Animal Crossing: Never Be Fooled by a Fake Piece of Art With This Checklist

Redd sells famous works of art from all over the world, but he has a tendency to sell forgeries that only a keen eye can spot. Though you can purchase and display forgeries, Blathers will not take forged artwork to display at the museum, so deducing which are genuine items that Redd sells is important to expanding your museum.

As of Patch 1.2.0, Redd can appear off the coast of your island in Jolly Redd‘s Treasure Trawler. First, however, you’ll need to donate at least 60 items to the Museum (including the 5 to Tom Nook and 15 to Blathers in his tent). Once Blathers tells you he’s ready to take donations of artwork, Redd should appear the next day.

While his boat will always be docked on the small northern beach on your island, you won’t be able to enter it until you find Redd himself wandering elsewhere on the island. Talk to him and wait for him to apply his family discount and buy the first art he sells (it will always be genuine), and then give it to Blathers. The art he offers is random, too, so what you get will likely be different than what someone else gets.

To open a new art exhibit wing in the museum, Blathers will close for day for renovations, and afterwards you can find Redd on your island again on a different day, at which point he will invite you to his ship to see more of his art collection.

Boarding Redd‘s boat will put you in a seedy store of sorts, where Jolly Redd sells various furniture, as well as his precious works of art.

Each time you visit, he will display 4 works of art – but several of them may not be genuine, and are instead skillful forgeries with only a few telltale signs, and you’ll need to know what to look for, otherwise you may buy the wrong artwork that Blathers will refuse to put in the museum.

If you have no interest in waiting for Redd to reappear and rolling the dice every time he updates his inventory, you can finish your collection quickly with this time travel cheat. Cheat credit to Doug Chin for contacting us about this exploit.

1. First, you’ll need Redd on your island. If Redd is nowhere to be found, Time Travel (change your system clock) one day at a time until you see him.
2. Shop at Redd’s once he appears. Don’t worry if Redd is selling nothing but fakes; you don’t need to buy anything for this cheat to work. Save, exit your game, then close the software completely.
3. Head to System settings on your Switch. Select system, then select Date and Time. Make sure Synchronize Clock via Internet is turned Off. Change the Date and Time to go only one day ahead.
4. Start up Animal Crossing. It’s a new day and Redd is gone. Feel free to use this time to get your art from the mail and even donate it to the museum if you’d like.
5. When you’re ready, save, exit, and close the software. Return to the system settings and change your clock back to the previous day to resummon Redd. He’ll  have new inventory in his shop!
6. Rinse and repeat until your museum collecting is complete. 

Warning: Don’t Time Travel Too Far

Keep in mind that if you go forward or back more than one day Redd will no longer appear. If you see Redd on May 13th you can’t just consistently return to May 13th weeks later. We’ve found it can take up to 2 weeks for him to appear again so be careful when using this cheat or you’ll have a lot of time travel work ahead of you.

If Redd has managed to trick you, and Blathers informs you that your fake art or fake paintings cannot be submitted to the museum, you’ll be stuck with your forgeries – as Redd will have a strict “no refunds policy.” Similarly, word apparently gets passed around the island, as Timmy and Tommy will also refuse deal in forgeries, and you’ll be unable to sell fake art at Nook’s Cranny.

This doesn’t mean you still can’t display your fake art on your island though – just like any other item, you can display painting and sculptures all over your island or in your own home if you want. If not, you can always use a trash can item to literally throw it away if the memory of getting duped still haunts you!

Haunted Paintings and Creepy Fake Art

On the other hand, if you’re interested in some haunting consider keeping the fake art you buy. Players have reported portraits opening their eyes and statues floating once they’re interacted with.

(photo above from @Trogdorbad)

Below is a list of all know Works of Art that Redd sells. Click on the artwork’s name to automatically scroll to it on this page. Included is the name of the item in Animal Crossing, the name of the actual artwork it is based on, and any discrepancies you can look for when trying to discern if the item is a forgery. You can also view the slideshow below for fake and real comparisons: