Woods are grim places. Farmers shoot squirrels, crows, magpies, and hang them up on trees to warn Mother Nature to get it together or else. Much notice she takes, being in league with God. They’re...

The problem: If you’ve an antique for sale, then, sad to relate, the world isn’t your oyster. It’s not that easy. Even if somebody gives you the National Gallery, your options are still very, very...

Forgery, being the weirdest form of creativity there is, like antiques, costs lives. Why is it that antiques demand sacrificial victims? Dunno, but if they don’t get enough, forgery does. You want proof? Here it...

I began to enjoy myself: being apoplectic’s quite invigorating.

Even gods decay. Like, in 1890 somebody sold off thousands of mummified Ancient Egyptian sacred cats – _for fertilizer_. Get the point? Constancy isn’t.

That day, I started taking an interest in the bar’s television. We always kept it on. As the hours slid by in a cacophony of talk I kept watch, throwing in the occasional comment about...

Every inch of space was used. As the road narrowed, signs receded upwards and changed to the vertical. Businesses simply soared from ground level and hung out vaster, more fascinatingly illuminated shingles than competitors. We...

Fraud is the daughter of greed.

The risks in antiques fraud are relative. Other criminals risk the absolute. You’ve never heard of a fraudster involved in a shoot-out, of the “Come and get me, copper!” sort. Or of some con artist...