“Five have already reported today. That is normally less,” said head of the museum collection Epco Runia on NH Radio on Monday afternoon.
Last week Charlotte Meyer’s story appeared. She had kept a folder with old prints, collected by her grandfather, unseen in her house in Zutphen, Gelderland, for years. But when these came to the attention of museum experts, they were ‘restrained’, he said Omroep Gelderland.
“It was only during the corona period that I thought: let me take a look in that folder,” says Charlotte.
It contained 35 different etchings. An etching is an ink print of a drawing on a copper plate (a kind of stamp). Multiple prints can be made with one plate.
Her grandfather’s folder contained small images, some only 4 by 2 inches. She called the local Municipal Museum. “They were very friendly, but I think at first they were like: ‘Here comes another person who thinks he has a real Rembrandt.’
But they turned out to be authentic and so they contacted the Rembrandt House museum in Amsterdam. “To be honest, I thought: it must be nothing,” says head of collection Epco Unia. “That’s because we often receive these types of messages and there are many reproductions or other versions.”
But this time it was a hit, 35 pieces. “He made about 300 different etchings,” Runia explains. “They were printed in editions and we have almost all 300 of them. So we already knew these copies.”
Worth thousands of euros
Still, he believes the etchings are quite valuable. “The fact that there are so many together is very unique. I have never experienced that before.” Runia estimates that they are worth thousands of euros each. The owner herself does not make any statements about the value of the etchings.
The collectors who reported in recent days came home from a rude awakening. Their ‘Rembrandts’ turned out to be completely fake. The ‘real’ ones will be exhibited in the Stedelijk Museum in Zutphen in the near future.
Charlotte said to Omroep Gelderland: “It is such a beautiful story that you can only dream about it. I have been completely enchanted by Rembrandt, what incredible mastery.”
