Fake oil lamps

There is nothing new about fake oil lamps, or indeed about fake ancient artifacts!

This rare and valuable book, Lucernae Musei Passerii. Sumptibus Academiae Pisaurensis, in three volumes written and published in 1739, 1743 & 1751 by Fr. Giambattista Passeri is interesting. He was a tireless author, antiquary but unfortunately just a bit gullible and not overly swayed by facts.

Passeri's prized and extensive collection of ancient met a sad fate.

Passeri eagerly bought a wide variety of unusual specimens of "Roman" terra-cotta lamps from peddlers and "excavators", and dreamed of establishing a classification system for them based on his own extensive collection. This three-volume catalog was to be the cornerstone of his efforts, and would have been, but unfortunately...

Reality intruded.

You see, the thing about terra-cotta is that it is very difficult to tell an old piece from a new piece which has been made to look old, especially if you are an enthusiastic, overly credulous collector who thinks that he has stumbled onto a wide variety of new and unique forms.

Scholars had always looked at the collection with some reserve, and by 1905 Walter's noted that "references to Passeri's work have been avoided, as it has been shown by Dr. Dressel that nearly all those published by him are false."

Oh well.

What we are left with, however, is one of the most elaborate catalogs of pure fakes ever produced. This work is all the more interesting since most of the lamps were custom made with the intention of selling them to this one collector, who for decades constituted a market unto himself.

There is some sort of distinction in that!

Many people are surprised that that rather ordinary, common and very plentiful ancient oil lamps which can be acquired for little money are also widely faked.

That said, the fakers do tend to create pieces which when genuine, are more keenly collected than the very ordinary types. Erotic Roman lamps is a good case in question.

Some fakes are made from moulds taken from genuine lamps but many others are pure invention.

By David Knell

A Small Selection of Fake Ancient Lamps

All of these are well-known fakes that crop up over and over again.

One learns to instantly recognise the shapes, mould details, finish,

etc.

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cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll

Described as:

CLASSIFICATION: Ptolemaic Egyptian Terra Cotta Oil Lamp

with Elaborate Design and Handle.

ATTRIBUTION: Ptolemaic (Greek) Egypt, Third Century B.C

Very roughly based on Syro-Palestinian lamps of Islamic period 7th - 8th century AD (forget the "Egyptian Terra Cotta Oil Lamp Third Century B.C." nonsense).

In fact, it probably was made in Syria (home of a large fake lamp

industry and sold through outlets like Sadigh) but very recently.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2588831818

Described as :

CLASSIFICATION: LARGE Primitive Roman Egypt Terra Cotta Oil Lamp

with Sunburst Design, Christian Cross, Handle.

ATTRIBUTION: Roman Egypt, First Century A.D.

Very roughly based on Syro-Palestinian lamps of Byzantine period 5th - 6th century AD. Again, probably Syrian and definitely a modern fake. The finishes on these fakes vary enormously - from lightly toned to the "just been dug out of a coal mine look" like this monstrosity - but the mould details give them away instantly.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2566360012

Described as:

CLASSIFICATION: Ptolemaic Egyptian Terra Cotta Oil Lamp with Elaborate

Design Of the Goddess (“Mother” or “Cow”) Hathor with Handle.

ATTRIBUTION: Ptolemaic (Greek) Egypt, 3rd Century B.C.

Don't worry that you missed it. There are always more.

This one has been sprayed with sand to make it look mysterious.

I am not convinced that ANY of these "Hathor" lamps is genuinely

ancient. I suspect rather that they are all a figment of the fakers' imaginations.The first ones seem to have appeared around 1900 and have been reproduced ever since (in other words, fakes of fakes). See Bailey, BMC.

The Hathor lamp is a classic fake in its own right.

Here is another:

www.ancientantiques.com/store/agora.cgi

Described as:

OIL LAMP WITH FACE OF HATHOR 300 BC

10 1/2 centimeters long. This goddess was worshipped in three forms: as a woman with the ears of a cow, as a cow, as a woman wearing a headdress consisting of a wig, horns and sun disc. Her associations and cult centers were among the most numerous and diverse of any of the Egyptian deities. Order comes with Certificate of Authenticity and write up. 685E0D00

$ 400.00

An authority at the British Museum is of the opinion that there is no such thing as a genuine Hathor lamp at all - even the ones in museums are fake - and I would agree. But they crop up on eBay all the time.

They buy them here?

And then sell them as genuine antiquities!

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All of these fakes come from a fairly large but ultimately limited

range of moulds. Once you can indisputably identify one as fake, the rest of them from the same mould are easily revealed.

The bases of these lamps vary since the fakers interchange the moulds for tops and bottoms - thus top mould A might be found with bottom mould B - but of course the base moulds also fit into a finite pattern. Some are plain, some have a palm leaf design, some have a ring foot, etc. but there is a limited repertoire which becomes easily recognisable after a while.

Of course, all mould-made lamps come from moulds and thus perfectly genuine lamp designs will be repeated. But here it is the recurrence of the moulds of these specific fakes which aids in their detection. As I said, once one is identified as fake, the rest fall into place.

