Dear Kobi, How fortunate for me to come across your Forum.  I was actually considering bidding on a “hand-signed PICASSO with Certificate and Provenance” this evening.  If you’re interested in viewing the listing that almost had me, it is eBay #________.  I suspect most individuals wouldn’t have taken the time to do some basic online fact checking.  The paper size is indeed different from the one listed at the Picasso Project as you suggest.  There is a small fortune changing hands just in the pursuit of a signed print from the Vollard Suite on eBay.  Imagine the amount for all Picasso’s!  With sincere gratitude, Richard

Dear Richard, Actually, this episode is so funny that it’s worth blogging.  Bolliger published a book in Germany in 1956 of the identical dimensions as stated on eBay for the print for sale.  It seems that the seller just tore a page out of Bolliger!  The only thing I can’t account for is the missing page number….  Best wishes, Kobi

At this point (this is Kobi speaking), I sent the following message to the seller, and the following interchange ensued:

Q: Are you aware that this print is not an original print by Picasso? The original was an etching of a different size than you describe. I believe your print was torn out of Bolliger’s book, which dimensions it fits perfectly. Did you know that? Thanks

A: This print was not torn out of Bolliger’s book. I have his book and I can tell the difference. For one thing the type and weight of the paper is radically different. I never implied that this was from a first original edition which, if signed, would list for over $10,000. However, I’m happy to exchange any form of information which you desire about the artist, his publisher, his printers, and his editions. Thank you for your email.

Q: I am an expert in Picasso prints.  You should be aware that there is no “original” German edition, as some fraudsters have claimed.  In fact, there is no original edition of any Vollard Suite prints other than the impressions published by Vollard.  Any other editions are not original in any sense of the term, as they were not created by Picasso in any direct way, other than someone reproducing his design.  Are you aware of the accuracy of all of my assertions?  Finally, are you aware that the signature is forged?

A: Please send me your name and credentials. I would like to further discuss this with you. I am not trying to be antagonistic when I pose this question back to you: Are you, kobiledor, aware that Vollard published none of the so-called Vollard Suite prints? He died shortly after Picasso completed the commission. The copper plates were never printed to paper before 1950. And then, they had been sold to separate parties (not printed by the Vollard estate.)  I have a lot more information on this which is verifiable in a number of the most impeccable art history reference books. However, I do understand that even textbooks can have erroneous entries. So, please share your sources of information with me which support your assertations [sic].  I disagree that the signature is forged. I have addressed your other assertations [sic] in a direct response to the email which was sent from you separately. Before we continue this dialogue, which consists mainly, as I see it, of hostile accusations, I would like to know who you are and specifically what your credentials are.

Q: I do not intend my questions to be laced with hostility.  I am simply in favor of honesty in the marketplace.  My credentials are that I have studied and collected Picasso and particularly his prints for many years, and I own a nearly exhaustive library consisting of all his important catalogues raisonées.  Again, I mean no offense, but your last two emails are rife with misinformation.  What is not entirely clear to me is whether this results from your honest mistakes or  an actual intention to misinform.  On the chance that you intend to misinform your clients, I would prefer not to further address your factual errors for fear that you would accordingly adapt your captions in order to further mask the lack of originality of your offerings.  If, on the other hand, you are honestly in search of an education in order that your allegations stick closer to the truth, please then prove your intentions to me, and then I’ll be happy to reconsider sharing the facts with you.  Please note that eBay classifies your Vollard as an original hand-signed Picasso in its first line.  It is none of these things.  In order to be an honest dealer, it is incumbent upon you to accurately describe who and how made your print.  To say that its provenance is directly traceable to Picasso is ludicrous.  I only can hope that the many mistakes you have made are honest ones, but your choice of words and phrases seem so crafty as to make me fear the worst.  Please pardon me if I have misjudged you, but I tend to doubt it.  Best wishes.

That was the end of the correspondence. 

The following is the eBay listing, with the identity of the seller omitted, and with my italicized annotations:

Listed in category:Art > Prints > Contemporary (1950-Now) > Limited Editions > Original Hand-signed PICASSO with Certificate and Provenance
Comment: Here is the first mention that the print is “original”, though just below, note that the vendor left blank the “Original/Repro” question that eBay poses.

