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Originally Posted by drkshdw
What about VW bodies built by Karmann. Are they not VW's? What about Deusenbergs?
Tiffany never made any of the lamps that bear his name but does that mean they aren't Tiffany lamps? Because you pay for that name even though he had absolutely nothing to do with them.
What about Rodin? He never sculpted any of the sculptures we know as his. Are they not his?
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With respect to a car with a body by Karmann, or Reutter, etc. I'd still label the car as a VW or Porsche, or whatever. The reason being that Porsche, VW, etc. contracted with these companies to do the work on their behalf. Car manufacturers are really assemblers of parts that were largely made by other companies.
As for Tiffany, he directed his employees to make the lamps. I have no problem with that. After all, Ferry Porsche didn't help actually build his cars, he hired people to do that for him. The important distinction is that these objects were caused to be made by the employees of the guy with the name on the building. That's quite different than someone unrelated, building a copy of something he did not design, in a time and place far removed from what he's copying.
Rodin did the designs for his sculptures, then had assistants copy them into larger forms and cast them. That's pretty standard practice in that business. I would have no problem distinguishing a Rodin sculpture (made by his people in the period where he ran the company) from one that was made by an individual or company that had no relationship to Rodin, or his company.
JR