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... New York City, they got all their fine things appraised by Leo McCarthy, the ... for a man who died in 1943 to sign a fine-art appraisal in 1991. The lawyer did not file suit and a fraud was thwarted. The insurance company put some e...

... south of France in the 17th century. A porcelain creamer that she bought at J.C. Penney became a Meissen porcelain figurine from the early 19th century. She described a landscape print she had bought at a garage sale as an Andrew Wyeth oil, signed by the artist in 1932. When she was finished, she had 20 sheets listing 130 items with a total value of $275,000. She signed McCarthy's name to each sheet and dated it. The imitation of McCarthy's style and penmanship was masterful. The 20 pages ... But things bored her. Living alone bored her. Simply passing the days exhausted her. Her life needed something to keep her interest. She recalled that shortly before World War II, when she and her husband lived in New York City, they got all their fine things appraised by Leo McCarthy, the foremost pre-war art appraiser. The appraisal was written on sheets of 11 1/2 - by 14-inch artist's vellum, and a pen-and-ink drawing illustrated each line of fine descriptive script. She took one sheet to the local stationery ... and had them order 50 sheets of similar paper. When the paper arrived, she sat at the kitchen table for weeks, meticulously copying with a fountain pen each sheet of McCarthy's work. She lightly traced the line drawings with a very soft pencil and then drew over the pencil lines in ink. The only thing she changed were the values-to reflect what she believed to be modern prices. She cautiously erased all the pencil lines with a soft gum eraser. Each page was a masterful copy, as ably illustrated as any Bible ...