NO RESERVE – Beautiful Framing worth $500+
Type: Modern – Limited Edition
Signed?: Signed
Comment: The signature is a forgery.  Not only does it not resemble any of Picasso’s signatures, but the only prints of the Vollard Suite which were signed in red, 3 impressions out of a total edition including all artist’s proofs, of 321, were printed on parchment.

Medium: Lithograph
Comment: None of the original prints of The Vollard Suite were lithographs.  Every one was an intaglio print, usually an etching. Any other print depicting a Vollard Suite image is a worthless fake with a forged signature.

Original/Repro: — [left blank]
  No Reserve!  
This is the last lithograph that I have from this limited edition.  All of the others have been sold.  This is one of Picasso’s most treasured lithographs made from the Vollard Suite etchings (plate #79).  A wonderful collector’s item with Certificate of Authenticity from the original gallery and Provenance going back to Picasso.
Comment: COA’s aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on, if you don’t know and trust their author, and the provenance is untrue, as this fake could not have gone back to Picasso, as he had nothing to do with fake Vollard Suite prints.

This piece was printed in 1956 in Germany. But the lines are so fine and crisp that this looks like the original etching pulled from the copper plate. Ambroise Vollard commissioned Picasso to make these etchings in 1930.  There were 100 individual drawings (all etched onto copper plates) and the last one was completed in 1937. Unfortunately, Vollard died in an auto accident before they could be printed on paper and the copper plates were subsequently purchased by a European art dealer.  It wasn’t until 1950 that the first pieces were printed on paper and signed.
Comment: Actually, the entire original edition was published in 1939 by Lacouriere in Paris.

This piece, offered for sale now, was published in Germany in 1956 by the famed art historian and publisher Hans Bolliger.
Comment: Hans Bolliger wrote the introduction for a book of photographs of the entire Vollard Suite, which was in fact published in Germany in 1956.  But, to my knowledge, he had nothing to do with producing a counterfeit German “edition” of these images.

•    Title: Two Women – Paris, January 29, 1934.
Comment:  The title is wrong, but never mind.

•    Signature and Inscription:  Hand-signed in red grease pencil by Picasso (lower right) after the print was pulled.  Guaranteed authentic.  Picasso also inscribed the copper plate with the location and date when he made the original etching on copperplate. This inscription was etched in the Continental dateform: Paris 29 Janvrier [sic] XXXIV (lower left corner).
•    Publisher/Printer: Hans Bolliger, Germany, 1956
•    Condition:   Excellent with some uniform age toning of the paper. This does not detract from the beauty of this piece. There are no rips, no tears, no faxing [sic] or other stains.
•    Frame:  Professionally mounted and framed in a lovely classic style gilt wood frame.    Ready to hang.
•    Guarantee:   30 Day Unconditional Guarantee from date you receive your artwork.  No Questions asked! Also, the AUTHENTICITY IS GUARANTEED FOR LIFE.
Great, but the authenticity of what is he guaranteeing?  Of a German “edition” of this print, or of an original print by Picasso?  The vendor reveals his answer in his response to my first email.
•    Certificate of Authenticity:  I acquired this and other pieces from a European art gallery who provided me with a COA and also stated the Provenance (history of ownership).  That original COA, my Transfer of Ownership papers and all details of the publishing and printing will be provided to the auction winner.
•    Dimensions:  The paper measures about 11″ x 8-3/8″.  The frame is about 18″ x 21″ (exterior dimensions).
The size of the paper does not correspond with the original etching.
Check out my feedback!  More than 395 individual Ebayers have left me 600+ feedbacks.  I’ve been registered with Ebay for over 5 years and have worked hard to provide quality service.  Most of my business is from repeat customers who have been pleased with the high quality framing. Following are some examples which can be verified by reading my complete feedback.
+ Excellent Seller.  Product in excellent condition. Thanks.
+ A really classy Ebayer. Professional, meticulous, honest, great communicator
+ Simply the best Ebayer that I have traded with.  Exceeded all my expectations.
+ Friendly contact, rapid dispatch, good packed.
+ Great transaction.  Hope to buy again from this ebayer. A++++++
+ Perfecto. Articulo con COA.  Vendedor muy amable y altamente recomendable.
Insurance is included with all shipping rates! Discounted shipping for multiple orders!
Terms of Guarantee for Individual Buyers: Complete satisfaction guaranteed. No questions asked for return within 30 (thirty) days of receipt.  No restocking fee.
Terms of Guarantee for Art Dealers (or those who buy art for resale):  Satisfaction guaranteed.  Returns accepted within 3 (three) days of receipt.  25% restocking fee.
Please visit my other auctions and my Ebay Store often!  I’m a private collector, preparing for retirement, and I’m liquidating my collection.  These are art pieces that I’ve lovingly collected and will try to supply literary references from my extensive art library as best I can.  If you have questions please email me, but please understand that all of my art will be sold on Ebay and I will not be selling artwork privately.  I have many signed and dated lithographs.  Hand-signed and numbered lithographs.  Pencil signed lithos. Serigraphs.  Dry Point Etchings.  And some exquisite aquatints and original drawings by the 20th century masters. Good luck bidding & thank you for visiting my auction!
I have a 30 day “no questions asked” return policy. auction. No reason need be given for the return. It’s a money back refund, using the same method payment was made to me. The 30 days begins when you receive everything associated with the transaction (including gallery certificates,etc.). Returns should be securely packed & insured. I will process a refund immediately after the item is received & inspected. You may return an item by any method that is convenient for you, but it’s better to ask me about your method in advance. Not every carrier delivers to my remote rural location & this can involve a delay. Shipping charges are not refunded. If you have questions about any aspect of my refund policy please send me an email. My goal is to have you be a happy customer! Most of my business is through repeat customers.
Feedback Score: 398
Positive Feedback: 100%

