In a conversation with Heritage Key (HK), Paul Denis (PD), the curator of Fakes & Forgeries Yesterday and Today, a newly announced exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum, talks about how fake ancient artefacts are affecting the museum world.
Among the things discussed are:
-The emergence of ancient Greek coins as a new hot area for fraudsters.
-Why the internet is an awful place to acquire artefacts.
-How curators (with a little scientific help) pick out fakes.
He also shares some interesting news: of the hundreds of Zapotec artefacts his museum has, about 50 percent are forgeries.
He explains how they got duped on such a grand scale.
HK – Why create this particular exhibit?
PD – I thought it would be very popular with the public. It’s (a) type of exhibition I’ve wanted to do for the last several years. It’s a very interesting show. People are always interested in fakes and genuine objects and how to tell the difference between the two.
HK – In general, for a museum right now, how big a problem is it trying to spot historical fakes? Especially given all the technologies that are available today?
PD – First of all the curator would have to have knowledge and develop a good eye. That’s always important, knowledge with a good eye – in his or her specific field.
After a while you develop a sixth sense and you can sort of tell what’s fake or not – really quickly. But then there’s some really good fakes out there and that’s when science steps in to help.
For example, with ceramics, especially the Mexican ceramics that are in the exhibition, we were able to detect those forgeries by a test called thermoluminescence – TL testing. How that works is a small bit of the ceramic is drilled out of the bottom of a pot or a statue and then the TL test can tell you when the ceramic was fired, when the clay was fired – whether it was 200 years ago or 1,000 years ago or 3,000 years ago. That can give you pretty good definite proof.
HK – One thing which I noticed when I looked at the history of faking is that it seems as if at certain times certain spots become hot spots for fakes, just depending on the antiquities market. Right now are you aware of any sort of hot spots in the world where there seem to be a lot of fakes that are coming up?
PD – Good question. I think there are fakes everywhere. It’s hard to say. It’s just buyer beware for everything.
Now ancient coins have gone up in value, ancient Greek silver coins. So there are a lot of very, very clever, in gold and silver, ancient coin fakes coming on the market now.
I would be very cautious about buying any of these ancient coins.
The African art is always very (popular to fake) because African art is very popular in North America.
So African art, it can be faked. A lot can, you just have to go on the internet and onto ebay and find out.
HK – How have these technologies such as ebay and these sort of web 2.0 technologies (facebook, myspace), how have these technologies impacted the faking of ancient artefacts?
PD – It’s not personal (these technologies) as you know. A lot of scam artists put things on for sale, but all you see is a picture, you’re not really seeing the real object. You don’t know what you’re buying. They could have a picture of a real object. When you get it in the mail, or when it’s delivered to you, it could be a total forgery.
There are thousands of art and works of art and collectibles on sale everyday for the unsuspecting buyers. There are some legitimate sites, some very good websites that have genuine things and reputable dealers.
I would just be very cautious on the internet.
HK – In the case of the ROM what steps does the ROM take to make certain that the artefacts in its collection are authentic?
PD – We review the object, and the previous curators before me review the object. It’s more buying new objects, new acquisitions, that in today’s world the curator has to be really alert and aware. That comes through knowledge with a good eye. You also have to buy from reputable dealers who will take the object back with a full refund.
The object has to be on the premises before we pay for it. Once it arrives we can examine it more closely with the conservation department and with other scholars. Sometimes we’ll send photographs, or be with another scholar, another museum person, to examine the object.
HK – Have you had many situations at the ROM where artefacts, in your collection, end up being discovered as being fakes?
PD – Yes, these objects were mostly bought during the early part of the 20th century. By about 1950 they were realized to be fake.
I can only talk for the Greek and Roman department – we haven’t bought anything fake in awhile.
There’s also the reverse process as well where an object is bought as genuine and then some scholars think its fake, so it’s taken off display, and then it’s studied again and it’s been rehabilitated. It’s realized that this thing is genuine after all and it’s put back on display.
HK – I remember there was a particularly famous object that was on display at the ROM. It was a Minoan sculpture..
PD – Our lady of sports
HK – I remember that was challenged. Were you able to sort that out one way or the other?
PD – We believe it is now a forgery. Our former director, founding director, Currelly, bought it in 1931 thinking that it was genuine. It was published by Sir Arthur Evans in his book on the Palace of Knossos. What happened is that the conservators who were working for Evans, this would be in the early part of the 20th century, were probably making fakes as a night job.
He got duped, it was only I guess in the 1960’s and 1970’s that other museums, there was one in Cambridge, one in Boston… there are maybe four or five of them that have been deemed forgeries today.
HK – The Zapotec fakes that were mentioned in the press release, how many of those are in the museum’s collection?
PD – I think there are several hundred in the collection of which about 50 percent are fake.
HK – 50?
PD – 50 percent oh yeah.
HK – So there are several hundred and there are 50 percent fake?
PD – Probably yeah.
HK – Wow!
PD – What happened is that in the early part of the 20th century somebody was faking them in Mexico. Again Currelly bought them from an apparently legitimate dealer in the (United) States. We brought them back here. Every single one has been thermoluminescence tested and about half of them are fake.
Again it’s just reaching too far.
HK – But now a days it’s very rare for a museum to buy something and be duped?
We hope so, that’s what we like to think here at the ROM. But the Getty Museum, several years ago, bought a Greek statue called a Kouros and they paid I think $6 million for it and it’s a fake (see the Getty’s statement on this artefact here).
Fakes & Forgeries Yesterday and Today runs from January 9 to April 4, 2010 at the Royal Ontario Museum. For more discussion about some of the world’s most famous possible fakes, read up on the Bust of Hatshepsut, and the Bust of Nefertiti – or find out about extreme faker Nileen Namita!
