Good questions. I wish I had answers. This is nothing that can be seen
generally. Every answer can be given on particular items only, and every
collector will give his or her own one depending on available sources,
own experience and preferred methods. Determining fakes, especially by
images only is difficult. I guess you'll receive more answers if you
asked for 'red flags'. Did you read the 'About forgeries' files in the
file section?
Concerning these two brooches I wouldn't give them any further thought.
The dealers are evil, I've seen pieces that appeared to be from the same
molding before and the artificial patination is familiar. To me, this is
easy. Unfortunately it isn't always like that.
Stylistically they might be suitable for reenactors, although I didn't
see an image of the first piece. Hattatt 1185 and 1186 are possible
references of the horse brooch, but it's not a copy of these. Do you
think they are wearable? As far I know, the gap of the catchplate is to
big for the pin, so the pin can't be opened. These fakes are often made
from aluminium alloys I guess, which do break easily.
HTH,
renate
>¨My earlier post was broken up by the yahoo graphics above the photos.
>¨Here's the whole thing in one block.
>¨
>¨________________________________
>¨
>¨Hello, this my first post.
>¨
>¨
>¨I've been buying antiquities for 15 years, mostly Roman military
>¨artifacts, as a side to ancient Roman re-enacting. I buy artifacts to
>¨display at events, or to assist me in casting/fabricating
>¨reproductions for actual use by hobbyists.
>¨
>¨Most of my collecting has been done through storefront and coin show
>¨dealers, and Vcoins. I'm glad to see that a high percentage of these
>¨dealers are on this list or are recommended by this group.
>¨
>¨I recently started using e-bay -- I actually found some good items
>¨from reputable dealers, as well as saw an ad to join this group
>¨there. But before I joined the group bought 2 common fakes from 2
>¨different dealers on the "avoid" list.
>¨
>¨One was a horse brooch from draconarius_1, another was a Wolf &
>¨Romulus & Remus brooch from karakalas. The link to the album in the
>¨group photos are below.
>¨
>¨
>¨I have a question for the group. Are these items fake because:
>¨
>¨a. They are fantasy pieces not resembling a known ancient Roman design;
>¨
>¨b. They are more or less of an authentic design, but incorrectly made;
>¨
>¨c. The patinas are obviously artificially created;
>¨
>¨d. They are clever copies of originals, but are almost certainly fake
>¨because of the abundance of items like it for sale;
>¨
>¨e. They are probably not original because the dealer is disreputable
>¨and sells coins or other antiquities that are known to be fake;
>¨
>¨d. Some combination of the above, or other reasons?
>¨
>¨
>¨I ask this because authenticity has different shades of meaning to
>¨different enthusiasts. To collectors, the original/fake determination
>¨is the difference between owning something valuable or owning a piece
>¨of junk. To reenactors, who use copies of all sorts of things, the
>¨importance is placed on how close to an original a reproduction is.
>¨
>¨If the brooches I bought aren't fantasy pieces, I can just de-pickle
>¨them, shine them up and give them to someone to wear.
>¨
>¨But I still don't like being lied to, I regret giving money to
>¨crooks, and I won't buy anything from them again, even if they happen
>¨to offer something that is absolutely original. I can still give a
>¨bad feedback to karakalas -- I will ask for suggestions on this in my
>¨next post . . .
>¨
>¨
>¨-- Mark Graef
>¨
>¨
>¨http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/Ancientartifacts/photos/browse/29c5?c=
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ancientartifacts/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ancientartifacts/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:Ancientartifacts-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:Ancientartifacts-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Ancientartifacts-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