Comment: As far as I know, eBay scores are credible.  So as many as 398 unsuspecting Picasso lovers or investors have been fleeced on eBay, and that’s just by this vendor alone.

There were two bids on this lot.  The winning bid was $202.50. The winning bidder’s User ID was kept private.

It may be difficult to read other people’s minds, but, paradoxically, it may be almost as challenging to fathom our own. We may think we can, but a growing body of literature supports the conclusion that our thoughts and actions are governed by a self largely unknown to us, a reptilian brain buried deep beneath our consciousness that controls us in a manner we can’t perceive and guides our actions in ways we don’t understand.  This, unfortunately, is just as true in the arena of collecting art as it is in gathering grain or finding a mate.  Of late a number of books and articles have appeared that help elucidate these mysterious forces.  I’d like to recommend a couple of them to you, not only for their general interest, but to save you from taking a costly wrong turn while hunting and gathering.

The need for self-awareness is palpable.  I receive inquiries to evaluate the authenticity of Picassos on an almost daily basis, typically ones on eBay but also from storefront galleries and websites.   Call it a coincidence, but the last two collectors that I successfully steered away from buying eBay fakes were both dentists.  However, the third collector, a doctor, didn’t fare so well.  The doctor had recently approached me for an opinion on a bon à tirer,  the handwriting of which, to my eye, didn’t look right.  The dealer had a bunch of these bon à tirer impressions from the same illustrated book.  The doctor, while toying with due diligence, unearthed a second bon à tirer of one of these prints in the Online Picasso Project.  Its signature and inscription were clearly by a different hand, and, in this case, the online handwriting looked right to me. Needless to say, there can be but one bon à tirer impression for any print. A smoking gun, wouldn’t you say?  I figured that that was the end of the deal.  No question–the good doctor would take his money and run.  Next thing I know he’s bought the bon à tirer, paying about 10x its unsigned value.   His reasoning?  A well-known dealer would not be selling bad prints. He added, “No gallery could survive the scandal of advertising a whole suite of fakes on the web, don’t you think?”   Right.

And it’s not just collectors—even dealers aren’t exempt from the tug of the irrational.  My latest example: just last week a private art dealer whom I hadn’t seen in years brought over two sets of well-heeled clients to look at our Picassos.  What had suddenly inspired him?  For one thing, we had recently acquired a print that one of the women had lusted after for years.  But the underlying reason was his astrologer, who had foretold that he was going to make a killing this month.  (Need I remind you I live in California?)  The dealer arrived fairly certain that this was going to be his best month ever.  So far, nothing, but I remain confident, since astrologers are always right.

Artists are human, too.  It may not matter as much, but of course Picasso himself was famously superstitious.  Olivier Widmaier Picasso, his grandson and apologist (a rather convincing one, to my mind) who dispels the myths about Picasso one chapter at a time, devotes one of the final chapters of Picasso: The Real Family Story to the unavoidable concession that his gramps was indeed a very superstitious man.

