1. How do I know that my purchase is a genuine antiquity?
2. What types of antiquities are commonly faked, and how can I tell the difference?
3. Where can I go to find references and what should I read?
4. What is the "best" item to buy and how should I start a collection?
5. How should I store or care for antiquities?
6. Where were these items excavated and when?
7. I'm unfamiliar with some of these terms. Do you have a glossary?

How do I know that my purchase is a genuine antiquity?

A great deal goes into dating and authenticating antiquities. Entire books have been written on authenticating specific objects within a given culture and time period, so any answer that we can provide here is obviously going to be limited. Laboratory testing is available for some objects depending on their composition, but the prices for such procedures are typically quite high and are not always as accurate as perceived. For example, one of the least expensive lab procedures is a Thermoluminesence test (TL test), which can be conducted on clay or earthenware objects. A TL test can determine if a clay object is ancient by measuring the accumulated radiation yield that is released when a small portion of the piece is heated to extreme temperatures. However, this procedure typically costs between $300-500 and can have a margin of error as high as +/- 300 years if a sample of the soil in which the piece was found is unavailable. Some less scientific methods are also appropriate for certain pieces; for example, textures and scents of authentic clay artifacts are quite recognizable with experience, "moisture tests" can be employed in some cases, seams from mold-made objects can be examined, etc.

In lieu of scientific testing, the most effective and cost-efficient answer is to educate yourself prior to making purchases. We have some references suggested below and can happily provide more specific reading selections that relate to individual items on the website. Please remember, as stated on our Terms of Sale page, we do offer a lifetime return policy on all sales so that our customers have the time to authenticate all purchases to their satisfaction.

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What antiquities are frequently faked, and how can I tell the difference?

• Egyptian ushabtis
• Egyptian scarabs
• Egyptian stone amulets
• Syro-Hittite Goddesses (Astarte)
• Syro-Hittite "rider" figures
• Roman/Byzantine mosaics (oftentimes genuine ancient loose tesselae reassembled into a modern mosaic...tricky!)
• Roman intaglios/cameos
• 99% of Asian antiquities at auction at any given time!

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What can I go to find references and what should I read?

A common mistake among collectors is to read only history books or only antiquities references. We recommend that you have a solid grasp of both for any given period or region in which you intend to begin collecting. Understanding the history and context of an artifact only deepens your appreciation of it. For the beginner looking for broad books that cover the history pertinent to most of the objects we sell, we recommend the following:

Bushnell, G.H.S. (1965). Ancient Arts of the Americas.

Campbell, James. (1991). The Anglo-Saxons.

Cox, Harold. (2001). The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of the Balkans.

Davies, Norman. (1996). Europe: A History.

Freeman, Charles. (1996). Egypt, Greece, and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean.

Grant, Michael. (1985). The Roman Emperors: A Biographical Guide to the Rulers of Imperial Rome, 31 B.C. to A.D. 476

Kauffmann-Doig, Federico. (1998). Ancestors of the Incas: The Lost Civilizations of Peru.

MacQueen, J.G. (1986). The Hittites and their Contemporaries in Asia Minor.

Oates, Joan. (1979). Babylon.

Roux, George (1992). Ancient Iraq.

A great many references are available for specific antiquities. Here are a few of the more affordable & helpful ones that we recommend for popular antiquities:

Collier, M. & Manley, B. (1998). How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphics.

Cooper, J.C. (1978). An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols.

Djuric, Srdjan. (1995). Ancient Lamps from the Mediterranean.

Labbe, Armand. (1998). Shamans, Gods, and Mythic Beasts: Colombian Gold and Ceramics in Antiquity.

Miller, Mary Ellen. (2002). The Art of Mesoamerica, 3rd ed.

Mills, Nigel. (2000). Celtic and Roman Artefacts.

Muscarella, Oscar White. (1981). Ladders to Heaven: Art Treasures from Lands of the Bible.

Nicholson, Paul. (1993). Egyptian Faience and Glass.

Stewart, Harry. (1995). Egyptian Shabtis.

Stone-Miller, Rebecca. (2002). Art of the Andes.

We also recommend purchasing and reading antiquities catalogs from the major auction houses, such as Sotheby's, Christies, and Bonhams. These catalogs feature hundreds of color photos of antiquities that have been authenticated by world-class experts and are invaluable references. We typically have many duplicates available for sale -- inquire if interested!

