eBay's Worst of the Worst Egyptian Fakes by Bob Dodge
A Few of eBay's Worst of the Worst Egyptian Fake Sellers... an eye-opening
editorial written by Bob Dodge owner/partner, www.artemisgallery.com
One of my favorite things to do over lunch is surf eBay looking at 'who' is
selling 'what' in the category of antiquities. After about 10 minutes, my
blood-pressure seriously elevated, I have to force myself to stop, as I simply
cannot stand seeing another awful fake being misrepresented as ancient.
To say there are fakes sold on eBay is tantamount to saying there are grains of
sand in the desert. The worst category has to be EGYPTIAN, with at least 4 or 5
major sellers selling fakes exclusively, while there are many others selling a
mix of fakes and quasi-ancient. Of those selling fakes on eBay, here are the
worst of the worst sellers - ancientgr4, back_street_bazaar, egyptianseller,
Egyptian.deals, kingofdesert, lost_civ, Byblosantiques, olinad_limag1 and now
morezmore. These guys change user names like most of us change socks, so just
because you don't see a name listed here doesn't mean the seller you are
looking at is honest... or hasn't been caught previously and now selling under
a new name! Once they get a few negative feedbacks under one name, they dump
that name and a new name emerges....
To give you a couple prime examples:
1) One I just looked at, after spending no more than 10 seconds on the Egyptian
area of eBay, lost_civ is selling a "Rare Huge Ancient Egypian Tutankhamun
SandStone Statue." Let me tell you this - as a dealer who was in the process of
trying to acquire a truly ancient King Tut statue about 3 months ago (it was a
3"H piece with a price tag of about $3.5 million), I can tell you without
hesitation that an authentic King Tut stone piece does not sell on eBay, nor
does it get sold with an opening price of $.99. Yet, some poor schmuck is
surfing eBay, finds this 'gem' thinking it must be a steal and spends a
thousand bucks for a piece that's worth maybe $25.00 (what you would pay for a
tourist piece at a Cairo bazaar).
2) The next example was a piece brought into our gallery by a local client who
purchased an "ancient stone container" from byblosantiques in Lebanon. He
wanted me to review it to see if it was actually ancient. The piece was quite
attractive and might have actually been ancient... had the ancient Egyptians
used plastic in their manufacturing process. The piece was mold-made of
plastic, covered in dirt to hide this small problem!! My client reported this
back to byblosantiques, and byblosantiques was quick to refund his money. Does
this change the fact that the piece was not ancient? Of course not, it's just
that byblosantiques realizes that most of his buyers are not going to return
the fake pieces, therefore if he refunds money promptly to those who do
complain, his feedback remains in near-perfect order! Perfect feedback for a
seller of fakes...
It's no secret that people are ripping people off on eBay - and this isn't just
happening in Antiquities/Egyptian. To keep you thinking straight/help you
recognize perhaps the not-so-obvious, here are my tips for spotting fakes on
eBay. No matter what you may think about 'this piece' or that in going thru
these tips, recognize that 95% of what is offered on eBay is a pure, complete,
fraud!
Here are my tips for identifying the thieves on eBay:
1) Any auction listings by the aforementioned eBay sellers are fake pieces.
Period, end of discussion!
2) Any ancient Egyptian auction where the seller is located in Egypt is
certainly a fake - it is illegal for them to sell authentic and they know this.
Plus, there is a huge source for tourist fake pieces that these sellers can buy
for a few dollars and sell for several hundred! Determine where the seller is
located. If they are in Egypt, or the Middle East, be very, very careful!
3) Any auction where the payment method is WESTERN UNION - major red flag! Hard
to trace and no chance of ever getting your funds back.
4) Any auction listing for ancient Egyptian that states an item's age as
'suggestive' is a clear indication that the seller is flat out selling a fake -
period!
5) If the seller uses PRIVATE AUCTIONS - this is a major red flag! Although
some fairly reputatable sellers use private auctions, I always wonder why are
so afraid of letting others view their bidders. If you have nothing to hide,
why use a private auction format?
6) If the seller uses PRIVATE FEEDBACK (even if their positive feedback is
100%) - this an almost sure sign they are selling fakes! Again, why hide your
feedback if you have nothing to hide? Like private auctions, this is their
attempt to keep the bidders names from view - because these sellers do not want
anyone emailing them telling them the items that they're bidding on are fake.