Of course all of this only applies to other people, but not to you or me.   Thankfully, irrationality is only the next guy’s problem.  And there’s the danger….  So maybe a homework assignment is in order.  For an excellent review of the research into the unconscious written in layman’s terms, try Strangers to Ourselves (2004), by Prof. Timothy D. Wilson, who makes his basic point in his title.  He presents the accrued wisdom of this field, which unlike Freud, has resulted from rigorous experimental science.  What’s at least as interesting as his theme is the many ingenious experimental designs which psychologists have devised to interrogate the unconscious.  After all, you can’t very well ask it a straight question or expect a straight answer.

Moving a bit closer to our subject, I would wholeheartedly recommend the new book and NY Times bestseller, Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior (2008) by Ori and Rom Brafman, a hilarious, if scary, read.  But I fear this rant is getting dangerously close to exceeding your rant capacity, so I’ll spare you the book review and move on to the home stretch.

Four years later, I am still haunted by one particular instance of buyer’s irrationality, the bizarre ending of the PiCostco saga, the fake Picassos that Costco sold around four years ago (see http://ledorfineart.com/blog/?p=11 and http://ledorfineart.com/blog/?p=42 ).  To remind you, apart from the surprising news that Costco was in the business of selling ostensibly fine art, what I found to be the most amazing thing about it was that the two hapless buyers did not take Costco up on its offer to fully refund the $35-40,000 that each of them had shelled out for their fake drawings.  I remain baffled that the buyers (one of whom, wouldn’t you know it, was another MD) would not wish to part with their worthless (and ugly!) Picassos.  A recent essay in The New Yorker entitled Status-Quo Anxiety by James Surowiecki (August 31, 2009) shed a bit of light on this conundrum, despite the fact that he intended it as a commentary on the health-care debate.

Surowiecki writes, “The mere fact that you own something leads you to overvalue it. A simple demonstration of this was an experiment in which some students in a class were given coffee mugs emblazoned with their school’s logo and asked how much they would demand to sell them, while others in the class were asked how much they would pay to buy them. Instead of valuing the mugs similarly, the new owners of the mugs demanded more than twice as much as the buyers were willing to pay. The academics Ziv Carmon and Dan Ariely showed the same thing in a real-world experiment: posing as ticket scalpers, they phoned people who had entered a raffle to win tickets to a Duke basketball game. People who hadn’t won tickets were willing to pay, on average, a hundred and seventy dollars to get into the game. But those who had won tickets wanted twenty-four hundred dollars to part with them. In other words, those who had, by pure luck, won the tickets thought the ducats were fourteen times as valuable as those who hadn’t.”

This analysis doesn’t factor in the profit motive, but never mind.  It calls to  our attention the pride of ownership, which could  be a more pernicious psychological force than we may have thought.  And it’s not just pride.  Whenever I have succeeded in acquiring a work of art, I have bought it because I valued it higher than everyone else—otherwise someone else would have bought it sooner or paid more (or both).  Now I may think that I’ve valued it reasonably, but have I really?   Pride of ownership, or whatever it is, is not to be underestimated.

What is called for is a catchy term that expresses the opposite of buyer’s remorse, since it seems even more prevalent, and arguably much more dangerous to our pocketbooks.  Buyer’s bliss?  Collector’s complacency?  Shopper’s satisfaction?  Pick the one you like or choose your own, whatever it takes to keep it in mind.

A little short on EQ myself, I am finally beginning to realize that I ought to keep my thoughts to myself, or at least that imparting them to you in this less direct manner might not be as offensive.  I imagine it wouldn’t surprise you that the PiCostco doctor did not like hearing my unsolicited advice.   We have not stayed in touch.  As for the bon à tirer doctor, his parting comments were, “Thanks for these emails.  They are interesting.  I’m currently enjoying the Picasso.  I am planning to bring it in to an appraiser pretty soon though.”

It’s Costco, but Is It Picasso? Art Sale in Doubt

From diamonds to dog food to Dom Pérignon Champagne, Costco is known as an astute marketer of high and low. Recently, it even ventured into the rarefied world of Picasso, selling a crayon drawing at its Web site for a bargain $39,999.99.

