• HOME
• ABOUT THIS SITE
• SHOP
• OUR NEW BOOK
• COLLECTORS' RESOURCES
• WHAT'S NEW
• MYSTERY ARTIFACTS
• REAL OR FAKE?
  • ABOUT Real or Fake
    • IS THIS A GENUINE PIECE?
    • IS THIS A GENUINE PIECE: Section 2
    • IS THIS GENUINE ? section 3
    • Is this genuine or fake? section 4
    • Is this genuine? section 5
      • Is this genuine section 5, page 2
        • Is this genuine, section 5, page 3
          • Is this genuine, section 5, page 4
            • Is this genuine? section 5, page 5
    • Is this genuine, section 6
    • Is this genuine, section 7
    • Is this genuine? section 8
    • Is this genuine? section 9.
    • Is this genuine, section 10
    • Auction houses make mistakes too!
    • Museums also make mistakes
    • Museums also make mistakes section 2
  • The Fakebusters and other websites about fakery
  • Would you believe it!
  • Sea find amphoras...read this!!!
  • Fake ancient jewellery
  • Fakes and forgeries in Classical pottery
  • Fake Classical pottery section 2
  • Fake classical pottery, section 3
  • Fake rings
  • Fake rings section 2
  • Fake rings , section 3
  • Fake oil lamps
  • Fake oil lamps section 2
  • Fake Roman bronzes
  • Fake Roman bronzes section 2
  • Fake and reproduction Roman mosaics
  • Fake Roman brooches
  • Fake Roman brooches section 2
  • Fake Roman brooches section 3
  • Fake Roman brooches, section 4
  • Fake Roman brooches section 5
  • Fake Roman military diplomas
  • Fake Roman weapons
  • Fake ancient helmets
  • Roman lead slingshot
  • Fake Roman phallic amulets
  • Fake Greco-Roman statues
  • Fake ancient glass
  • Fake Cypriot Plank Idols
  • Fake Danubian rider lead plaques
  • Fake Phoenician head pendants
  • Fake Egyptian
  • Fake Sumerian statues
  • Fake cuneiform tablets
  • Fake cuneiform, section 2
  • Fake cuneiform section 3
  • Fake cuneiform tablets , section 4
  • Fake cylinder seals
  • Fake cylinder seals, section 2
  • Fake cylinder seals section 3
  • Fake cylinder seals section 4
  • Fake foundation cones
  • Fake bronze and iron weapons
  • Fake Syro-Hittite figurines
  • Fake Old Babylonian erotic plaques
  • Tell Halaf "mother goddess" figurines
  • Tell Halaf figurines section 2
  • Eye Idols of Tell Brak
  • Eyes idols, section 2
  • Fake Sumerian perforated plaques
  • Bactrian chlorite composite figurines
  • Bactrian chlorite figures, section 2
  • Fake Stone Age implements
  • Chinese Song dyn "hare's fur" bowls
  • Fake Indian terracottas
• GENERAL INFORMATION
• SEARCH
• SITE MAP
• CONTACT US
• SIGN UP FOR UPDATES

 YOU ARE HERE:>>REAL or FAKE>>Is this genuine, section 5, page 4.

Alexis writes:

19th November 2009

I got this from from a collector and seller of antique items in Italy.
He contacted me directly by e-mail.

The item sems to be  a "Neolithic idol (Dea Mater or Mater Matuta) .

Apparently, the man didn't know that this piece has all the characteristics of a Paleolithic Venus Figurine.

I'm not sure if it's an original item or not.

 The information I have is that this  was found in Morroco near the Atlas Moutains, during the summer of 2009, by a friend of the Italian collector who go in the desert all years in the hope to found interesting prehistoric items.

The size is 11cm high by 6cm wide.

I searched information on internet and I found that about 250 Venus Figurines was found in the past, and some are from Morroco.
From wikipedia : These figurines were carved from "soft stone", bone, ivory, or formed of clay and fired.

I think this is in a soft stone.

I'm not really involved in prehistoric cultures and items so I need help to discover if it's a real piece or a fake. I havent found a very similar Venus on internet, so it doesn't seem to be a replica (a copy of a known original).

Yes, inded, it does look like paleolithic "Venus" figurine. There are quite a number and the authenticity of some of them is doubted.

One is of course rather suspicious about someone who searches for Paleolithic artifacts in Morocco and finds such as this and doesn't recognize its form!

The closest  in form, if it's a "copy" is the Kostenki Venus.

It is very much the sort of thing a faker might be tempted to create.

 Stone is very difficult to assess and impossible to date.

Has that piece been cleaned do you think? The surface seems very "clean".

No real patina that I can see.

Have you examined it with a mind to searching for modern tool marks: parallel striations of a metal file particularly?

Or any  aspect that suggests the use of a metal tool.

From Alexis

He said that this artifact was found in the sand in the desert, and it's the reason why the piece is clean.

Some markings on it which realy need closer scrutiny too.

There is an almost unfinished quality to it: especially in the demarkation between the rounded and flat planes.

I must say I doubt it strongly, but let's see what others think.

.

21st November 09

An enquiry on the yahoo group turned up this piece on offer on eBay! 

Said to have been found in Tunisia.

From the same factory??

The credibility of this seller is somewhat in doubt as he also offers such as these, as "Viking" and "Phoenician"and "Aztec" .....which they are not.

Seems to have a good line in stone idols! This one too.

AND someone thnks they have seen the very one under consideration on offer on eBay.

More info here if and when it can be found......

.

More enquiries about pieces people are not sure about....>>>>>