Top 10 Tips On How To Spot Fake Antiques

While Fake News may be a recent phenomenon, fake antiques sadly are not. In 2016 when Waterford Cathedral radiocarbon dated their much-prized small piece of the ‘True Cross’ (the cross reputedly used by Jesus) they found it actually dated to the 11^th Century, a period when fake relics were rife!

Authenticity is a central pillar of the antiques and collectables trade and is the reason why so many people choose to buy from trusted sources. While putting our trust in others is laudable, even the specialists sometimes get it wrong also, so it is worth doing our own due diligence. A fake of course is an item intentionally created to deceive, but there are also many other more modern items around which can be confused for antique or vintage unless you know better. For example modern concrete garden planters can weather quickly outdoors to look like antique carved stone examples.

Below we have collected together 10 of the most important things you should think about when assessing the authenticity of any antique or collectable. Every collectable field has its own very specific tell-tale traits for spotting a fake, but the tips given here should serve as useful general guidance. In truth we have all fallen foul of unwittingly buying fakes from time to time, so it is best to approach the subject with interest and diligence, but not to beat ourselves up too much when we do make a mistake.

1.      You can’t add patina, you can only take it away

Listen to any specialist and they will wax lyrical about the 'patina' of the item. But what really are they talking about? Patina is the direct effect of age on any surface or finish. More specifically it is the natural wear and tear which only the advent of time can create. It might include scuffs and damage brought on by repeated human use but does not have to. As an example, think of the mellow depth and warmth of an antique French polished table, or the yellowed edges of book pages. The first is caused by years of dust and the polish seeping into the wood, and the second a combination of sunlight and oxidation on the paper as the air slowly reacts with the chemicals used to initially create and whiten them. What is vitally important to remember is that patina can only be added by nature. Humans can remove patina through cleaning or bleaching, and they can try to reproduce it, however nothing exactly matches the aged finish created naturally.

All materials can be given an aged effect either via chemicals, stains, or muddy finishes. New bronzes can be aged to look old, but the finish will be flat and lacking depth, ceramics can be aged by adding grit and brown stain to the glaze, new enamel signs can be rusted but that rust will be shallower and paper can be yellowed but will lack the tone and fragility of old pieces. Always ask yourself whether it was man or nature who created the finish you are looking at?

2.      Understand the wear

Related to patina is wear that was created via repeated use or human interaction. It is natural that as a small latch rubs against the wood it will leave a mark over time, and as people move the item around it will scuff and chip as well. These are perfectly acceptable and loved parts of its unique history. However, when looking at any object always ask yourself if you understand the physical position of its wear? A classic example of this was the more recent trend for shabby chic where the sandpaper was as important as the brush. In almost all cases the ‘worn’ areas bore no association with actual use (why would the centre of a drawer that barely gets touched have big paint losses?). When handling any old item try to understand in your head how that wear was created, if you can’t then start to wonder how and why it got there!

3.      Know your materials

In the antiques trade there is real merit in the phrase ‘the devil is in the detail’. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been offered a ‘Victorian’ item that is put together with cross-headed screws. Since these were only invented in the 1930s a mini alarm bell should start ringing. Similarly, although Bakelite has now been around for over 100 years, modern coloured plastics didn’t appear until the 1950s, certain alloys didn’t emerge until the 1920s and the white wood glue we know and love today only really emerged and overtook tradition pearl glue around the same time. It only takes a second to visually learn the difference between these two glues once they have dried, but it can help you age items quite effectively. Other materials such as laminated plywood did not come into use until the start of the 20^th Century and even things like old Oak and Mahogany differ from modern supplies due to where they were grown.

4.      If it looks too good to be true, it often is

We can all admit to letting our excitement get the better of us when we uncover something potentially special. The great thing about the antiques trade is that people genuinely stumble across amazing and valuable items every day, so that Picasso painting you trip over at a flea-market may just be the real deal. However, as a general rule, letting our hearts rule our heads when we see items is often a sure fire route to mistakes. Unless age and authenticity is not important to you, it is worth letting our more logical and unemotional selves have their say also. Does the person know what they are selling and how much are they asking for it? It might be a perfectly legitimate find, but if the owner sort of knows what they have but are asking little for it, we might want to wonder who the greater fool is?

