Standard art terms attempt to convey what is known or unknown about an art work and its' creator. Below, we use the generic name John Smith   to indicate any artist (substitute the name of your artist for "John Smith "). Unless a work of art is documented incontrovertibly, accessing it accurately remains a matter of opinion, albeit an expert one, and opinion is not fact. Protect yourself from scams; know what these art jargon terms truly intend to convey.

"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.”   Richard Feynman

"Things aren't what they used to be and probably never were." Will Rogers

UNKNOWN HAND - The physical hands of John Smith did not create this work; somebody else's hands did it, and we don't know who they are.

JOHNSMITH - In our judgment, our considered professional opinion, the work is by the artist John Smith and nobody else.

ATTRIBUTEDTOJOHNSMITH - In our judgment, the work may be ascribed to the artist John Smith on the basis of style, but leaves some question as to actual authorship. This means, for example, that it appears to be about 98% like all the rest of John Smith 's work, and we have documented reasons to believe this about 98%, however we can't prove it 100% so it's an educated guess.

SCHOOLOFJOHNSMITH- In our judgment, the work is not byJohn Smith but rather is a work of an unknown follower of John Smith , executed in the style of the artist John Smith, and contemporary in period to the time when John Smith was alive and creating art. This means somebody else did it who was not John Smith, when John Smith was still alive, and around the same time as John Smith was doing things just like it.

MANNEROFJOHNSMITH - In our judgment, a work executed in the style of the artist John Smith by an unknown hand and probably from a later period. This means somebody else did it who was not John Smith, they made it look like John Smith did it, but they did it a long time after John Smith died.

AFTERJOHNSMITH - In our judgment, an intended and deliberate copy of the work of the artist John Smith This can include what in common vernacular is called a TAKE OFF on John Smith.

AMERICANSCHOOL19thCENTURY - This example means, in our judgment, the piece is the work of an unknown hand that can only be identified as to period and culture. It's a vague generality. For example, somebody from America did it sometime during the years 1800- 1899, but we have no clue what their name was and no clue exactly when they did it or where in America they did it; all we do know for certain is they were indeed American and they did it somewhere in America during this approximate time frame.

BEARSTHESIGNATUREOFJOHNSMITH - In our judgment, the work bears a signature NOT of the artist John Smith. This means the signature you see on the piece may, or may not be a genuine variation of the signature(s) we know for a fact that the artist John Smith used to sign pieces; we have no way of knowing anything more than this one way or the other at the moment. This indicator term is often added onto one of the above designations, and you may find it combined with "Attributed To John Smith " ,"School of John Smith ", "In The Manner Of John Smith ", or "After John Smith ".

"Investigation best way to find answer."  

Charlie Chan, Dead Men Tell Tales