How to tell if art is fake or not in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Every two weeks or so, Redd makes his appearance in Animal Crossing: New Horizons to sell furniture and art. However, Redd is not the most trustworthy villager out there, since he has a reputation for selling fake art pieces to players. These fake art pieces cannot be used for anything except decoration, since they cannot be sold at Nook's Cranny and Blathers will not accept them at the Museum either.

However, it can be rather tricky to differentiate between real and fake paintings in New Horizons. This article will act as a guide to help players differentiate between the two to avoid getting duped by Redd.

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The differences between real and fake paintings in Animal Crossing are very subtle

Redd is infamous for his shrewd ways, wherein he often tricks a player into buying fake paintings under the guise of real ones. He charges 4,980 Bells per painting, so buying a fake one is obviously a huge loss for the player, since they cannot use it for any purpose other than decoration.

In earlier iterations of the Animal Crossing franchise, the differences between the real and fake paintings would be quite glaring, thereby making them easy to spot for the players. However, in New Horizons, Redd seems to have stepped up his game, making the differences extremely subtle and consequently more difficult to spot.

All the paintings that Redd sells on his boat are replicas of famous real-life paintings and can therefore be compared with the actual paintings to look for differences. If the painting being sold by Redd differs even slightly from the original painting, then players can be sure that it's a fake.

Redd usually appears with four paintings for sale every time he shows up. However, there is no guarantee about the number of genuine paintings that he will be carrying. There can be days when Redd is not carrying even a single genuine painting with him, so players must be quite careful. The only painting that is always genuine is the Warm Painting, which is the game's representation of The Clothed Maja by Spanish painter Francisco de Goya.

Players can only buy one painting from Redd per visit, so it is extremely important for them to know how to differentiate between real and fake paintings.