While it's true that there are probably a fair number of people out there who could offer such services (I agree that Alexei is such a person), I doubt that they will, for one reason: the potential liability is too great to justify the effort unless you are charging a bunch of $.
For example, say Expert is asked to authenticate a Suvorov 2nd, which goes for around $14k. If Expert determines its a fake, then Buyer will be unhappy, and could sue Seller, and Expert will likely be a witness in the litigation. That would necessitate an attorney for Expert, which costs money. $14k is a lot of money, so legal action is possible. Or, what if Expert determines that something is fake, and it turns out to be genuine, but when the client discovers the mistake, he has already sold the item for pennies on the dollar :yow With the potential-expert people owning hundreds of thousands of dollars of awards/etc, that's a huge exposure.
While insurance could avoid having to hire a lawyer, and protect the potential experts' assets, insurance also costs money, and I'm not sure that there are a lot of such underwriters out there. In the end, it's likely to be a big hassle, so I'll bet that most people who could provide the service won't.
For example, say Expert is asked to authenticate a Suvorov 2nd, which goes for around $14k. If Expert determines its a fake, then Buyer will be unhappy, and could sue Seller, and Expert will likely be a witness in the litigation. That would necessitate an attorney for Expert, which costs money. $14k is a lot of money, so legal action is possible. Or, what if Expert determines that something is fake, and it turns out to be genuine, but when the client discovers the mistake, he has already sold the item for pennies on the dollar :yow With the potential-expert people owning hundreds of thousands of dollars of awards/etc, that's a huge exposure.
While insurance could avoid having to hire a lawyer, and protect the potential experts' assets, insurance also costs money, and I'm not sure that there are a lot of such underwriters out there. In the end, it's likely to be a big hassle, so I'll bet that most people who could provide the service won't.
