Chinese Bronze Age dagger

[laEspadaAncha]

I hope my post didn't discourage Adrian from replying...

Thank you both, 'Nando & Jim... It's always a pleasure to find an oportunity to contribute what little I can. Since opening our shop/gallery, we've had more Chinese lithics come in than I can count, both for consignment and purchase, and in that time I've spent more time analyzing "jade" through a loupe - and chasing down my observations - than I care to imagine...

With lithics, it's simply an issue of looking for tool marks that would be inconsistent for what an item represents itself to be. While this has the benefit of requiring a smaller tool kit than knowing & assessing accuracy of style, unfortunately the best fakers are able to render any sign of modern tooling invisible in the absence of proper lab equipment, making lithics the hardest category of antiquities to easily authenticate IMO.

With old bronze, it's more or less as with any field of collecting in that it's a matter of osmosis as a function of time and experience... primarily knowing how different accretions present themselves and how the patina changes over time - much as with any of the materials used in the edged weapons we study...

Cheers,

Chris