Buyer Beware

"Buyer beware." 

An old phrase cautioning people to not make snap judgments when purchasing items. Nowadays it's especially applicable to online auction and sales sites. You have pictures to look at, and can usually ask a few questions of the seller, but in the end, you don't really get a chance to examine it until it's in your hands.

Saturday while doing research on The Trail of the Painted Ponies, I found several "buyer beware" so-called Hagen Renaker dogs.  (Dogs and ACEO pics are from eBay.)

The paint job around this piece's eyes clued me in right away that this was not a Hagen Renaker.

A brown horizontal stripe across the dog's face?  Sloppy red paint on the ruffle around its neck? Not a real HR.

The tail hole is incorrect, too.

The correct tail hole on my Hagen Renaker dog.

Another duo listed as Hagen Renakers. Neither of them are.

These two are the real deal. I bought them from Nancy Falzone years ago.

I do have a Shiken imitation HR in my collection. Look at the difference between the real HR on the right and the Shiken (a Japanese company) on the left.

There is a big size difference, for one thing. The paint on the Shiken is actually very well done. It's a piece I am glad to have in my collection.

See the color difference in the white? The Shiken pup is bone china; the Hagen Renaker is not and has a warmer tone as a result.

The Hagen Renaker's face has some brown blended in on its forehead and nose

rather than a stripe. The imitation also has eyebrows that the HR does not.

Honestly, I hadn't realized just how nice my Shiken imitation was until I saw those others on eBay.

But the dogs weren't the only questionable things I found. Look at this next piece:

Look familiar? 

Yeah, to me, too. I've got this pair in both white and palomino in my china cabinet

I did some research and found the rules for ACEO (Art Cards, Editions, and Originals).

The seller acknowledges that it isn't an original painting. But the line, "or limited edition prints created by the artist" gives me pause. It's that word "created" that may be the loophole or wiggle room here. 

Photo from Google Images.

Perhaps he or she created that picture using online pictures of the set? They are very easy to find. Is that considered copying? Or would that be like having something posed on the table and ready for you to paint a picture of it?

I honestly don't know the answer to that. But, I see a copy of Breyer's work when I look at that auction. That card will not be added to my circus horse and pony collection as a result. 

It just doesn't seem right to me.