absolutely concur that the explosion of Indus figures on eBay and at
auction in the last 2-3 years is highly indicative of forgery. These
figures are cheap and easy to mass-produce, but sell at an
attractive price point that makes a substantial profit without
drawing the possibility of TL tests causing a problem. Further,
there are few references on these figures that are available in the
US and Europe, let alone easily available references. (I also find
it very interesting that there are so many different head types for
the female figures that have been published in scattered references,
but I consistently see only the same 3-4 heads that have been
published widely as line drawings.)
Very interesting area of study, but I strongly discourage anyone
from collecting these figures at this point unless you can find an
example with a verifiable provenance. (Not likely!)
Jason
http://www.janusantiquities.com
--- In Ancientartifacts@yahoogroups.com, Robert Kokotailo
<robert@...> wrote:
>
> Wed Jun 4, 2008 6:36 am ((PDT))ManorAntiques@...
> >
> >If you notice, the location of these items is in "PSH SING"
Singapore. Be
> >VERY leery of anything from China, as gazillions of forgeries
come
> >from there.
>
> This would certainly be a big surprise for all the people who live
in
> Singapore to learn they were in China.
>
> No parallel can be drawn between the situation in China and
Singapore.
>
> As far as I can determine, the export of Chinese antiquities from
> Singapore is legal. There has been trade between China and
Indonesia
> for well over 1000 years, and so there are many Chinese
antiquities
> for sale in Singapore that have been in Indonesia since they were
> new. As such there are some very good dealers in Chinese items in
Singapore.
>
> On the other hand, it is illegal to export from China anything
made
> in China before 1912 without a permit. Permits are seldom never
> given out, and I have never seen a genuine Chinese export permit
for
> a genuine Chinese artifact, issued after the date was changed to
> 1912. Since the potential penalties for illegally exporting
Chinese
> artifacts from China include the death sentence, I think you can
> understand how few sellers in China are actually offering openly
> advertise on ebay genuine items with an intent to illegally export
them.
>
> I will point out that the red wax seals often seen on Chinese
items
> and claimed by many to be "authentications", are not. There are a
> type of certification that says the item is OK to export, but the
> most common reason they are applied to items is because the items
> were examined and found to be fake, and thus not subject to an
export
> restriction.
>
> That being said, I just had a look at Jewelleryworld68's
> offering. Many of his items appeared to be genuine, and many did
> not. It was in interesting mix an to me it suggested he is
nothing
> more than a re-seller with no knowledge of antiquities and is
simply
> at the mercy of his suppliers.
>
> But looking at his offerings, one particular items just glared at
me,
> as an example of what is happening out there. He has 15 of these
up
> for sale right now, and another 10 or so in his completed
auctions :
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220230882012
>
> All perfect with no restoration and all UNDER $100.00. This is
not
> the first seller I have seen out there with them, and in fact I
have
> seen several times that many available on the internet recently.
>
> Another type that is bothering me are these :
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320258813645
>
> I was at a show a couple of months ago in the US and one dealer
had
> over 100 of these, all in perfect condition, in a box selling them
> cheap. They are now disbursed all over the internet. Just
another
> example among many.
>
> It is odd that there was never a supply of perfect condition, very
> rare items, at very inexpensive prices, like this before ebay (at
> least not in the nearly 20 years I was involved with antiquities
> prior to ebay coming on line).
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Robert Kokotailo
> Robert Kokotailo
> Calgary Coin
>
> WEB SITE : http://www.calgarycoin.com
> VCOINS ANCIENT : http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/calgarycoin
> VCOINS MODERN : http://www.vcoins.com/world/calgarycoin
>
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