5.      Know your marks

Like patina, experience can’t be rushed or reproduced. Learning to recognise marks accurately as well as which forms and styles were popular is vitally important to you. A double sword mark on a plate does not naturally make it Meissen as people have been copying this prestigious company for hundreds of years. There is a strange phenomenon among those who create forgeries that sometimes they’ll intentionally give the game away if you are experienced enough to understand it. Maybe it is guilt, pride or just trying to evade trading standards, but intentional mistakes will often be made. Amazingly one can find Chinese porcelain fakes which if you could read the mark actually admit to being fake, and I once came across a rare WW2 uniform which if you could read the German labels made the factory name so laughable that you’d instantly know you were being duped. There are also regular instances of silverware being over-stamped with the initials of a more desirable maker even though they never created in that style, and new fake furniture labels being reproduced and attached to items by fashionable makers such as Gillows and Heals because unsuspecting people pay a premium for these names. Of course, over time some of the better-quality fakes actually acquire a cache and genuine value of their own such as vintage fake Leica cameras.

6.      Quality, Quality, Quality

A great deal of people tout the fact that buying something old naturally means you are buying something of quality. Generally, I disagree with this statement because people have sold low quality cheap items all throughout history. Yet in relation to fakes then the quality level is something worth considering. At the end of the day someone creating fakes is doing so as a business. It is not in their interests to spend longer than they need creating the item, and certainly it is not sensible to spend more on making it than they are able to sell it for. Therefore, unless you are talking about very high end expensive items, the majority of fakes around will be of poorer quality. I have lost count of the hundreds of fake modern tribal statues as well as brass and bronze ‘antique’ buddhas I have seen over the last few years. Since statue making was considered one of the highest arts in these cultures, such makers would be turning in their graves at the ugly and very sloppy copies being sold as real today.   

7.      Understand how different materials age

It might seem obvious but all materials age, and each age differently. For instance, Oak darkens due to the tannins but pine only mellows. Plastics and rubber harden and become brittle due to the petrochemicals in them, Ceramics and glass age less but do lose their bright lustre and become slightly cloudier, paintings darken as the finish gets dirty, bronze mellows, metals like brass and copper oxidate and paper yellows. It is very common for old items to have been cleaned and refinished and if done honestly there is nothing wrong with that. However very very few antique cleaned pieces fail to leave some small residue of original finish such as around crevices, handles, joints or internally because these are highly fiddly places to clean. Therefore, if the very corner of every joint is just as bright and fresh as the rest of the piece, you may want to wonder why that is?

8.      Trust your senses, trust your gut

Connected to an earlier point it is important to trust your own senses and instincts at times. Your gut has an amazing way of cutting through your visual blinkers and while it can’t use words, it will still warn you if it is not 100% happy. It is also worth employing more than just your eyes whenever you can as forgers rarely think beyond the visual. If you sniff modern metalware, you often get an acrid smell from the chemicals used to age it, and old pine does not smell like fresh pine. If you dare to do a tongue test, ivory, bone, and stone will all feel cold compared to plastic and resin which will feel warm. Similarly, there is a very distinct dusty smell which paper and wooden items acquires over time which can’t be faked. If you can pick the item up and feel the weight, modern castings can use lighter grade metal or alloys and old mahogany is heavier than new. None of these things are 100% proof that an item is fake or not, but since you carry all your senses with you when out antique hunting, you may as well use them!

9.      Is it an enhanced original?

Some fakes are not 100% new, but are old items enhanced or decorated to be more appealing, or pieces that have been made up from old parts. These items can take more skill to spot as many of the features will be genuinely old and worn. An example is the 17^th Century coffers which started life quite plain, but were carved and enhanced during the late 19^th Century when the Medieval revival was popular. In this case it is only by contrasting the quality and wear of the box compared to the detail and crispness of the carving that one can work out the addition. It is also very common to find plain Georgian stem glasses which have been engraved more recently to add value and interest. For an example which recreates items from old parts, since horned gramophones started becoming valuable from the 1980s onwards a great deal of ‘crap-o-phones’ (as they were lovingly named) have emerged. These are often made up from old cheap vintage mechanisms while the rarer elements such as the horn and case are new. None of these items mentioned are a problem if you understand what they are and pay accordingly.

10.  Understand the description

This final tip relates not to the item itself but to the description given to it by the seller. Once again sellers have an amazing way of fudging the details when they know the item is not what it looks to be. Here the tell-tale sign is not what they do say, but what they don’t. It is hoped that by under-describing the item your excited brain will fill in the knowledge gaps which sadly are not there to start with. The watch may say Omega, but the seller won’t mention the brand on purpose. When a dealer or auction house does not give a broad date or mention a clearly obvious maker, you should always wonder why? Often the terms ‘vintage’ or ‘retro’ get abused to include anything which just fell off the lorry, ‘Antique style’ is not the same as antique and ‘white metal’ may or may not be silver. Understanding the terminology and what is intentionally left out will save you later heart-ache.