“FAKE” ANTIQUES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 18 July 1929, Page 7

“FAKE” ANTIQUES

SOME CLEVER DECEPTIONS JiLOTTING PAPER, REVEALS FRAUD In :i collection no vast as that of the I'ritisli Museum it would, indeed, ho strange if “fakes” did not occasionally j come to hand. 1 One which not long ago came to (1m ; notice of the authorities was a Mexican j funerary vase. In the lower part the | surface of what was supposed to he j stone began to flake off very peculiarly! and not parallel to any lines due to! natural stratification. Examination | revealed that sand and glue had been skilfully applied to simulate a sandstone; surface. ... I Further examination disclosed how ox-! tensive and clever the additions to thnj original had been. ft, had completely

I deceived the dojior. of several other genuine antiques of a similar character, who was himself an expert. Portland cement had been added, and the whole was given a final coating ot a uniform grey colour of sand and glue to represent a ’fine-grained sandstone. The Museum authorities arc continually boing consulted by visitors . from abroad, Especially from the United States, in connection with purchases they have made.■'tiff antidtio furniture and objects '6f /irblialio'fd^ical' interest. On many occasions ’ they' have gone away, according to one of the Museum experts, wiser but sadder men and women. He said : “Recently an American millionaire asked my opinion as to the genuineness of a document he had purchased in a West End auction room for several hundred pounds. Placed under the microscope, liny pieces of blotting paper were discovered in the ink marks. As the writing on the document was alleged to have been executed some centuries before hibttilig paper was invented, fho fraud was immediately exposed.”