Forgery in the Music Library: A Cautionary Tale

A study examines fraudulent documents from the 1920s and 1930s. During the time period, the celebration of four anniversaries - the centennial of the birth of Stephen Foster, the bicentennials of the births of George Washington and Francis Hopkinson, and the sesquicentennial of the founding of the US - increased interest in related antiquarian artifacts. Music manuscript confidence schemes run by Philadelphia antiquarian dealers Harry Dichter, brothers Henry and Paul Woehlcke, Charles Nagy, and Charles Weisberg against such groups as the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia are detailed. In May 2002, a collection of manuscripts containing work attributed to Francis Hopkinson was offered at auction. This consignment was actually a batch of Weisberg forgeries that had been offered for sale 70 years previously. An investigation by the "Philadelphia Inquirer" music critic, David Patrick Stearns, uncovered the true nature of the collection, which was withdrawn from the sale.