An artist, or less salubriously a faker, can produce copies (‘innuendos’) of great artworks quite legally in most art market jurisdictions, but will be committing the crime and civil wrong of fraud if an attempt is subsequently made to profit from selling the item with the misrepresentation that it is not a copy.
An antiquity is an ancient object of min. 800 years. Some nice pieces appear on Ebay from time to time. But for each authentic antiquity, there are 100 auctions for fakes offered as a genuine artifact. They range from pretty good reproductions, to incredible garbage, not even old but often sells for many hundreds of dollars . Most of the fakes are terrible reproductions or phantasy products; neither authentic nor well done. Only the most expensive items in the trade are worthy of the time and effort it takes to make a good reproduction. The rest of them are for the most part made in China, Bulgaria, Serbia and you can tell it with a few exceptions.
Don't bid on any ancient object unless you know something about that type of object. Avoid impulse purchases. You may not have been interested in buying ancient art until you saw it on ebay. Research thoroughly before bidding! You may be a honest person, but do not assume that your business partners are just as honest. If you do not know what the object of your desire looks like, then you are an easy prey for cheaters. The best way to spot a reproduction is to know the real thing. Become familiar with whatever item or items you choose to trade in and study everything there is to know about them. There is no substitute for real knowledge Anyway it is fun to learn about the ancient culture that interests you. Look on the web. Go to museums, libraries and bookstores. Buy books before you buy antiquities. And while you are learning about your area of interest and you find online antiquity deals that interest you, consider buying it from a reputable dealer.
Ebay feedback is no longer a reasonable indicator, since ebay removes the negative feedbacks as soon as the scammers immediately fulfill the ebay conditions (refund, withdrawal of the fakes, etc.) People are bidding on fakes will also leave positive feedback when they receive them if they know no better ... worth thinking about.... ask others about the dealer's reputation, join fake forums and ignore the fairy tales which they write on the item description. A neutral feedback does not count against the percentage of positive feedbacks. So you absolutely must read the comments to get the picture. You can view the good, neutral and bad feedback simply by clicking on those categories on the sellers feedback page.
The auction: This is not completely limited to crooks, but in general a long elaborate discussion of historical context should alert you to look for other things. Remember…. long and elaborate. A lot of honest antique and antiquity sellers may give a paragraph or two.
Be careful if the offer text always affirm the honesty of the fake seller, or the relevant text modules for other fakes of this seller are only exchanged . Statements in auctions: Stay away from seller of fakes who insists that he gets some of his antiquities from people who work in excavation sites. Consider in most countries it is illegal to sell and export dug up antiquities. Another crook offers only Museum pieces in large quantities all supposedly inherited. Claims that the antiquity represents or belonged to a known or royal person such as Augustus, Caesar, any king or pharoah, or someone from the Bible (except mass produced in ancient times like a coins, etc.) are surely counterfeits.
Stay away if the antiquity is hard to see. Perhaps the picture is dark or blurry. Perhaps the piece has dirt on it (not the encrusted deposits of the ages). It means dirty with fresh or loose dirt like it was just dug up but not brushed off. Or the dirt appears to be intentionally supplied.
If in doubt look at the seller's other items. If you see some fakes, you can assume that they are all or mostly fakes. Most crooks make a small fortune at the foolishness of the people. Good strategy .... heaps of fakes (rings, attachments, coins) hidden between some real small stuff. Some just honestly don't know the difference themselves. Either way, it is risky to buy from them until you have built up your own knowledge. Myriads of dealers and collectors view ebay for bargains, but above all, the identification of fakes is based on comparison: the experienced collector or dealer will learn to understand why something looks or feels "wrong" but there is always room to learn something new.
Chris
quote: If you have to suspend all logic and rationality in your analysis of the item to believe the item is authentic , then it is a fake, same if it looks too good to be true.
quote: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/most-antiquities-sold-online-are-fake-or-illegal-180967062/If you’re looking for a nice bust of a pharaoh for the patio or some Roman coins to fill out your collection, consider carefully who you choose to do business with.
Georgi Kantchev at The Wall Street Journal reports that buying antiquities online is a risky proposition, with the majority of items for sale either counterfeits or illegally looted from archeological sites.
While fakes and looted artifacts have been a problem on the internet for a long time, two recent factors have combined to increase the problem. First, the proliferation of social media and retail platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, eBay, Amazon, WhatsApp and many others has made it simple for looters to directly solicit potential buyers, often sending messages to members of antiquities groups on Facebook and other sites. Second, ISIS has systematically looted the archaeological sites it has taken over in the last half decade, producing an almost unlimited stream of antiquities that it sells directly over social media. The combination has flooded the internet with questionable antiquities.
Neil Brodie, senior research fellow in Endangered Archaeology at the University of Oxford, tells Kantchev that at any given time, there are at least 100,000 antiquities valued at $10 million or more for sale on the internet. Up to 80 percent
** of those items are estimated to be either looted or fake.
“Social media democratized the art market, but it also democratized who can be victimized by the art market,” Colette Loll, founder of Art Fraud Insights, a company that investigates art fraud and runs prevention initiatives, tells
Julia Halperin at artnet News.
** current estimates are from 90-95%
