Fraudulent Birdstones
Bill Koup, Albuquerque, New Mexico
One of the most unfortunate things that can happen to a collector is to have paid a substantial amount of money for a reproduction. This unhappy circumstance occurs in nearly all collecting pursuits. It really doesn't matter if your interest is antique furniture, coins, fine art, guns, stamps, baseball cards or prehistoric artifacts, the possibility exists that you will be swindled by a reproduction seller. If something is worth a substantial amount of money there will always be people who will attempt to reproduce the item and sell it as authentic. Reproductions have probably been a bane to collecting for as long as collecting has existed.
Most types of prehistoric artifacts are currently being reproduced and sold as authentic, but certainly flint artifacts are the most reproduced type. Shows and meetings are becoming quite common where skilled knappers buy, sell and trade their products. Of course many of these skillful reproductions are ending up in the frames of unsuspecting artifact collectors who think they have a fine 5000 year old flint knife when in fact it may only be 5 months old.
Although birdstones have not been reproduced in the quantity of flint artifacts, they do have a long history of reproduction. Birdstones have always held a great fascination for almost anyone who has ever viewed a grouping of these artifacts. A prominent collector of all manner of prehistoric artifacts has said that when people who know nothing about artifacts view his collection they always gravitate to the birdstones and begin asking questions. Perhaps the reason is their resemblance to animals that we can identify with: birds, dogs, waterfowl, etc.
Fakers have taken advantage of this fascination for nearly one hundred years. Perhaps it is fortunate that authentic birdstones are as rare as they are. They have always been comparatively expensive and most of the authentic examples have nearly always been in the possession of a relatively small number of collectors and museums This situation has forced the fake maker to rely on photographs and his own memory to make his reproductions. Thus many errors were made in the early days of birdstone reproductions. Indeed many of the early fakes are grotesque and even comical when compared to the real thing. But, unfortunately the quality of recent fakes is much improved over earlier efforts and one must be a student of form to avoid being victimized by those who sell fakes.
One famous old-time faker was Mark Hannah Guffey from Cumberland City, Kentucky. Guffey made all manner of fake artifacts and marketed them through the U.S. Mail in the 1920s and 1930s. A collector could simply write to Guffey and indicate the type of artifacts that interested him and Guffey would see to it they were manufactured. Most of the Guffey artifacts are quite easy to recognize due to his use of local materials that were almost never used by prehistoric peoples. Also, he relied on photographs from books to guide his manufacturing process, thus making many errors in form, size and material. As bad as these fakes are, they still occasionally show up in the collections of novices and the uninformed. Guffey was ultimately convicted of mail fraud but his penalty was so light that he was soon back in business. Some people in recent years have been marketing Guffey's fake artifacts as collectors' items. However, always remember that a fake is a fake is a fake.
Although the names of nearly all the other prominent fake makers from the time of Guffey up to the present are generally known, the practice of naming them in print has nearly ceased. This is an unfortunate fact of life in our litigation happy society. The possibility of legal hassles has allowed the current crop of fake makers and sellers to pretty much do as they please in their unlawful practice of misrepresentation.
Illustrated with this article are four photographs showing 31 fake birdstones. Several of them are very early fakes and would fool only the extreme novice collector. However, a few of the more recent fakes are quite good in form, material and patina and could possibly fool many birdstone buyers who refuse to do their homework and study the form. At least one or two of these fake birds have been pictured as authentic in numerous publications by prominent collectors as far back as 1948.
If you are attracted to birdstones, don't let these photographs or this article dampen your spirits of ever owning an authentic example. Get to know the collectors who have several birdstones. These are the people who know where most of the authentic examples are and when they become available for sale. The vast majority of authentic birdstones are traded privately among collectors. Just be patient and very careful when birdstones are offered at shows and auctions.
Six fraudulent birdstones. Notice the "notched" tail in the top example. This trait which no authentic birdstones have was copied from an erroneous plate illustrated in Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, published in 1848.
Pictured on this page are eight fraudulent birdstones made from porphyry and other hardstone materials. Which fake did you pick on page 19 as having a shot at being authentic? In the author's opinion, and based only on the photograph, it would be the example in the upper left corner on page 19.
Eight more fraudulent birdstones made from very colorful porphyry. The quality of these fakes range from goofy (left column, second from top) to pretty good (right column, second from top).
Used by permission of William S. Koup
Duplicated from the “Resources” section of arrowheads.com and reproduced with permission.
