The Fable of e-Bay Buys?
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134622162_phony260.html
<<---------------quote-----------------
A tony shop in the heart of Seattle's Pioneer Square gallery district
beckons buyers to own a piece of Chinese history:
A rare glazed tile from the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), for sale for
$900. An elegant blue vase from the Song Dynasty (A.D. 960-1120), $3,800.
An
exquisite tricolor jar from the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907), $12,000. An
elaborate bronze elephant from the Warring States Dynasty (475-221 B.C.),
$120,000.
To the eyes of tourists and window-shoppers, the gallery's wares may seem
striking in their age and beauty. To the eyes of experts, however, they
are
something quite different.
[snip]
They are fakes, a Seattle Times investigation has found.
[snip]
The operators of the gallery, one of them a renowned economics professor
and
Nobel Prize candidate who has taught at Hong Kong University and the
University of Wa****ngton, insist their goods are authentic and say they
are
"baffled" by findings otherwise.
[snip]
Steven Ng Sheong Cheung, 67, is a wealthy Hong Kong-born U.S. citizen with
homes in Seattle, Hong Kong and Shanghai. He is famous in East Asia for
his
economics research, his books and his newspaper columns, and he has been
Nobel laureate Milton Friedman's traveling companion on Friedman's trips
to
China and Hong Kong. Cheung himself has been a candidate for the Nobel in
economics, fini****ng in the top 25 in the 2001 balloting.
[snip]
Cheung says he developed an interest in antiques from his economics study
of
the effect of information on pricing in volatile markets. Although he
confirms that he acts as an "advisor" to Thesaurus Fine Arts, he denies he
is an owner or that he pays [its manager, Edith] Crighton. He would not
say
whether his family owns it, saying owner****p needs to be kept secret
because
of security concerns.
Many factors point to Cheung's active participation in the business:
.. Crighton, listed in state papers as the company president, said "the
principal owner" is an "Asian professor" who owns homes in Hong Kong and
Seattle and whose daughter was getting married that evening in Seattle.
The
description fit Cheung precisely; that night, his daughter was married at
St. James Cathedral and had a reception at SAM.
.. Crighton, a former interior designer, says the Seattle law firm of
Stafford Frey Cooper referred her to Cheung, who needed a store manager.
.. A woman named Linda Su - Cheung's wife's name before marriage - is
listed
as administrator of www.thesaurusfinearts.com, the company's Web site.
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