition of mummifying their dead. Subsequent forensic analysis identified the skeleton as that of a 21‑year‑old woman, likely a murder victim, and the remains were transferred to a morgue. Reeki and his family were arrested, ending the scandal.
8 Dead Sea Scroll Fragments
The Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of ancient Jewish manuscripts dating back roughly two millennia, are primarily housed at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, with some pieces residing in private hands. Among the most high‑profile holders was the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., which displayed five fragments purported to be genuine scroll pieces.
In 2018, the museum’s confidence shattered when the fragments were declared forgeries. The revelation came after the museum sent the items to a German laboratory for scientific testing, following earlier expert suspicions.
The controversy erupted months before the museum’s grand opening in November 2017. While speculation swirled that the institution had spent millions acquiring the bogus fragments, the museum has remained tight‑lipped about the exact financial details.
7 Several Artworks At The Brooklyn Museum
In 1932, the Brooklyn Museum inherited a massive bequest of 926 works from the estate of Colonel Michael Friedsam, who had passed away the previous year. The collection spanned paintings, jewelry, woodwork, and pottery from ancient Rome, China’s Qing dynasty, and the European Renaissance.
The donation came with a stipulation: the museum could not sell or de‑accession any piece without permission from the Friedsam estate. Decades later, the museum faced a startling discovery—229 of those works were counterfeit.
Because the last surviving Friedsam descendant died half a century ago, the museum was legally barred from disposing of the forgeries. Additionally, the Association of American Museums enforces strict guidelines on how member institutions may handle, store, or discard artworks.
In 2010, the Brooklyn Museum petitioned a court for permission to de‑accession the fraudulent pieces. The petition revealed that if denied, the museum would need to spend $403,000 to set up a warehouse for storage, plus $286,000 annually for rent and staff to care for the fakes.
6 The Henlein Pocket Watch
Peter Henlein, a German locksmith and inventor who lived from 1485 to 1542, is celebrated as the creator of the modern watch, having replaced bulky clock weights with a compact mainspring. Although Henlein’s name is widely known, many are unaware that a supposed early example of his work resides in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum.
The tiny tin‑shaped pocket watch, which fits comfortably in the palm of a hand, entered the museum’s collection in 1897. However, controversy erupted shortly thereafter as historians began to challenge its authenticity, despite an interior signature proclaiming a 1510 creation date by Henlein himself.
A 1930 investigation noted that the signature was superimposed over, rather than beneath, the scratch marks inside the back cover. More recent scientific testing indicated that most components of the watch were manufactured in the 19th century, suggesting a later forgery. Some scholars argue the parts may have been added during a restoration attempt.
5 Almost Everything At San Francisco’s Mexican Museum
In 2012, San Francisco’s Mexican Museum earned affiliate status with the Smithsonian Institution, granting it the ability to borrow and loan artworks from over 200 partner museums. The Smithsonian, however, requires member institutions to rigorously authenticate their collections before any exchange.
By 2017, the museum uncovered a staggering truth: of the first 2,000 objects it examined, only 83 were genuine. Given that the museum’s total holdings number around 16,000 pieces, experts estimate that roughly half of the entire inventory may be counterfeit.
The forgeries fell into several categories—some were deliberately fabricated to pass as originals, others were merely decorative reproductions, and a few bore no connection to Mexican culture whatsoever. The prevalence of fakes is largely attributed to the museum’s reliance on donor‑provided items without thorough provenance checks.
4 The Amarna Princess
In 2003, Bolton’s city council in Manchester decided to enrich its local museum’s collection by acquiring a statue touted as a 3,300‑year‑old “Amarna Princess,” supposedly depicting a relative of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
The sellers asserted the sculpture had been excavated from an Egyptian archaeological site, a claim bolstered by the British Museum’s assessment, which found no immediate signs of fraud. Satisfied, the council paid £440,000, and the statue was prominently displayed.
Several years later, Bolton Museum officials discovered that the British Museum’s endorsement had been misplaced—the statue was, in fact, a masterful forgery crafted by Shaun Greenhalgh, a notorious forger who operated out of Bolton itself.
Greenhalgh’s parents, George and Olive, acted as his sales agents, marketing the counterfeit works to museums worldwide. In 2007, Shaun received a sentence of four years and eight months for his crimes, while his parents were handed suspended sentences for their participation.
3 A Golden Crown At The Louvre
During the 1800s, two entrepreneurs approached goldsmith Israel Rouchomovsky in Odessa, Ukraine, requesting a Greek‑style golden crown as a gift for a supposed archaeologist friend. In reality, the duo had no such colleague and intended to market the crown as an authentic ancient Greek artifact.
One of the schemers, Schapschelle Hochmann, claimed the crown was a third‑century BC offering from a Greek king to a Scythian ruler. While British and Austrian museums declined the purchase, Hochmann succeeded in persuading the Louvre to acquire the piece for 200,000 francs.
Archaeologists raised early concerns that the crown might be spurious, but their warnings fell on deaf ears, allegedly dismissed as French jealousy. The Louvre proceeded to exhibit the crown, ignoring the dissenting voices.
The truth emerged in 1903 when a man named Lifschitz, who had witnessed Rouchomovsky crafting the crown, informed him that his creation was being presented as an ancient original at the Louvre. Rouchomovsky traveled to France with a replica to prove his authorship, exposing the deception.
The incident tarnished the Louvre’s reputation but catapulted Rouchomovsky to fame. A century later, the Israel Museum borrowed the crown from the Louvre, showcasing it as an authentic work by Rouchomovsky.
2 Over Half Of The Paintings At Etienne Terrus Museum
The modest Etienne Terrus Museum in Elne, France, dedicated to the works of local painter Etienne Terrus (1857‑1922), expanded its holdings in 2018 by adding 80 new paintings. Shortly thereafter, a historian hired to catalogue the new acquisitions made a shocking discovery: roughly 60 percent of the museum’s entire collection consisted of forgeries.
The historian’s investigation was swift and decisive; with a single gloved swipe, he erased a fraudulent signature from a canvas, instantly exposing its inauthenticity. Further analysis revealed that several paintings depicted architectural landmarks that had not yet been erected during Terrus’s lifetime.
In total, 82 of the museum’s 140 paintings were identified as counterfeit. Most of these pieces had been purchased by the city council between 1990 and 2010. The forgeries were subsequently moved to a local police station while authorities launched a formal investigation.
1 Everything At The Museum Of Art Fakes
The Museum of Art Fakes, located in Vienna, Austria, is a genuine museum devoted exclusively to collecting forged artifacts and artworks. Its holdings include, among other curiosities, pages from a diary purportedly belonging to Adolf Hitler—later proven to be the work of forger Konrad Kujau.
The museum organizes its collection into three primary categories: forgeries that imitate the style of a famous artist, pieces fabricated to appear as newly discovered works by a renowned creator, and outright copies presented as original masterpieces.
In addition to outright forgeries, the museum displays replicas—artworks produced after an original artist’s death, clearly labeled as such and never intended to deceive as originals.
The institution also dedicates exhibition space to infamous forgers such as Tom Keating, who produced over 2,000 counterfeit artworks, deliberately inserting “time‑bomb” errors so the fakes would be exposed long after he was paid. Another featured forger is Edgar Mrugalla, responsible for more than 3,500 fake pieces sold as originals before receiving a two‑year prison sentence and subsequently agreeing to assist authorities in identifying bogus artworks.