Lie Detector 

Hope does indeed - bafflingly
enough - spring eternal, at
least in the feverish minds of
avid collectors under the illusion
that "you never know" what may
appear, some unexpected treasure,
to meet the acquisition
compulsion satisfying the
parameters signalling value,
beauty, skill, composition, design
craftsmanship and desired materials
to present as an object of merit.
Patience is never more a virtue
as initially appealing objects
reveal themselves as degraded
counterfeits and the collector
sighs in weary resignation, if
not downright disbelief that a
seller whose anxiety to dispose
of the questionable object must be
at least as great as the potential
purchaser's to claim it, offers his
paltry pretence at a hugely inflated
price reflecting a distorted kind
of commercial dance between a
connoisseur and a charlatan, a
poorly choreographed waltz of
indifference and greed sparring
with acquisitiveness and resignation.