Friday 23 September 2022

The Garcia Fernandez Collection


In a post above, I discuss the text of a collector who attempts to draw attention to a seller ("Primimitifstuffgallery" in New York state) that disappointed them. The 1000+ items this seller offers do look rather disappointing as a whole. As Erin Thompson says: "let's just say their authenticity is not jumping right out at me". Just to take a random example, my eye was taken by an ORIG $399. PRE COLUMBIAN NAYARIT FIGURE 6" PROV.  Cute, but nothing like anything from the West Mexican shaft tombs of the region, Nicoya or not. This picture screams "amateurish" to me. As for the description (it really is all in upper case):
"THIS IS AN UNUSUAL PRE COLUMBIAN RITUAL FIGURE, provenance, SIMPLY GORGEOUS, NICELY MADE, WOW!! TRADITIONAL PIECE-

COMPARABLE QUALITY ITEMS ARE SOLD ON EBAY FOR 2-3 TIMES THIS AMOUNT

NEW!!! This last week I bought ABOUT 1000 items from an estate in Miami, FL from a collector of high end tribal antiques - The Garcia Fernandez Estate - collected while living in peru 1950-1980 if you are a collector who wants pre Columbian, tribal art I will be listing all of these unique high end ethnographic items in the coming months. If you have a specific interest in a specific item I have not yet listed please email me and I will let you know if its in the collection. "
It is rather surprising to see a listing in September 2022 referring to a collection bought "this last week [so I've not yet had time to catalogue it all]" yet elsewhere in the Internet, a Maryland dealer, apparently anonymous, using the same spiel about another, equally bad, one in December [20]16, with the same lack of photography skills. Oregon dealer 'Esoteric Stuff' has an object ("Inca mask") reputedly from the "Garcia Fernandez collection" that looks from the photo to have a patina relying on brown shoe-polish, but perhaps I am mistaken. The object looks about the same artistic style as some of the primitifstuffgallery "pre-columbian" objects. Also the suspension holes, how does that function as a 'mask' rather than decorative wall-ornament? (I love the sales spiel of another of their Pre-Columbian artefacts: "A very rare addition to add to your Serious Collector status"). 

These similarities make me wonder if (the late?) Garcia Fernandez had no eye and dodgy suppliers, or are these objects on the secondary market, having been purchased from "Ruby" at "primitifstuffgallery"? We know so little about how objects pass through the antiquities market. What is notable that such a big (we are told) collection only is evidenced online by objects sold by three dealers - two of whom may be reselling pieces acquired within the trade from the other dealer who claims they have "thousands" of items from this source. 

I think it is quite laughable that the dealer assures the buyer that this is good value for money because of "provenance" (see above) and that "items of comparable quality" (using the term loosely) are "sold on eBay" [!] by other dealers for two or three times the price being asked. Yeah, right.

Does anyone reading this know anything more about the Garcia Fernandez Collection? Is there perhaps a catalogue? 


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