Reputable dealers in antiquities?

Einhard

Hey,
Am looking to start a little collection of my own, focusing on antiquities and the like. I'm one of those pople who can't throw anything out, and so have been collecting almost by accident over the years, but I'd like to become more serious about it. Problem is though, there seems to be a huge amount of fakes and forgeries out there. Does anyone have any suggestions for reputable dealers, online or elsewhere, dealing in ancient coins and general artefacts? Thanks.

Morlar

I don't collect coins or antiquities but in my experience (of collecting militaria photographs & documents) dealers and auction houses are never to be 100% trusted. Some of them are never to be trusted fullstop. I have seen auction houses in Dublin sell expensive items which are schockingly bad in terms of provenance. Padraig Pearses tunic button, Michaal Collins' cap badge etc.

In the field of militaria (which might have some cross over relevance to your post) the best approach for avoiding forgeries/fakes/reproductions is using dedicated online forums and specialist books.

Wibbs

Morlar wrote: »

In the field of militaria (which might have some cross over relevance to your post) the best approach for avoiding forgeries/fakes/reproductions is using dedicated online forums and specialist books.

I'd add the very best approach is to research, research, research. The more knowledge you have the better. Dedicated online forums are a very good start. Though I personally don't know of too many in the antiquities end of the market. A couple of yahoo groups alright. Some areas of the antiquities collecting are represented more than others. Ancient coins being about the best on that score.

Antiquities is a huge area. From stone age items to Roman glassware to Chinese pottery grave goods. It covers many areas of expertise and many thousands of years. Another way to avoid fakes is to become specialised. EG I would be pretty confidant I could spot flint tool fakes, even from a picture on ebay(in the hand I'd be nigh on 100% sure). However I'd not have a clue about Roman oil lamps and in the absence of good advice would be going on instinct and guesswork.

Buy the dealer, not the object. Very important. A good dealer is everything. A good dealer will give a cast iron lifetime guarantee that they'll take an object back if any doubts crop up. The good dealers often buy back objects they've sold in the past. I'd agree with Morlar about auction houses. Their expertise can be lacking, especially sad to say with the local ones(in fairness antiquities in Ireland would be a tiny market), but even the big overseas houses have been known to screw up(which can go either way for you, if you spot something they haven't).

Certain areas of collecting are rife with fakes. Ancient Egyptian and Roman about the worst for it. I'd reckon at least a third(and I'm being optimistic here) on online auction sites are fake. They're knocked up in their thousands in workshops throughout the middle east and latterly China. Any area that's popular attracts the fakers. So I'd avoid those areas like the plague unless it's from a good and well respected dealer.

Wild_Dogger

Its hard to find honesty in the antiques business