The buyer, Louis Knickerbocker, a meat distributor from Newport Beach, Calif., had never fancied himself a big-league collector. But as he was cruising to work in his sport utility vehicle one day, a radio news report about the Costco offering roused him to action.

Mr. Knickerbocker, 39, quickly called his wife, Diana, on his cellphone and asked her to race to the Web site and charge the purchase to his American Express card.

“They just sell the top quality — whatever you buy at Costco, whether it’s a washing machine or a vacuum cleaner,” he said in an interview. “I just thought, if it’s a Picasso, you can’t go wrong.”

“Worst-case scenario, we can always return it,” he recalls telling his wife.

Actually, the worst-case scenario may be that the drawing is not a Picasso — an assertion that has Costco scrambling to live up to its consumer-friendly image.

The work, “Drawing Arles,” depicting a faun, came ready-to-hang in a gold frame; the store even provided a photographic certificate of authenticity signed by Picasso’s daughter Maya Widmaier-Picasso, who also authenticates his works for auction houses like Sotheby’s and Christie’s.

But as Mr. Knickerbocker discovered this week, navigating Costco’s fine-art offerings can be a tricky business. Interviewed in Paris by The New York Times on Tuesday, Ms. Widmaier-Picasso, 70, said the certificate was forged.

As of Tuesday, a Picasso drawing titled “Picador in a Bullfight” was being offered at Costco’s Web site for a much steeper $145,999.99 — also with an authentication certificate bearing Ms. Widmaier-Picasso’s name. Bristling at a grammatical error in French and the spiky handwriting, she pronounced that document a forgery as well.

“It’s not at all my way of expressing myself,” she said in an interview, referring to the wording of the certificate. Peering at the signature, Ms. Widmaier-Picasso added, “It’s really ugly, really really.”

The artist’s daughter, 70, also cast doubt on the authenticity of the drawings. “My father knew that bulls have two testicles, in addition to something very masculine,” she said impishly, referring to the bull.

Contacted about Ms. Widmaier-Picasso’s remarks, Liz Elsner, a vice president for merchandising for Costco’s Web site division, said the company would promptly investigate. “Obviously we’re very concerned with what you’re telling us,” she said. She emphasized that, as with all Costco merchandise, Mr. Knickerbocker was free to return the artwork.

A few hours later, the bullfight drawing had been removed from Costco’s Web site.

Ms. Elsner emphasized that Costco had the Picassos independently verified by Jerry Bengis, an art appraiser in Coral Springs, Fla., who specializes in Dali prints. (Reached by telephone, Mr. Bengis said he provided documentation stating only that the certificates were consistent with others issued by Ms. Widmaier-Picasso.)

Ms. Elsner said the two Picassos were provided by reputable dealers with whom Costco has done business since it entered the fine-art market. The vendor is Jim Tutwiler of Boca Raton, Fla., who bought them from Rick Yamet, a fine-art vendor in Peekskill, N.Y.

Told of Ms. Widmaier-Picasso’s contention, Mr. Tutwiler said, “Are you serious?” and quickly provided Mr. Yamet’s telephone number.

Mr. Yamet said he obtained the drawings from a partner in Rome. “I’m beside myself,” he said. “Of course I have to take them back, and I have to go back to the source I got them from and get my money back.”

When buying Picassos accompanied by his daughter’s certificate, he said, he routinely has Ms. Widmaier-Picasso examine the certificate, he said. He said he had faxed the certificates for both Picassos to her, but this time she had not responded.

“I was getting no response for months and months. It became like an exercise in futility,” Mr. Yamet said. So an associate of his in Rome showed the drawings and certificates unofficially to an expert at Christie’s in Paris, who gave them a verbal nod, he said.

“This is terrible for my reputation,” he said, sounding distraught. “Costco’s not responsible, of course.”

Costco, which entered the fine-art market in 2003, sells artworks both through its Web site and at scattered road shows around the country, many of them conducted by Mr. Tutwiler. The shows are handled by two separate corporate divisions, and the vendors and artworks are always changing.

Although most of the headlines have been generated by last year’s Picasso sale, Costco’s current fine-art offerings seem to boil down to lithographs. In print circles, that can mean anything from an offset reproduction of a painting — in other words, a poster — to the sort of genuine “original print” that an established dealer might handle; that is, a work of art conceived as a lithograph from the start and produced in a limited edition. At press time, there was nothing of that nature on Costco’s site.

