Palace Museum in Taiwan (Liu Wann-Hong, 1976; for details of the patination processes see Chapter 14, p. 363). The originals would have been made by- piece moulding (see Chapter 8, p. 160), bur the copies were made by lost wax casting, partly because this gave a more faithful reproduction of the original, but also one suspects, because lost wax casting is now a more familiar technique. Similar museum replicas were made in Beijing under British supervision (I.owe n thai, 1987; Beckett, 1995, pp. 123-124).
Kcnoycr (1996). an archaeologist much concerned with prehistoric sites in South Asia, encouraged the production of convincing copies of ancicnt stone beads in order to provide an alternative supply for collectors and thereby protect ancient sites from despoliation. In practice if this had achieved any success, it was more likely to have been the case that the modern copies caused a lack of confidence in the authenticity of (he beads offered lor sale, thereby precipitating a lall in prices.
Copies have been made with the aim of protecting the original and highly vulnerable or valuable originals. Thus, jewellery set with very expensive stones often came with an identical piece set with simulants to be worn at balls, etc., whilst the originals remained in the bank or. in some cases, the pawnbrokers (see Chapter 16, p. 403). Similarly, the spate of street lubberies of jewellery and expensive watches has led to a market in so-called replica Rolexes. Royal Replica Watches (www.envyfactory.com) advertise their . . genuine Rolex fakes’, commenting on the difference between ‘Swiss high quality replicas to the lesser Chinese replicas*.
The convincing coral simulant, known as ‘created coral’, was developed by Pierre Gilson to save the coral reefs from destruc tion, inspired by the diver and environmentalist, Jacques-Yves Cousteau (Ehvell, 1979, pp. 149-150).
Copies have served a more clandestine purpose. disguising the fact that the originals had gone missing. This has happened at the Museo del Oro Peru, in Lima, where the collection of the Manuel Murjica Gallo foundation was systematically stripped of an estimated 8(>% of its holdings of Inca gold artefacts in the 1980s and 1990s, and replaced with copies (Atwood, 2001. p. 80; The Times, 18 August 2001). This also occurred at the Ligong Palace in Hebei province of China where the curator substituted no fewer than 259 items, selling the originals (Vie Times, 19 August 2004).
Genuine pieces have been given false wear or evidence of age for a variety of motives. Wear has been added to antiques in perfect condition so that they would appear even more genuine (see Chapter 10, p. 234), and spurious patinas have been applied to antique bronzes to conform with the expectations of collectors (see Chapter 14, p. 353).
Sometimes antiquities have been accused of being forgeries as part of unrelated disputes. A good example is provided by the so-called Avar Treasure, offered for sale in 1981 (Sotheby’s. 1981). The treasure included a series of Avar gold and silver belt fittings stylistically dateable to about AD 700 together with some Byzantine silver vessels. The sale was nor a success, with the majority of the lots being bought in. Subsequently the dealer Michel van Rijn claimed that il had been commissioned by him in order to get even with Sotheby ’s (van Rijn, 1993, pp. 168-186; Beckett. 1995, pp. 52-63). Sotheby’s rigorously denied this, pointing out that van Rijns claimed grievance actually took place after the Avar material had been entered for sale (Page. 1992). More prosaically, the examination carried out at the British Museum on the material prior to its abortive auction in 1981 suggest that van Rijns claim is most unlikely to be true.
An even more devious case concerned the dealer Jonathan Tokerley-Parry, who acquired genuine but looted antiquities in Egypt. In some instances the originals had been replaced by copies so that their theft from the Government antiquities stores would not be immediately noted. The originals were then given rather garish fake patinas, etc. in order to deceive customs officials and ensure easy export from Egypt as rather poor copies. Once out of Egypt the fake treatments were removed, revealing the genuine articles. These were then further treated to make it appear that they had been in long-established European collections and could thus be legitimately offered for sale (Tin-Times, 15 February 2002).
Scientific approaches to authenticity
These approaches can be categorised as follows:
- Visual examination, aided by light microscopy, and where appropriate and available, UV, IR, electron microscopy and radiography. This seeks evidence for technique, evidence of repair or alteration and usage, and the sequence of manufacture, wear damage and repair (see Chapter 2, p. 36).
- Analysis of the materials to establish:
a) The composition of the original materials, together with that of later additions. With synthetic materials this seeks to establish
