Keep your eyes open for a new television PSA from Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar regarding authentic Native art.
Native: "Snub-nosed One," an Alutiiq mask collected in 1871-72 at the Chateau Musee in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.
"Make sure that you are buying an authentic Indian-made item," he says. "A seller with authentic goos will gladly provide information in a written guarantee that the product is indeed the authentic work by members of federally recognized Tribes."
Not Native: Medieval helmet from the region near Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, circa 1100.
You can hear it for yourself at the website of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, a federal office with the mission to promote authentic Native art and to enforce the Indian Arts and Crafts Avct, which makes it illegal to fraudulently market art as "Indian made."
iacb.doi.gov.

They also have a toll-free number to call for more information.... 1-888-278-3253, which spells 888-ART-FAKE.