...but who's it by??

Have you seen the story of the ordinary, every-day family up in Bolton who created forged paintings and other works of art in the back room of their council house which fooled many experts and ended up in museums and galleries all over the country? Needless to say, they have been prosecuted, but for me what it highlights is the fickle and erratic nature of the art world, where a signature on a painting can make the difference between it being worth next to nothing, and being worth a fortune - and yet it's the same painting! If these forgeries were good enough to fool those in the trade, then surely they have merit in themselves? The whole story says far more about the conceits and vanities of art dealers and collectors than about the forgers.