That is how bad it is out there. I have been in the business 40 years and have purchased two legitimate pieces. I have only had a few other real ones in my hands.
Some time ago a friend told me Southern-made Civil war sabers are all fake. A preposterous statement on its face. But his point was that real ones, not already known, are so rare they should be considered as non existant. Over the years I realized the point he made. Much the same for Stradivarius violins, you can believe those stories you periodically read in the newspapers, about someone finding one in the attic. But they never have the followup story, where it turns out to be junk fiddle. Someone I knew claimed he put hundreds of those labels in junk violins, as a bit of a joke, I don’t think he could have been the only one. In my lifetime I think only one real Stradivarius has been found, that was new to the market. So if you say all Stradivarius violins new to the market are fake, you will be right almost every time, and wrong maybe once.
So I guess we should say: All IT silver is fake, I will be right almost every time. I bought a piece of silver very early in my career that I was convinced was IT silver
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=36631
That link tells the story. When I realized I was delusional, I started studying the subject. It isn’t easy, as so much published information is of questionable value.
I was shown the first questionable pieces in a shop in Michigan. I don’t know whether I called them fakes before the dealer had a chance to call them real, or not. In any case he admitted they were fake, and said they were coming out of Ky. I told him the mistakes they made,
a few years later the same dealer sold my mother some fakes, I guess not realizing the relation or remembering the conversation. They had corrected the mistakes, but made new ones.
Then I heard of a large collection for sale, from further south. My aunt, now dead, who wrote the Cinci Silver book, a prominent dealer now retired, and myself decided we should try to buy it, as the dealer offering it had a decent reputation. They were sent to my aunt, who could not determine their authenticity, so they were sent on to me. I really didn’t think they were that much better than any others I had seen. You have to remember this was before email and digital photograph. I asked the third dealer if he wanted to see them. He said if I thought they were fake there was no sense in him looking at them.
I sent them back to the dealer down south. I also said I would tell him why if he wanted. He asked, I told. He said he was there when they were dug up, which brings up another point to be made. Some time later he called and said the collection was purchased by a major museum. My response was he just sold a lot of fakes to a curator who didn’t know any better.
I am sorry to keeping names out of this, but in this litigious society you must understand.
Skipping the timeline years later the curator of metals of a major museum was curious about mine. He said that he had tested a lot of them in various collections and never found a real one. I should explain I am not going to name the test, but anyone who regularly reads postings on this forum should know what it was, I have the feeling some crook is reading this over my shoulder. In any case I asked him it the museum that bought the bogus collection had theirs tested. He would just repeat that every one they tested were faked, I took that as a yes. You have to know as embarrassed as a dealer might be when he makes a mistake, a curator has to know he just spent someone else’s money on fakes.
Then they became far more numerous. Another dealer friend bought some fakes from a dealer (I think again from Ky). He said they were 100% guaranteed they were real, returnable. I told him they were fake,
and while I would tell him how I knew he wasn’t allowed to tell them.
I signed an appraisal and was willing to testify in court. The proof was he couldn’t get his money back.
Then they really started turning up. A museum asked me to look at a very large collection. I can’t remember how many pieces, but they filled a large table. They had been donated over time, by a doctor. It ticked me off as I knew the he was taking a nice tax deduction, and myself and others were paying more because of it. So I looked at a few pieces, and got the story and said they were all fake. The curator then asked, “every one of them”. I looked again at a few more and scanned the table. Sure enough, right in the center, was one that stood out. Small, unimpressive, and unmarked it was at least real.
After I told of my mistake, they said, that the real one had been in their collection for over 100 years.
At my suggestion they were sent to be tested. There were about 9 that were possibly old, but they said considering the group, there was no real reason to believe any were old. I am not sure who said it, but I think the curator was told that if I said they were fake, they should have believed me, which I took as a large compliment.
The story goes on and on, one man bought a very expensive style engraved medal at auction for nothing, fake. He showed me a south western museum catalogue with the same medal, I said it was fake too. But it was supposedly in the collection for 100 years, I said it is still fake. Years later I think I was justified.
I found two marked real pieces in a museum maybe 5 years ago.
I told them how rare they were. The curator went out and bought a third, fake.
A month ago I saw a few pieces in a museum, probably all fake, it is getting harder to tell. But you can find them everywhere, pawn shops, malls, coin dealers, all with good stories.
The problem is this: the books have lots of marks listed, but show very few examples that are marked silver. I have tried to search on line and find pieces in collections with good provenance, or archeological history. I can’t find any. Most unquestionable piece were dug up years ago, when it was legal. Most marked ones come from Canada, as do mine. I personally think that digging up amerindian graves by whomsoever is a final insult. I was recently talking to an Osage chief,
who were displaced to the south west. I was curious about what pieces they might have. Thinking of sky burials, you see in the movies, I asked him where the osage were buried, he pointed to the Missouri ground where we were standing.
So how do you tell a fake. A famous American TV judge says about teenagers if their lips are moving they are lying.
If they are marked American, they are probably faked, although there were a few who did even in MO they are exceedingly rare. Of course unmarked ones aren’t worth faking. Then if they were buried and show corrosion they are probably faked or looted. The corrosion formed by burying does not create patina it destroys it, and can be easily faked.
The next favorite way to age pieces is to add an old tag, that looks good. Another good way to fake one, put a mark on it that isn’t otherwise known. One that a client found on an online auction had a mark that was supposed to be that of a known MO silversmith. But the mark was different, his excuse was the silversmith used a different mark just for IT silver because it was so thin. I guess the best way to fake one is to make a really good fake, and get the mark put in a book.
The problem I have with this is I have never seen a piece marked with any of the rare early MO marks I have, only one by a silversmith that worked up north before he moved here.
I would love to find some legitimate pieces to study, but I doubt it will ever happen, and I am tired of looking at the fakes.
If you have a real one, something in a collection for a long time, I would love to see it, here is one of mine.
Maurice
