"ancient" seals on Ebay: fakes, forgeries and falsifications - gefälschte Siegel/Fälschungen auf Ebay - sceaux falsifie sur Ebay - sigilli falsi a Ebay
This is my black list with sellers of faked and dubious seals on Ebay - gefälschte Siegel/Fälschungen auf Ebay -sceaux falsifie sur Ebay - sigilli falsi a Ebay
roman.coins (UK), faked seals, jewellery, rings, intaglios, gems, "Phoenician" scarabs etc.
domitia.domitia (UK), faked seals, jewellery, rings, intaglios, gems etc.
for some of their sales see: http://www.seal-collector.de/pageID_5325611.html
both dealers are connected and ship from the same address.
At present (06/2011) they try to sell faked seals and Phoenician" scarabs accompanied
by faked notes of Prof. Lambert, University of Birmingham.
For examples see: http://www.seal-collector.de/pageID_5325611.html
and have a look at Brons website: http://www.collector-antiquities.com/580/
both dealers are listed here as fakesellers: http://augustusmath.hypermart.net/fakesellers.html
and here:
http://howtobuyantiquesandcollectibles.blogspot.com/2008/03/re-ancientartifacts-re-trocadero-ramons.html
For a short but expressive comment made by Dr. Winkelmann see:
http://www.seal-collector.de/
sumeriana (France), faked "Hittite" cylinder seals, fake cuneiform tablets, fake figurines
This guy is one of the worst fake sellers on Ebay offering really ridiculous fakes.
For examples see: http://www.seal-collector.de/fake-gallery_2.html
Some of his faked seals are damaged in order to make them look authentic.
genuine-ancient-jewellery (UK), faked "Etruscan" seals, jewellery, rings, intaglios, gems etc.
for some of his weird fakes see Brons website: http://www.collector-antiquities.com/580/
He is no longer a member of AIAD !
ko240345 (Pakistan), faked Indus Valley seals
1666london (UK), faked Sasanian seals
oroboros_20000xuy (USA)
leesleep (UK)
taharka33 (Czech Republic)
ancient-antiques4u (USA), faked "Indus valley" seals
auction_adbc (Singapore), faked cylinder and stamp seals, faked pottery
treasures_global (Singapore)
calhouned1981 (Singapore)
Non Ebay sellers:
Sadigh Gallery
worldwidestore
Xanthos Antiquities (a dealer on Trocadero)
BC Galleries
Most fakers don't take much time to study iconography, styles, materials and scripture carefully. They just copy what they see, sometimes mixing styles from different periods and misinterpreting parts of the scene. Most of them don't have the skills to create a real good forgery. That's why in most cases it's easy to decide whether an object is real or faked. Nevertheless there can be no doubt that excellent fakes are existing, sometimes even dating back to the 19 th century. These fakes only can be identified by a close and careful examination. It's always the combination of size, style, iconography, shape, material and sometimes scripture that makes the difference.
Buying seals and scarabs over the Internet is extremely risky, especially for new collectors. There are only a few Internet dealers that sell authentic artefacts. In most cases these "ancient treasures" with certificates of authenticity offered for hundreds or thousands of US Dollars in online shopping malls are not more than tourist souvenirs. You can easily buy this junk for a few US Dollars at every corner in Cairo or Damascus.
Ebay is the world biggest market for fakes - Crowds of wealthy customers and unexperienced collectors - a paradise to every seller of fakes.The loads of fakes offered on Ebay make it necessary to identify fraudulent sellers of forgeries. A high percentage of all "ancient" seals and scarabs, offered on Ebay is obviously faked. For example 2 well known dealers from the UK offer weird fantasy seals, faked intaglios and gems. See black list above. No problem for the experienced collector, but new collectors can lose a lot of money. If you see a dubious seal feel free to contact me. (See Contact / Links)
In fact many archeologists believe, that the huge amount of cheap fakes available on Ebay helped to confine looting because nowadays it's more profitable to produce a fake than to dig out an original and to sell it to a middleman. See:
http://www.archaeology.org/0905/etc/insider.html
09/2010: Warning - new fakes offered on Ebay !
For fakes see menu "Fake Gallery" http://www.seal-collector.de/pageID_5325611.html
06/2011: Warning - faked Lambert notes appear on Ebay (see below No. 7)
For an example see http://www.seal-collector.de/pageID_5325611.html
There are some features, that can help you to identify fake sellers on Ebay:
1. Very often they offer a mixture of apparently genuine items and fakes. The genuine items are always cheap, arrowheads, rings or uncleaned coins. That makes it difficult for unexperienced collectors to decide wether a specific seller is reliable or not.
2. The ID of the bidders is kept private.
3. Fraudulent sellers often tell weird stories to sell their faked items. Here is my favourite one:..".was brought from Egypt to the US in the 1920's by my elderly neighbor's father-in-law. He worked on oil exploration there at the time and had an interest in antiquities and a good eye. And bought directly from those who were excavating these pieces at the time." This seller successfully sold his two faked scarabs for hundreds of US-Dollars. This one is nice too: "For sale is a very rare Cylinder seal from the Indus Valley (Afghanistan), this item belonged to the personal collection of Near Eastern artifacts of my Grandfather which I inherited some of them." Of course he successfully sold his fakes.
4. The seller guarantees authenticity by claiming he has shown the item to a museum.
5. Be aware that a good rating does not indicate a good dealer on Ebay ! Most buyers do not know that they have been cheated - well and some don't want to know. In fact the two worst fake sellers on Ebay have thousands of good feedbacks and a nearly 100% positive feedback score.
6. Very often the description of the item is wrong. For example one seller from France uses the term "Hittite" for his faked seals. Another seller offers "Etruscan" seals.
7. At present (June 2011) faked seals with faked notes of Prof. Lambert, University of Birmingham appear on Ebay. His notes and his signature are quite easy to imitate because he frequently used a type writer.
8. Never buy Indus Valley seals on Ebay, these are all fakes. Many of them are offered by a certain dealer from Singapore. Others come from workshops in Pakistan. Sometimes these fakes even are restored and repaired. Even heavily damaged seals are offered on Ebay, see: http://www.seal-collector.de/fake-gallery_9.html Be aware that Indus Valley seals are extremely rare, you won't be able to buy an original for USD 100,- on Ebay !For an authentic example see menu: "My Seal Collection". For examples on Ebay see menu: "Fake Gallery"
9. "Ancient" artefacts sold directly from Egypt are always faked. Smuggling antiquities is threatened with serious penalties in Egypt , no Egyptian will take such a risk. There is one U.S. Seller who sells nothing but fakes and warns his bidders of fakes sold from Egypt - a bad joke !
Conclusion: Will you be able to buy a 4000 years old cylinder seal on Ebay for USD 100,- ? The answer is no !
Short summary in German:
Oben finden Sie eine Liste mit Anbietern gefälschter Siegel auf Ebay. Nahezu alle derzeit auf Ebay als alt angebotenen Siegel/Rollsiegel sind Fälschungen. Ebenso Intaglios, Gemmen und antiker Schmuck. Bevor Sie kaufen, fragen Sie bitte einen Fachmann oder Sie laufen Gefahr, viel Geld für ein wertloses Stück auszugeben. Sie finden auf dieser Website unter Contact/Links einige seriöse Anbieter, die Ihnen Auskunft geben werden. Sie können mich auch gerne direkt kontaktieren.
Keywords: Fälschungen, fakes, falsificazione, Siegel, sigillo, sigilli, sceau, sceaux, sigillaire, falsification, contrefacon, faux, bidonnage, bamba, falseamiento, sello