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What is the "best" item to buy and how do I start a collection?

Lots of factors should go into this decision. Good buys are items that you find attractive, that have some significance to you, and that have good resale value due to rarity or condition. However, it also helps to have a plan when buying antiquities. Many beginners tend to buy a number of cheap items quickly before realizing that they don't really relate to each other in any way. When beginning a collection, a few themes make good starting points.

1) By time and civilization. It's usually too broad to simply pick a civilization, so it helps to narrow it down to a time as well. For example, collecting "Egyptian antiquities" is a tall order, but collecting "Ushabtis from the Late Period" results in a collection with a united and interesting story. The possibilities are endless here; for example, Classic Period Mayan, Peak of Rome in the 1st & 2nd Centuries A.D., or Magna Graecia from 700-400 B.C. are all popular and fascinating periods.

2) By item type. Sometimes a particular object captures your attention and it becomes enjoyable to collect as many variations on that object as possible. Great options here include Egyptian scarabs or ushabtis, Roman weapons, Near Eastern stamp seals, Oil lamps, Central American bowls, etc.

3) By historical event. Fascinated by a specific moment in history? Collect antiquities related to it! Antiquities that relate to a wide variety of specific historical events are readily available, such as the campaigns of Alexander the Great, the Crusades, the time of Christ, the spread of Christianity and Islam, and the migrations of the Celts.

A good rule of thumb: Quality over quantity.

As always, please feel free to ask questions if you have an idea but aren't sure where to start!

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How should I care for antiquities?

Carefully! Bear in mind that you are a temporary caregiver for an item that is hundreds or even thousands of years old. However, with a few provisions all but the most fragile items can be kept fairly easily.

1) All antiquities are best kept at room temperature and should avoid extreme cold and heat whenever possible.

2) The greatest threat to most antiquities is moisture, which corrodes metals, hastens the destruction of wood, and discolors pottery. Avoid keeping antiquities in humid rooms and try to minimize the amount of handling that each receives. If you must handle an artifact, wash your hands and dry them carefully before doing so. If you intend to handle something a great deal, white cotton gloves look goofy, but they do the trick in terms of protecting most antiquities from sweat and oil.

3) Try to avoid direct sunlight as this can discolor paper documents and damage pigments.

4) Paper and related documents should be mounted on acid-free matting and backgrounds if framed to prevent loss.

5) Try to find a safe space to display your pieces, such as a hutch or cabinet, to minimize the chances of accidents. Mount all wall-hanging pieces securely with a picture hanger rated for the appropriate weight of the item and frame.

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Where were these items excavated/discovered and when?

This is one of the most common questions that we receive, and in virtually all cases the answer is unknown. This may seem strange or suspect, but the provenance of the vast majority of antiquities is mysterious. Several factors contribute to this lack of knowledge. First, all legal antiquities have been in circulation for decades. The UNESCO treaty, ratified in most member nations in the early to mid-1970's, explicitly regulates the export of antiquities. Additionally, many countries currently forbid the export of antiquities entirely. For example, Egypt banned the export of all ancient art in 1983, and revisions to this law are expected this year that will make the penalties more severe for those caught breaking it. Consequently, most legal ancient art has been in circulation for approximately 20-30 years and most has gone through multiple owners who may not have kept records. An additional wrinkle is the anonymity that most auction houses and antiquities dealers use when discussing their sources. Auctions are frequently anonymous as a matter of decorum and privacy. Dealers tend to keep their sources anonymous for competitive business reasons. Consequently, tracing the entire history of a given item is usually nearly impossible. Rare exceptions to this rule are found with very expensive and valuable pieces, which are typically held in collections for many years and usually have a shorter list of past owners. Items that have been deaccessioned from museums *sometimes* also have excavation information available.

However, even if a piece's origins are unknown, we can oftentimes generalize about pieces given the manner in which they are traditionally found. And of course, authenticity can be determined by a variety of methods as described above. A muddled history is certainly not desirable, but it is also not a massive setback if you can authenticate an item to your satisfaction regardless.

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Glossary

Below are definitions of some terms from the listings with which you may be unfamiliar. If you don't see what you're looking for here or if you are still confused, please ask and we will gladly explain!

Adorno: A small figure or ornament cast or modeled individually and attached as decoration to a vessel or other form.

Adze: A cutting tool similar to an axe, but different in that the blade is set at a 90-degree angle to the handle.

