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Inside the Rosenbach, Photo courtesy the Rosenbach Museum

“I’ll have you know, sir, the Rosenbach’s don’t deal in facsimiles.”

That Philip H. Rosenbach quote hangs proudly above the display introducing Rosenbach Museum & Library visitors to its current exhibit, Friend or Faux: Imitation and Invention from Innocent to Fraudulent. And on one hand, it’s totally false — this exhibit is all about the counterfeiters who pulled a fast one on museum curators and the general public in passing off their fake artifacts as the real deal. But it also explores what “fake” really means when it comes to notable objects — and why curators, or the general public, should care.

The two-room exhibit breaks down into four general sections: Forgeries, Attribution, How Much is Real? and Local Legends. Each presents interesting questions on the validity of less-than authentic works. Does the draft of a letter written by George Washington actually reveal more about the famed Founding Father than the final composition after all the errors and hesitations are removed? Or, as the exhibit asks, if you replace one page from a 100-page manuscript, is the work still authentic? What if you remove 50 pages?

The exhibit puts an unique spin on many of the more notable objects already in the Rosenbach’s collection, including a copy of Moby Dick signed (twice) by Nathanial Hawthorne, a copy of the Declaration of Independence penned by Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Sully’s portrait of Michael Gratz.

Unlike the Rosenbach’s recent in-depth looks at Maurice Sendak, Friend or Faux is aimed squarely at adults. The stories behind these artifacts are really cool, but it takes a few paragraphs of reading to get the full context. But for any adult who’s ever wondered how a museum verifies the authenticity of its works, or considered trying to pass off that one dollar copy of the Constitution on parchment purchased at an Independence Mall gift shop as the real thing, the exhibit is worth a trip.

Friend or Faux: Imitation and Invention from Innocent to Fraudulent
Now through July 11, 2010

The Rosenbach Museum and Gallery
2008-2010 Delancey Place, Philadelphia, PA
(215) 732-1600
www.rosenbach.org