Bill Koup, Albuquerque, New Mexico
One of the most unfortunate things that can happen to a collector is to have paid a substantial amount of money for a reproduction. This unhappy circumstance occurs in nearly all collecting pursuits. It really doesn't matter if your interest is antique furniture, coins, fine art, guns, stamps, baseball cards or prehistoric artifacts, the possibility exists that you will be swindled by a reproduction seller. If something is worth a substantial amount of money there will always be people who will attempt to reproduce the item and sell it as authentic. Reproductions have probably been a bane to collecting for as long as collecting has existed.
Most types of prehistoric artifacts are currently being reproduced and sold as authentic, but certainly flint artifacts are the most reproduced type. Shows and meetings are becoming quite common where skilled knappers buy, sell and trade their products. Of course many of these skillful reproductions are ending up in the frames of unsuspecting artifact collectors who think they have a fine 5000 year old flint knife when in fact it may only be 5 months old.
Although birdstones have not been reproduced in the quantity of flint artifacts, they do have a long history of reproduction. Birdstones have always held a great fascination for almost anyone who has ever viewed a grouping of these artifacts. A prominent collector of all manner of prehistoric artifacts has said that when people who know nothing about artifacts view his collection they always gravitate to the birdstones and begin asking questions. Perhaps the reason is their resemblance to animals that we can identify with: birds, dogs, waterfowl, etc.
Fakers have taken advantage of this fascination for nearly one hundred years. Perhaps it is fortunate that authentic birdstones are as rare as they are. They have always been comparatively expensive and most of the authentic examples have nearly always been in the possession of a relatively small number of collectors and museums This situation has forced the fake maker to rely on photographs and his own memory to make his reproductions. Thus many errors were made in the early days of birdstone reproductions. Indeed many of the early fakes are grotesque and even comical when compared to the real thing. But, unfortunately the quality of recent fakes is much improved over earlier efforts and one must be a student of form to avoid being victimized by those who sell fakes.
One famous old-time faker was Mark Hannah Guffey from Cumberland City, Kentucky. Guffey made all manner of fake artifacts and marketed them through the U.S. Mail in the 1920s and 1930s. A collector could simply write to Guffey and indicate the type of artifacts that interested him and Guffey would see to it they were manufactured. Most of the Guffey artifacts are quite easy to recognize due to his use of local materials that were almost never used by prehistoric peoples. Also, he relied on photographs from books to guide his manufacturing process, thus making many errors in form, size and material. As bad as these fakes are, they still occasionally show up in the collections of novices and the uninformed. Guffey was ultimately convicted of mail fraud but his penalty was so light that he was soon back in business. Some people in recent years have been marketing Guffey's fake artifacts as collectors' items. However, always remember that a fake is a fake is a fake.
Although the names of nearly all the other prominent fake makers from the time of Guffey up to the present are generally known, the practice of naming them in print has nearly ceased. This is an unfortunate fact of life in our litigation happy society. The possibility of legal hassles has allowed the current crop of fake makers and sellers to pretty much do as they please in their unlawful practice of misrepresentation.
Illustrated with this article are four photographs showing 31 fake birdstones. Several of them are very early fakes and would fool only the extreme novice collector. However, a few of the more recent fakes are quite good in form, material and patina and could possibly fool many birdstone buyers who refuse to do their homework and study the form. At least one or two of these fake birds have been pictured as authentic in numerous publications by prominent collectors as far back as 1948.
If you are attracted to birdstones, don't let these photographs or this article dampen your spirits of ever owning an authentic example. Get to know the collectors who have several birdstones. These are the people who know where most of the authentic examples are and when they become available for sale. The vast majority of authentic birdstones are traded privately among collectors. Just be patient and very careful when birdstones are offered at shows and auctions.
Six fraudulent birdstones. Notice the "notched" tail in the top example. This trait which no authentic birdstones have was copied from an erroneous plate illustrated in Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, published in 1848.
Pictured on this page are eight fraudulent birdstones made from porphyry and other hardstone materials. Which fake did you pick on page 19 as having a shot at being authentic? In the author's opinion, and based only on the photograph, it would be the example in the upper left corner on page 19.
Eight more fraudulent birdstones made from very colorful porphyry. The quality of these fakes range from goofy (left column, second from top) to pretty good (right column, second from top).
Used by permission of William S. Koup
Duplicated from the “Resources” section of arrowheads.com and reproduced with permission.
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