IT remains one of the most astonishing art forgery tales of modern times, spanning Bolton to London, New York and Chicago ­— and even involved an American President.

A master forger, Shaun Greenhalgh used his incredible talent to fool the world’s art experts for more than a decade, selling his exquisite fakes to private buyers, dealers, auction houses and museums ­—including to the one that inspired his love of art.

Saiqa Chaudhari reports

The Bolton News:

SNOBBERY among the art world elite, an over reliance on provenance and, of course, a brilliant natural talent, enabled Shaun Greenhalgh to become one of the greatest master forgers of our time.

The Bolton-forger created hundreds of fakes between 1989 and 2006, emulating the work of some of history’s most revered artists and sculptors, inculding Gauguin with Shaun's piece "The Faun", going on show at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Shaun's forgeries were sold to renowned museums around the world, perhaps the most famous of which is the Amarna Princess an “Egyptian artefact”­— which is now back on display at Bolton Museum. Works were also sold to royalty and even an American president.

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His amazing story landed him in prison and now on the BBC, in BBC Four’s Handmade in Bolton series.

But Shaun says his story began simply from an urge to see if his work would be matched alongside that of the world’s greatest artists.

And it most certainly was.

His work convinced leading art experts the “Egyptian relic”, bought by Bolton Museum for £440,000 in 2003, was more than 3,000-years-old.

But contrary to popular belief Shaun did not create his “artworks” in the infamous garden shed of his home in Bromley Cross.

“You couldn’t make most of the stuff I made in a garden shed,” said Shaun. “One or two of the small things, but most of it you couldn’t.”

Shaun, by his own admission is a private individual, who shies away from the limelight, so it was not surprising he was a little nervous when he was back in Bolton Library and Museum for a rare interview.

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“I feel like Daniel in the lion’s den,” he said: “Bolton Museum kind of inspired me when I was little, I was always here in the library, the museum or the aquarium. It was my second home in the school holidays.

“That’s why I am here, in a very tiny way, some kind of pay back, I will do anything I can to push Bolton Museum and the library, I think it is a great place,” he explained to a packed audience.

Shaun, who moved back to Bolton after his prison sentence, is currently appearing on the BBC series Handmade in Bolton.

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“I like Bolton, the town, the people,” said Shaun, who was born in 1960 and enjoyed a happy childhood, during which he started developing an interest in art ­— an interest which saw him become an internationally notorious figure after it was revealed works he passed on as the genuine article were indeed brilliant fakes.

“I started getting in with antique dealers and went to London and got in with people there, nothing was planned it kind of happened,” said Shaun, “Art has always been a massive fascination, not so much art to look at, the aesthetics of it, but the actual manufacture of it , I look at something and think how was it made how was it put together.

“Could I do as good a job, if not why not?”

The Bolton News:

In London he said he was given sight of unpublished research papers, which showed “what the experts look for and what ticks the boxes in the mind for authenticity”.

Shaun is known for his exquisite fakes, but he first discovered his skill as a young boy creating his own his own Victorian-style “pot-lids” in his kiln ­— ‘relics’ he used to go hunting for ­— to sell on the flea market in the Last Drop Village.

“I was about 13 and 14. I suppose you could call it my first fakes,” he said.

And his first real fake bore a mark of Bolton Library.

His fake Degas, was his first real step into passing his work off as the genuine article, a work which actually had a “piece” of Bolton Library, within it.

He was given permission to take sheets of old paper from the library as they were being stripped from Victorian Binders, to be replaced by acid-free covers.

Many were watermarked in dates from mid to late 1800s.

“They were all piled up on a table I asked if I could have some sheets, I think they were gong to be thrown away, she said yes help yourself so I rolled the bundle up and I went,” said Shaun.

“At the time I thought they were just valuable in their own right.”

But he added:” A piece of it ended up being used for the Degas drawing that I sold.

“That was my first well paid fake, my first real fake.”

For the first time he experienced the thrill of having his work, a fake, valued.

“I was sat there waiting and was told an expert would come down I kind of got my faker’s nerves jangling for the first time I kind of found it exciting, it was never really about the money,” said Shaun,“The press said I had a disregard for the experts, I never have, I kind of look up to them and I thought could I actually do something that these guys would judge it and it be as good as the real thing so I could say to myself I am as good as the artists.

“That was the main motive of it.”

The Bolton News:

The Amarna statue, now undoubtedly valuable in its own right, was created in the winter of 1999, depicting a relation of the late Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

“It was made to be sold at auction, there were some dealers I knew that I had dealt with them before and I wanted to get them back,” said Shaun, “They kind of ripped me off and it was kind of planned for them.”

But it ended up in a cupboard for a couple of years or so before it was presented to Bolton Museum for a valuation and was authenticated by the British Museum

“I did not bring it here with the intention of selling it to the museum, I can say that in all honesty,” said Shaun, “I wanted an expert to look at it authenticate it they go back to auctioneers and say had look had independent experts no axe to grind commercially and they have said it was the genuine article.”

The sale went ahead “probably because of the money”, says Shaun. He added: “I felt very guilty about it, as proofwhen the police came I had hardly spent any of the money it was all still there in the bank and they got it back.”

And the museum did get the majority of the money back.

So how was it that Shaun got away with the crime for as long as he did.

His forgeries finally caught up with him after a minor error in a supposedly ancient Assyrian tablet was spotted by the British Museum.

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“With the Amarna Princess there was no one more surprised than me that it was actually passed by the British Museum,” said Shaun,” I respect the British Museum, and the people there are really good at what they do. I was astonished that they missed out so many things, but they did and I think it was because of the provenance.

“If they see a good provenance they just stop looking, I don’t know what it is, it kind of blinds the eye, they need to look at the object.

“I think they are more on to it now since the stuff I have done and others and are looking at the object more.

“They really do know their stuff.

He added: “There is some kind of art snobbery especially with the Metropolitan South, they kind of look down on the north, not just in art terms, but kind of with our accent, they think we are thick.

“To be honest and I kind of took advantage of that because they thought this guy would not know how to do these things, he wouldn’t have this inside knowledge so it put them off their guard and so it kind of worked in my favour a little bit.”

The Bolton News:

Handmade in Bolton is on BBC iPlayer and his book, A Forger’s Tale: Confessions of the Bolton Forger is on sale.