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Forgers were buying inexpensive paintings by minor European artists from the 19th century, and "russifying" them. They added fake signatures and sold them for large sums to inexperienced Russian collectors. For instance, the forgers would replace something in the painting, perhaps a Roman ruin, and replace it with something more "Russian," like an onion-domed church. The value of these paintings went from a few thousand dollars elsewhere to hundreds of thousands of dollars in Moscow. ARTnews' story includes before and after photos showing how some works were altered to look more "Russian."