AE: Bronze, particularly in reference to the composition of a coin. Typically followed by a number that indicates the size of the coin in millimeters.

Alloy: A metal containing a mix of other metals, usually with better properties than the individual components alone. Bronze and Tumbaga are good examples.

Amarna: Pertaining to items produced during the reign of the Egyptiah pharaoh Akhenaten, who moved the capital to the new city of Amarna. Amarna art is typically less rigid and more naturalistic than traditional Egyptian art. Amarna glass in particular is quite popular.

Amphora: A type of pottery traditionally used to hold water or wine and characterized by an ovoid body and a distinct neck. The size of amphorae varies from small "bullet" amphorae at 10-12" to large 2-3' amphorae that were used on ships for transportation. As with the names given to most forms of pottery, the term is Greek, although amphora-shaped vessels are common to many civilizations.

Alabastron: A style of Greek pottery traditionally used to hold precious oils for women.

Applique: Decoration through the application of fillets or other adornments molded or formed separately and later attached to the primary object.

AR: Silver, particularly in reference to the composition of a coin.

Aryballos: A style of Greek pottery traditionally used to hold precious oils for men.

Bucchero: Pertains to a style of fine black-glazed pottery produced by the Etruscans between 700-400 B.C.

Cacica: A female leader or ruler (Central & South America)

Cacique: A male leader or ruler (Central & South America)

Cameo: A style of decorative carving in which the medium (typically stone or shell) is cut in relief in one layer with another contrasting layer serving as background . Contrast with an intaglio.

Cartonnage: A material used in the production of Egyptian funerary ornamentation. Made by mixing layers of linen together with an adhesive and shaping the product into a mold, usually followed by a gesso coating to create a smooth shell surface that could then be decorated. Cartonnage became popular around the 18th Dynasty through the Roman occupation. Interestingly, discarded papyrus documents were sometimes used in lieu of linen strips in the formation of cartonnage, and some of the most historically important papyri that still exists was recovered from cartonnage.

Ceramic: Clay that is fired at relatively high temperatures. Contrast with pottery.

Drachma: A silver Greek unit of currency.

Effigy: An image or represenation of a person or animal.

Embossed: Characterized by raised designs produced by pressing or hammering the reverse side of the object. Generally held as synonymous with repousse.

Faience: A composite material consisting of a sintered quartz body and a glaze. Also referred to as composition, sintered quartz, glazed frit, & paste. In this context, we are referring to Egyptian faience, which is not related to earthenware objects from Faenza in Italy. Early Egyptologists who saw Egyptian faience were reminded of the Italian product, and the name has been retained despite ample confusion. The body of ancient faience is of finely powdered quartz grains cemented together by fusion with small amounts of alkali or lime, and it is usually colorless although impurities can tint it brown or greyish. The glaze, which could be formed through a variety of techniques, is a discrete layer of glass on the surface of the faience core. Metals included in the mix (such as copper) provided the green and blue colors typically seen on faience objects.

Finial: Any decorative terminal attachment placed on an object. For example, Bactrian pins frequently have a finial in the shape of an animal on the blunt end, some Roman bronze oil lamps had decorative finials as handles on the lid, etc.

Frit: A sintered crystallized body with no glaze present. Contrast frit with faience, which has an applied glaze. The color of a frit object runs throughout the entire object; there is no distinction, as there is in faience, between a neutral inner body and a discrete surface color. Quality frit is considerably more rare than faience.

Gesso: a mixture of adhesives and powdered white gypsum used in Egyptian art, typically to coat cartonnage. When dry, it creates a hard, smooth outer shell that can be easily painted.

Gilt: or Gilding, the process of coating an object with a fine layer of a precious metal, typically gold, to create the illusion that the entire object is made from this metal at a fraction of the cost.

Gypsum: a white, powdering stone with a feel similar to chalk or talcum. Can be easily carved into shapes or ground into a powder for mixture into plasters or gesso. Frequently used in Egyptian art.

Hellenism: Term referring to the spread of Greek culture through the Near East, predominately as a result of the campaigns of Alexander the Great.

Incensario: A vessel used to contain burning incense.

Incunabula: A literary term referring to a book or document printed around or before 1500 A.D. in reference to the use of a primitive printing press.

Intaglio: A style of decorative carving in which the image is carved directly into the medium so that the image is recessed. Contrast with a cameo.