Of course, neophyte collectors — the type that Costco is likely to attract — may often lack experience in determining what gives an artwork market value. While Costco provides a phone number at its Web site for the vendor of each work of art so that prospective buyers can question the consigners directly, it is hard for an inexperienced collector to seek out those specific earmarks — a good provenance, inclusion in a catalogue raisonné, for example.

For the art world cognoscenti, the authentication affair may seem a tempest in a teapot, given the abundance of scrawled Picasso doodles, real and fake, to be found in galleries on every continent. And art scholars have long debated whether Ms. Widmaier-Picasso should be in the business of authentication.

Still, in reviewing the certificates in her apartment on the Quai Voltaire, she was emphatic about their falsity. She described the wording on the bullfight certificate, for instance, as strangely unfamiliar.

“I would have said, ‘In my opinion, I can certify that this drawing in pencil on paper measuring 12 by 24 centimeters representing a scene from a bullfight — I would put in more details concerning what’s on the actual drawing — is a work in the hand of my father.’

“On the same line, I would have written, for example, ‘ “Paris, le 14 mars,’ and I spell out the month. My lines always run from the far left to the far right, and there is no break between paragraphs.”

On the back of the certificate, Ms. Widmaier-Picasso applies a sticker marked with one or more of her fingerprints. “I could also use my entire hand if I wanted to,” she said. She then applies an embossed seal over the sticker and staples the sticker to the photograph. She said she always keeps a record of which finger she used for each authentication.

Of Mr. Knickerbocker’s certificate, she said: “I never, ever, ever write a date this way, with slashes, I don’t even know how to! And I always spell the month out in letters, never in numbers.”

Ms. Widmaier-Picasso also chuckled at the misspellings — “soussigné,” the masculine form of “undersigned,” instead of the feminine “soussignée,” and “cette dessin,” rather than the correct “ce dessin.” (“Dessin,” the French word for drawing, is masculine.)

But for Costco and its customer, who is much attached to his $40,000 doodle, it is no laughing matter.

Mr. Knickerbocker expressed skepticism about Ms. Widmaier-Picasso’s reaction to the drawings and the certificates.

“Seeing as she signed a lot of those things, who knows how many years ago, I’m not surprised if she’s going to say that it’s fake unless she has it in front of her,” he said. (Ms. Widmaier-Picasso viewed printouts of high-resolution digital photographs of the drawings and certificates.)

Mr. Knickerbocker, who once bought his wife a two-carat diamond ring at Costco, said he remains a loyal customer and that for now he has no plans to return the drawing.

“I think a lot of times with this, especially with art — high-end, number one — I’m sure that the art galleries hate that Costco’s selling art,” he reflected.

“I would still feel just as comfortable buying from Costco — even more so than buying from one of the other dealers — because I know that Costco stands behind what they sell.”

Since I can’t find the piece in the Picasso Project or in the Block catalogue Le Clown seems very suspicious to me. I came across your forum from the Picasso Project and after reading your comments and your web site I would really appreciate your thoughts on Le Clown. Once we get Le Clown settled I’d like to check with you on some other pieces we have an interest in. We are new to collecting art, and the more we learn the more we like Chagall, Calder, Miro, Dali and Picasso.

Thank you, Sharon T.

Dear Sharon, I have a weak spot for anyone who gets “taken” on a cruise ship. I do a fair number of appraisals and I’ve come across many instances of so-called art that was sold on cruises. I have occasionally encountered an original work of art by Picasso that exchanged hands in that venue. But the buyer ends up, without exception in my experience, with an overpriced print, a fake, or both.

The salient term describing your purchase is “after”. If you read Chapter 13, entitled “Collecting Pitfalls”, in my online manuscript A Guide to Collecting Picasso’s Prints, you should know all about them. Your piece is not original. The only questions are whether it’s a real “after”, i.e. a work of art created by an artist other than Picasso, or just a photoreproduction, and whether the work was actually signed by Picasso. Of course, the art dealer on the cruise was entirely fraudulent in initially claiming that the piece was an original Picasso. It is not an original Picasso in ANY sense of the word. You’re very astute to conclude that your piece is a fake since it’s not in Bloch. Very few original Picasso lithographs are not included in that catalogue, and those are generally exceptionally rare, not cruise ship material. -Kobi