$21 Million Dollar Forgery

My mother always told me that my baseball cards and comic books were only "worth" what someone would pay me for them, not what a price guide might indicate they were worth. In Australia, a fake Van Gogh painting is worth $21 Million.

The painting called "Head of a Man" was purchased by the father of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch in 1939, and taken to Australia, where it has resided in the National Gallery of Victoria. The painting had been established as a legitimate Van Gogh ten years earlier. Last year the painting was on loan in Scotland, and several Van Gogh experts raised questions about the authenticity of the work. Members of the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam were allowed to examine the painting and have concluded - from subtle technical differences - the work is not that of Van Gogh himself, but was likely painted during his lifetime. This shocking news for the art world follows closely on the heals of other fakes and forgeries including counterfeit Homer Simpson currency in the U.K. and fake Viagra in China.