Spotting Fake Native American Art, Part 1

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Roy Walters Junior. I'm a native American artist. I do sculpture and painting and I am here on behalf of expert village. There's another important thing about Indian art. There are a lot of good things. People are making a lot of art in terms of the fakes and the authentic work. There's a lot people.... see Indian art is a multi-billion dollar industry.... a lot of people want to get in on it and there's many different types of companies that are mass-producing work. Not only with this country but also overseas. There are a lot of laws against it. It has to be representation, legitimate representation of Indian art. Now, there are certain things that you have to beware of when you're going to purchase Indian art. The way an artist represents himself, and the way he signs work. Now, a lot of times they say that there should be a certain trademark, that they should always have their tribal affiliation on the work of art, so that that way you know that you're getting the real work, the authentic work. Now, original work should always be signed with the tribal affiliation. I don't put Navajo here, but I put Dine`, because that's who we are. That's how we refer to ourselves, Dine`. So you should always look for that. And the certain way the artist signs their name and then the date. Certain artists have certain signatures they use that distinctly represent their work, and they should always sign their tribal affiliation. That way you know you're getting the right type of work...that it's being represented the way it should be represented."