Lonan3 Posted November 17, 2007 Share Posted November 17, 2007 LINK TO STORY If the Greenhalgh Collection had been assembled as one exhibition, it would have drawn critics from around the world. Over the years, the Greenhalgh family amassed artworks from across four millennia. There were paintings by LS Lowry, a long-lost Barbara Hepworth sculpture, 19th-century American landscapes, a Thomas Jefferson bust, ancient Celtic jewellery, Roman silver plate and Assyrian reliefs dating from 700BC. The centrepiece was a 3,300-year-old statuette known as the Amarna Princess, made from Egyptian alabaster and depicting a daughter of the Pharaoh Akhenaten. It had been authenticated by Egyptologists at the British Museum. But, like every other piece in this collection, it was a fake. Each had been painted, carved, moulded or hewn in the Greenhalgh family’s council house in Bolton or in the garden shed. Many fooled the experts at salerooms and museums across Britain, Europe and America. They made at least £850,000 and, at the time of arrests, had more than £350,000 in the bank. What has never become clear is the family’s motivation. They had plenty of money but claimed welfare benefits and lived a far from lavish life with an old TV, battered sofas and a Ford Focus parked outside. I know it was wrong (snigger), and I know there must be people who've spent a lot of money buying these things (giggle), but you can't help admiring the talent of these people (chuckle) and, let's be honest, don't we all love it when some poncy antiques experts are shown up so completely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananaman Posted November 17, 2007 Share Posted November 17, 2007 Brilliant - would they be classed as mad, eccentric or something more sinister? Nice story though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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