7) If the seller gives very long excuses for why they can't give a guarantee
(like lack of carbon dating, etc.), the item is probably a fake! Any reputable
dealer in ancient art should stand behind their products 100% - if they aren't
willing to guarantee their items, why should you trust them to sell you
anything that is authentic, or worse, have them treat you fairly should you
want to return the piece or question its authenticity?
8) If the auction starts at $.01 with no reserve -- and the seller states that
the piece is "priceless" - probably a fake! Think about it, would you sell a
truly priceless item on eBay? Even if you did, would you start the listing at
$0.01 with no reserve? Yes, this happens all the time - but c'mon, does it make
any sense?
9) If a seller says they are obtaining these 'ancient' items directly from the
diggers, stop right there! Besides the fact that it is illegal in almost all
countries to sell freshly-dug artifacts abroad, these items are very likely
fake. If you buy items that come directly from diggers, let me advise you of
one important thing - if the item(s) are indeed freshly-dug and you purchase
them as such, you can be subject to prosecution for federal crimes both here in
the USA and abroad! This is true for all Middle Eastern countries, as well as
items from Peru, Europe, Mexico, and anywhere else in the world that ancient
artifacts are found.
10) If a piece looks too good to be true - probably a fake! Did you know that
as many as 90% of all Egyptian antiquities were made in the last 10 years?
Don't just trust your eyes/ pictures - read the entire listing from start to
finish. Many sellers will claim to state that the item is a replica once, but
the listing and the title clearly shout ancient.
11) Before you buy anything on eBay, contact a knowledgeable dealer in ancient
art to get a second opinion. I will be more than happy to provide you with
email addresses of several reputable dealers to get good advice - and this
advice is free! Like me, these dealers simply hate sellers of fakes and want
only to help you from being cheated! The following dealers can always be
counted on for their knowledge and honest opinions:
- Howard Rose at Arte Primitivo - arteprimitivo@arteprimitivo.com
- Howie Nowes at Howie Nowes Ancient Art - howard.nowes@verizon.net
- Bob Dodge (me) at Artemis Gallery Ancient Art - realancientart@aol.com
12) Take a careful look at the item you are looking to buy and do a bit of
research on the internet to see if there's anything that resembles this item.
Most fakes are very easy to discern if you just spend a wee bit of time doing
careful research. If you have questions about any item, please email me for an
honest and free opinion. I hate fakes and have made it my goal to wipe out
sellers who sell this junk - eBay being my prime target.
OK, so now you've got this list of tips in hand, but I think you also need to
'see' how blatant the fakes really are, so I've included some pictures here for
you to examine so you can 'see' some of the things that set these bad fakes
apart from authentic pieces. What surprises me about the folks who bid on this
stuff on eBay (often at prices in excess of $1000!) is that they are fooled by
things that aren't even good fakes - they are bidding on pieces sold at tourist
bazaars in Cairo or other tourist hot-spots across Egypt and the Middle-East.
The quality is usually quite crude and if glyphs are employed, they are almost
always gibberish -- not even good attempts at using authentic hieroglyphic
characters, Plaster of Paris is usually substituted for stone (much too hard to
work with at these volumes), plus the features are simply amateurish. Also, if
you read the listings, sellers of fakes love to attribute names of the most
famous pharaohs to their "works of art" - most notably King Tut, Amenhotep,
Hathshepsut, and Ramses II being the usual favorites. If, by chance, you are
one of those folks who buys ancient art on eBay, please study these pictures in
great detail and compare theme to truly authentic ancient pieces you might
happen to see at one of the major auction houses (e.g., Sotheby's, Christie's,
Bonham's or Arte Primitivo), at a gallery like Royal Athena
(www.royalathena.com), or on exhibition at one of the major museums throughout
the world. Trust me, once you know what you're really looking at, the
differences are usually easy to spot. After going through these pictures and
viewing what's right and what's wrong, if you still don't 'see' the
differences, I would wholeheartedly suggest that you start collecting/ buying
art in a different area, because you will get taken advantage of.
If you have any questions, or need additional assistance with regard to
identifying fakes, please feel free to contact me - I will be more than happy
to help you.
Bob Dodge Owner/Partner http://www.artemisgallery.com
About the Author
Owner/partner, Artemis Gallery Ancient Art, www.artemisgallery.com, online
gallery specializing in the sale of guaranteed-authentic antiquities and
artifacts from the major cultures of ancient times - Greek, Roman, Etruscan,
Egyptian, Pre-Columbian, among many others. Worldwide clientele, excellent
trade references. Selling online since 1996.
|
