Provinence
The deluge of fakes is exactly why objects with provinece retain a greater value than their unpunlished counterparts. When items reach a high value copies/fakes begin to be made and sold to the unsuspecting Buyer.
As values get even higher the modern forgeries get more sophisticated to the point of buying old farm implements from the same time period as a sword and then forging a blade from that steel. High end European rapiers are the perfect example of this happening, even astute dealers are wary. For that reason items with provinence to a European collection prior to 1920 carry a much greater value.
The Islamic arms have been fairly free of this simply because there is just too much work on making a copy, also the fact that the steels are until recently immune form duplication.
The Indonesian arms seem to be in the early stages of this process. Pommels are especially easy target for a forger looking to inflate value. Thats why an arena such as this forum is of such great benefit.
Personally I do not understand why we cannot talk about any object, even if it is offered for sale. In reality everything is available for the right price. When I see an obvious fake offered its makes me feel sorry for the possible Buyer who made end their collecting after one bad purchase.
Hence the value of an astute Dealer, they are an asset to the collecting community.
Dry Roads,
rand
|