A dozen years of hopeful curiosity about two paintings bearing French painter Maurice Utrillo's signature come down to the moment valuator and auctioneer Russell Kaplan sets down his magnifying eyeglass and the words he says next. “I’m afraid they’re not Utrillos,” he says. Kaplan breaks the bad news to Wayne Myburgh and his mother Irene Myburgh. Mother and son are at the annual National Antiques Faire in Sandton with the two paintings Irene says she’s taken special care of and wondered about for at least 12 years.Irene found the artworks, cityscapes typical of Utrillo’s work from the 1920s, hidden behind another picture she inherited from her mother-in-law.“One day the glass in the frame broke, and when I brought it down to fix I found these two paintings behind the cut-out picture of a girl and a dog that came from an old chocolate box.“I did some research but part of me didn’t ever want to find out. I knew if they turned to be fakes I’d be heartbroken,” she says.Wayne puts his arm around his mom now that she’s heard they are not worth Kaplan’s estimate of around R200,000 each had they been real.Wayne says: “It’s disappointing but not the end of the world, but we did think if they were real we’d be off to Mauritius”.“So did I,” quips Kaplan. But he explains what the Myburghs have are prints, painted over in places. There’s the giveaway of a copyright mark, the quality of the paper is also wrong. He rolls a small piece of paper between his fingers licks the tip and daubs it on a corner. No paint residue comes off - more proof the paintings are duds.Kaplan is used to giving bad news in the antiques business. The combination of age, condition, provenance and novelty distinguishes rare finds.By midday on the last day of the three-day faire Kaplan’s seen everything from silver tea sets, a Pierneef photolithograph, a Waterford crystal vase and old furniture.“We haven’t seen the 'Irma Stern in someone’s kitchen' just yet,” he says referring to the extraordinary find last week of the South African painter’s “Arab in Black” found in a London kitchen and estimated to be worth around R20 million.But collectors and art dealers are optimists. They keep coming to the Sandton Convention Centre year after year not just for valuations but also to see the Irma Sterns that are up for sale, Linnware ceramics, vintage Gucci handbags, rare coins and the Philip Arctander sheepskin chair with its R175,000 price tag.“You remain optimistic, because you just don’t know what the next person will show up with,” says Kaplan...