The art world took ages to come up with ways to detect
forgeries and many of
those use high tech science not just somebody's visual "looks good" ok.
And
we still have forgeries going for millions of dollars and those do pass
through the major auction houses.
Yes, this happens, but very rarely. The auction houses are *always*
rejecting questionable items - forgeries, copies, and everything else.
It would not surprise me if Sotheby's rejects 99 out of 100 Picassos
as fakes or copies, even though original Picassos are actually pretty
common.
Anybody can get a list of Apple I's lost to the
world and make up another
with a custom made circuit board, chips with the correct date code, some
aging, and a good story. Its not worth cloning a C64 worth $20 but if Apple
I's keep selling for $100K it will be worth the effort.
Forging an Apple 1 would certainly be possible, but quite difficult.
All it takes is one minor mistake.
--
Will