A whistleblower has lifted the lid on an antique furniture scam that has rocked buyers on both sides of the Atlantic.
Kent-based furniture restorer Dennis Buggins told The Sunday Times he was flattered his work was to have been auctioned at Sotheby’s as authentic period pieces, but the pair of ‘17th Century’ three drawer commodes had been ‘made from old wardrobes’, and were subsequently withdrawn from sale.
Now collectors world-wide are hunting for Buggins’ originals, with many worried their antique furniture is anything but; two of Buggins’ biggest clients were London-based dealer John Hobbs and his New York-based brother, Carlton, with Michael Smith, a Los Angeles interior designer having bought two pieces from Buggins at auction. Smith’s clientele includes Cindy Crawford, Steven Spielberg and Dustin Hoffman.
Buggins’ creations have fetched prices as high as £1.2m, and have duped furniture experts. In 2007 Christie’s sold two desks as being Regency period, and in 2005 a pair of 18th Century mirrors for $192,000, in both cases having cited John Hobbs for authenticity.
The Hobbs brothers have both denied wrongdoing; John Hobbs resigned from the British Antique Dealers’ Association when it launched an investigation in the wake of The Sunday Times’ reporting of the allegations.
Alistair Clarke, worldwide Head of English and Continental Furniture at Sotheby’s, told the paper: “They are convincingly made and with an intention to deceive”. Buggins is reportedly ‘dismayed’ his work has been misrepresented, ‘but pleased that his craftsmanship has been passed by experts’.
A whistleblower has lifted the lid on an antique furniture scam that has rocked buyers on both sides of the Atlantic.