Iridescence: An unintentional quality of some ancient glass objects that results in a gorgeous, multi-colored sheen when viewed from different angles. This occurs due to some areas of the surface degrading from moisture in the burial environment, which creates a thin layer of surface glass that covers a slight layer of air over the remaining bulk of the glass. As a result, light reflecting from the glass surface becomes broken into its compound colors, much as if it had passed through a prism, turning white light into beautiful colors.

Ka (mask): The "ka" is the Egyptian term for the immortal human spirit. The ka mask is an Egyptian funerary ornament that was carved from wood in the rough likeness of the deceased and placed on the sarcophagus. This would allow the ka to wander the Earth freely and to be able to recognize its own sarcophagus upon returning.

Kantharos: Another form of Greek pottery, the kantharos is a two-handled drinking cup characterized by a deeper cup and larger, taller handles. Contrast with a kylix.

Krater: Another form of Greek pottery characterized by a large, cauldron shape. Used to mix water and wine. Several variations exist based on the form of the handles and rim, including the bell, volute, column, and calyx kraters.

Kylix: Another form of Greek pottery, the kylix is a two-handled drinking cup characterized by a shallow, bowl shaped cup with small, short handles. Contrast with a kantharos.

Lekythos: Another form of Greek pottery characterized by a tall & thin body, a tapered neck, and a single handle. Used for the storage of precious oils.

Magna Graecia: Term referring to the area of Greek colonization in the 7th-4th centuries B.C. through the Mediterranean, particularly to Southern Italy and Sicily.

Medieval: Pertaining to the Middle Ages in Europe, traditionally held to encompass the years between 476 - 1450 A.D.

Metate: A stone slab for grinding corn (Central & South America)

Ocarina: A wind instrument with multiple holes; typically bulbous and animal-form in shape. Differs from a flute in that the player usually blows across the blowhole rather than into it. (Central & South America)

Oinochoe: A style of Greek pottery characterized by a pitcher with a bulbous body. Variations include the trefoil oinochoe, which has three spouts.

Olla: Vessel form characterized by a round, globular body and a wide mouth. (Central & South America)

Polychrome: Multi-colored, usually in reference to an object decorated with multiple paints or glazes

Ptolemaic: Term referring to the rule of Egypt by the Ptolemies, who were descendents of Ptolemy I, a general under the rule of Alexander the Great who was left as governor of Egypt after its conquest. Immediately following Alexander's death, Ptolemy took control of Egypt for himself and ruled as a pharaoh. The Ptolemies' rule lasted for approximately 300 years from about 332 B.C. to the Roman conquest around 30 B.C. and saw a blend of Egyptian and Western culture and beliefs.

Punctate: Decorated with impressed points

Repousse: See embossed.

Rhyton: A form of pottery characterized by a cup that terminates in a point or horn at the base. Used in ceremonial functions and not terribly utilitarian, rhytons are common to a great many cultures. Typically shaped in part like an animal or an animal's head.

Sarcophagus: A decorated coffin of stone, wood, clay, or metal.

Scarab: a form of Egyptian amulet shaped to represent a dung beetle, which the Egyptians viewed as symbolic of the god Khepri. Khepri rolled the sun from the underworld across the sky during the day in a fashion that the Egyptians saw emulated in the dung beetle, which pushes a ball of dung across the ground as food for its unhatched eggs. Scarab amulets typically have an image, name, or phrase carved on the base and were used as seals and amulets in a variety of contexts. Scarabs became popular around the Middle Kingdom and a tremendous variety of styles and types can be collected.

Skyphos: A style of Greek pottery characterized by a deep cup with two opposing handles. Used for drinking water or wine.

Slip: Fine solution of clay applied to the surface of the pre-fired clay vessel in order to create a smooth surface. The color is due to a large extent to the firing process. Factors such as heat and oxidation have a large influence on the post-firing color of the slip.

Stamp Seal: Any small amulet with an image, message, or name carved on the base that can be stamped into wax or clay. Used extensively throughout the Near East, stamp seals were oftentimes used to mark clay tags on property to denote ownership.

Terracotta: A baked, reddish-brown clay used for pottery or sculpture.

Tumbaga: An alloy of copper and gold. Looks like gold with the resilience of copper. (Central & South America)

Ushabti: (Shabti) An Egyptian statue placed in the tomb to act as a servant in the afterlife. Became popular during the Middle Kingdom and reached its peak in the Late Period. Many styles and variations exist from different mediums based on the time of production.

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