Santa Fe, My Parting Shots… Item Number: 100103 $0.00

DescriptionThis is the third installment of my trilogy discussing the Ethnographic shows held in Santa Fe two weekends ago. I believe Teresa and Elaine have a nice surprise for all our readers to pass along our good fortune relating to our buying successes. But that’s way too self-serving for me. I want to talk about issues!

As a dealer, when I enter a major show, I want to see nothing but authentic examples. As a collector, I especially don’t want to be preyed upon by folks who take advantage of my naiveté! For a novice collector to walk into a major show such as these two, and have to guess as to what items are authentic and what items are fakes puts the very credibility of these shows at risk! In my humble opinion – and trust me when I tell you I have been told hundreds of times to “keep your damn (usually stronger words here) opinion to yourself!” – these shows in Santa Fe are at risk of dying on the vine.

Back 5 or 10 years ago, the Sweeney Center Ethnographic Show was more of a giant flea market comprised of dealers of all sizes, shapes and forms, offering just about anything you might want to find in the way of Native American, Pre-Columbian, Asian, tribal, classical, paleo, etc, etc. When you entered the show, you usually knew the dealers who sold the better stuff, but that never stopped one from looking for that needle in the haystack among the other less “sophisticated” dealers. And 10 years ago, it seemed that there were far more needles in those haystacks. Today, this show, and the competing show held at the Rail Yard Complex have been repositioned. They now cater to the more elite buyer, the guy who is willing to drop several thousand bucks at a pop. Gone are all the flea baggers with their huge tables of “stuff.” With the cost of the booths and necessary cases rising into near 5-figure numbers, the lesser guy has been squeezed out. Fine. Makes sense. The Sweeney is smaller now, so it’s ok to up the rent and look for better dealers. But why allow dealers who sell huge numbers of fakes?

The legal practitioners must love guys like me who stick their foot in their mouths stating in clear, unequivocal terms that this dealer or that dealer is selling fakes. Hell, just as I have been told to keep my opinions to myself, I have probably been threatened a dozen times with libel or slander lawsuits from outing dealers who knowingly sell fakes. Usually, these dealers fold like a cheap suit because they realize they have to prove their stuff is real, and they can’t. At the show, I walked with 2 of my customers and we “outed” 4 such dealers. It’s one thing to make a mistake and include in your inventory an item or two that slips through the cracks. It’s an entirely different thing to carry a huge portion of your inventory in blatant, Sadigh-quality junk. With 2 of these dealers I asked if they honestly thought their items were authentic, and of course both expressed shock and horror that I could even suspect their pieces were bad. However, neither would take my $1000 bet that every one of the pieces I pointed out was a dud.

But I digress… The organizers of these 2 shows must find a way to vet their dealers and vet the items sold at these shows. They do it successfully in New York, they do it in San Francisco. They have to do it in Santa Fe. For shows of this caliber to not vet the inventory is inexcusable and can only lead to dissent among legitimate dealers and the eventual loss of an already endangered species - the serious buyers.

Happy shopping for great deals!

Bob