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Antique dealer admits to forging desk later bought by museum

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
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The Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut. Image by Daderot at the English language Wikipedia. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A man says he forged a Civil War-era artifact in Connecticut that was once described as a “treasure to behold for art and history buffs alike.”

Massachusetts antique dealer Harold Gordon tells The Hartford Courant newspaper he turned a plain writing desk into the “Bingham Family Civil War Memorial Secretary.” The piece was said to be a gift given to a Civil War veteran in honor of his brother who was killed at the Battle of Antietam.

Gordon says he sold the piece to a Connecticut antique dealer because he needed the money. The dealer showed the piece at a 2015 Winter Antiques Show in New York, where it was purchased by the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.

The museum said in a statement Monday it has been offered a full refund.

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Information from: Hartford Courant, http://www.courant.com

Copyright 2018 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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