It is typical of the sellers of these lamps that not only are their lamps fake but their attributions bear absolutely no relation to what even genuine lamps of the type would belong to.

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On a separate note, I would just comment that even museum curators are by no means always perfect in authentication. There is sometimes a tendency among the general public to treat the pronouncements of museum staff as gospel. There are museums and museums, curators and curators.

Some opinions are more credible than others. The *only*

opinion I would trust - whether from a curator or a dealer or a

collector or anyone else - is an opinion based on a strong background of knowledge and handling in that particular field. Some people - whether curators or dealers or whatever - do not like to admit their ignorance in a particular field and therefore tend to bluff their way through.

Beware. A credible authentication demands not only an

academic knowledge but also a high level of experience in handling the type of item, knowledge of what fakes to look out for, etc. Sometimes dealers may have that advantage over a curator.

Pick your museum carefully - and pick your curator within that museum

carefully.

See next page for more about this type of fake

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Some fake erotic oil lamps Click this link

And a few more.....

See is this a genuine piece

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These are advertised on a dealer website (I use the term "dealer" rather hesintantly!) and described as Greek or Romano-Greek and dating variously to between 200BC and 400 BC. They are available at prices bewteen $200 and $400.

They are of course dreadful fakes. Greek lamps of these dates were shaped nothing like these and the overall vague similarity to Roman lamps of the 2nd/3rd century should not persuade one that they were not recently made.

By stevendom

Antiquities Dealers Hiding Repairs

This page is provided to demonstrate how ancient artifacts are often reassembled after breakage and the repairs disguised. In this case we are looking at Herodian era terra-cotta oil lamps from Israel. The 3 lamps below were all acquired from an antiquities dealer there and were represented when sold as being in original intact condition original, uncleaned, and unrepaired.

Repaired Lamp 1

Left above: Herodian lamp 1 as displayed and sold by an antiquities dealer in Jerusalem, with artificially applied dirt to hide repairs.

Center above: Lamp 1 after careful cleaning with dry brush, revealing new clay around the nozzle used to smooth over reglued joint.

Right above: Presence of new unfired clay confirmed; gentle dabbing with damp cotton ball darkens new clay, revealing unfired porousness.

Left above: Another view of same lamp 1 in top row center, showing new unfired clay.

Right above: Another view of same lamp 1 in top row right, showing porousness of new unfired clay.

Left above: Back view of lamp 1 after careful cleaning with dry brush, revealing new clay around the nozzle used to smooth over reglued joint.

Right above: Presence of new unfired clay confirmed; gentle dabbing with damp cotton ball darkens new clay, revealing unfired porousness.

Repaired Lamp 2

Left above: A beautiful red terra-cotta Herodian lamp as displayed and sold by an antiquities dealer in Jerusalem, with artificially applied dirt to hide nozzle repairs.

Center above: Lamp 2 after careful cleaning with dry brush, revealing new clay around the nozzle to smooth over the reglued joint.

Below: Back view of the new clay around the nozzle to smooth over the reglued joint. Note that the new clay overlaps the ancient calcification on the lamp back. No question that this is no ancient repair!

Repaired Lamp 3

Lamp 3 is a beautiful decorated Daroma lamp. The method of this repair is somewhat different, and may not have been performed by the same person. This lamp had a broken nozzle reglued, missing areas filled in with new clay, and a color layer and artificial dirt applied to hide the glue and new clay. The picture above is the lamp as it was displayed and sold by an antiquities dealer in Jerusalem.

Legend for picture above:

A. Cleaning away applied dirt with dry brushing reveals shiny glue residue, most predominant on the side and on a protruding piece of clay inside the nozzle itself.

B. New clay is used to fill in a hole where original material is missing. A closer, more detailed shot of this repair is found immediately below.

C. The applied color layer overlaps the now smooth original sooted layer.

Below: The color layer has accidentally been applied inside a chipped off part of the handle! OOPS! But hey, the dirt layer will cover it up. ;-)

So, my friend...

If you are thinking of buying ancient clay artifacts, I hope this information helps you in some way. I hope you have at least found it interesting. God bless...

From David K

12th April 07

I have a strong suspicion that the "Repaired Lamp 3" discussed by "stevendom" has actually fared even worse that he thinks. I suspect that rather than just having had "a broken nozzle reglued, missing areas filled in with new clay, and a color layer and artificial dirt applied ..." the nozzle may in fact be not only from another lamp entirely but not even from the same type of lamp.

Whereas the lamp itself is a typical mouldmade Darom type (northern variety), the nozzle appears to be from a wheelmade Herodian type (see the lamps above it) and has characteristics of that type which are not found on this variety of Darom nozzles: extremely pronounced splay, squared edges, downward slope to the top surface, etc. - plus it is too long.

I suspect the dealer had a Darom lamp missing its nozzle and got someone to bodge on a broken-off nozzle from a Herodian lamp.

The original nozzle of a Darom lamp of this variety should look more like this:

http://www.romulus2.com/lamps/database/lamp.php?157

Go to page Fake oil lamps page 2

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David K

Here is a good bibliography for ancient oil lamps from David