In every industry where profits are made there are fakes for the industry. We often think about fakes in the fashion industry, because most people have an idea of the brand but not specific details which makes the brand the brand worth paying for, this allows people who buy fakes to show them off as real. In the world of fakes, there are lawyers that are armed with copywrites and trademarks that spend time working with the police to try to shut down the manufacturers of the fake items. However fakes have a big advantage, the price is less, much less and the owner can believe or aspire to be the real thing which means fakes will continue.

One book which was written about the phony things is Genuine Fakes by Lydia Pyne pubished by Bloomsbury Sigma, London, UK, 2019. Ms. Pyne’s take on the world of fakes is to ask the question what happens when a fake becomes more famous than its orginal? If we really examine the world around us, genuine fakes are a lot closer to us than the art or fashion world.

When Rome ruled the Greek makers of pottery were the top of the line and those who were becoming wealthy knew that having the in pottery was important, fake art was sold. When Christianity was forming, some of the bones of the important figures were important for churches in Europe to possess, not all the bones were from the important figures. These examples show fakes have been in society for generations and will continue to be because the objects resonated with the audience and the audience wanted to believe.

One of the many things the wealthy do is buy art, if the artist is famous, over time the value will appreciate. If the artist is not famous, the buyer should like the art. Sometimes the artist which does the forging is very good and in the art world, the Spanish Forger’s work was some of the best. In many museums, the Spanish Forger’s work is to be found. The Spanish Forger work was in the 1500’s, but it took till 1970’s to build up the authenticity of the detail the Spanish Forger used which results in people collecting the Spanish Forger’s work and prices rising.

If you ever wandered through fields or streams as a young person, you likely picked up stones and skipped them. Depending on where you were walking, it was possible to see a picture on the stone of a fossil from millions of years ago. Likely most of the fossils were not collectibles but people for generations have looked for fossils to help explain how life can to being and what happened millions of years ago. Many large cities have Museums of Natural History and Universities have archaeology departments, think Indiana Jones movies. Sometimes the desire to believe you have found something that will change the course of thinking outweighs what you have found. In one case in Germany, 2 professors planted fake fossils for the another professor to find in the hopes of bringing down his ego. It backfired, the professor believed he had found something important and wrote a paper or book about the subject and had it published. Then he found it to be fake and had to spend considerable time buying the copies back. Next time, you are at the museum ask how the fossil finders determine it was true or how fakes were and are done.

Technology is a wonderful tool and it is used to create conditions that can occur in nature. One example is diamonds. Real diamonds are found in parts in India, Brazil, South Africa and Canada and since the late 1800’s, the control of diamonds has been through the De Beers which through various organizations sets prices and amounts of diamonds given to traders and retail stores. De Beers marketed a diamond as a diamond engagement ring which many couples bought and became standard. Many people have heard and believe a Diamond is Forever.

In 1970, GE was able to produce synthetic diamond or non-natural diamond because the process of understand what pressures the earth used to make diamonds was understood and could be and was replicated. This changed the market and De Beers monopoly changed although it still controls 35% of the diamond markets and synthetic diamonds are used in drilling for minerals in the earth’s crust.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, when something is popular and making money, various companies with like sounding names will emerge from the shadows hoping to lure investors’ money to their holdings. The overwhelming majority of the time the like sounding names will only have the hope not the reality of the company making profits. When it comes to buying be open to the like sounding names, but only buy the company which actually makes profits.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.