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  • Dickey COA controversy

    Might want to grab a chair and a bag of popcorn for your one...
    I'm a member of the Facebook page 'artifact and antique' friends. 2 weeks ago, a member (we'll say Stephen) posted a pic of a PF clovis point, showing it off. Other members started posting comments expressing their opinions that the point was a fake and Stephen knew it. Stephen called them on their BS and asked told the naysayers to name an authenticator they trusted and he would send it to that person for evaluation. Some guy named Dickey kept showing up. Everyone said he was the greatest, most thorough, most meticulous authenticator out there. So Stephen sent his point to this Dickey guy and sure enough, it was authentic and Dickey sent Stephen a COA. Stephen posted the Dickey COA on the site and started talking smack to the naysayers who doubted him. However, a few of the naysayers were not convinced... the point on the COA did not match the point from Stephen's original post... they politely made Stephen aware of this discrepancy. Stephen agreed that the points didn't match and promised to contact Dickey. A few days later, Stephen posted emails between him and Dickey. This is where the controversy starts... in these emails, Dickey said he was just checking to make sure Stephen was paying attention... hilarious... then explains that he uses a template photo instead of the actual photo when filling out the COA, then goes back in and changes things around later. Well... this time he forgot to change it. Instead of asking Stephen to send the point back so he could personally authenticate it properly, he told Stephen to take measurements and send him the correct info on all the details and measurements from the real point that Duckey was supposed to authenticate originally, send them to Dickey, and he would create a new COA with that info and a pic of the real clovis. Then Dickey asked Stephen to destroy the botched COA when he received the new one. Duckey literally took the COA process out of his hands and put it in the hands of his untrained customer. Theoretically, Stephen could have given him any measurements he wanted and Dickey would have made a COA with those measurements. Then Stephen could have had a point made to those measurements and viola-a Dickey papered modern-made clovis. Same with the botched COA... why didn't Duckey request Stephen to send it back? Again, someone could make a modern point to those specs and no one would ever know... who knows how many times this has happened before.... Dickey actually says "occasionally I'll make that mistake...."
    and who knows how many dishonest customers have taken advantage of the situation and got modern points with Dickey COAs because of Dickey. I'm not familiar with Dickey or his work, but based solely on this incident, his work appears loppy and he does not appear to be a competent artifact authenticator. Given his words in the emails, I don't know how anyone can argue that he is qualified to authenticate anything. He literally told his customer to send him the measurements and he would print up the COA.
    I posted a comment similar to this(minus the back story obviously) on the artifacts and friends Facebook page where it began. The original post had been up for 2 weeks, the second one for a few days. Less than 2 minutes after I posted my comments, the page froze. I couldn't type, click nothing. I snapped a sceenshot of the emails about a half second before they disappeared... then the screen went white and It kept saying 'something went wrong.'
    I closed Facebook and tried to reopen the page... nothing. The third time, it reopened. But ALL of the posts about this clovis point were gone. Not a trace.
    I may have gone overboard here, idk.... I've always been skeptical of COAs... and here is unequivocal evidence that THE MOST TRUSTED authenticator in the business is asking his customer for the measurements of the piece the HE is supposed to be authenticating.... and in his next sentence hes actually admitting to occasionally mixing up the data with the wrong pic!!. On top of that, when I post these comments on the Artifacts and Friends Facebook page they deleted ALL the posts on the topic, hiding the facts from everyone.
    Click image for larger version

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  • #2
    I have known Jerry Dickey for maybe ten years. I respect his opinion. I have sat and talked with him on several occasions. It looks to me as if he made an honest mistake.
    TN formerly CT Visit our store http://stores.arrowheads.com/store.p...m-Trading-Post

    Comment


    • Hoss
      Hoss commented
      Editing a comment
      I just checked out that FB page. I think this was all just an honest mistake on Jerry's part.

    • Pickwick
      Pickwick commented
      Editing a comment
      I agree, I'm sure he's an honest guy that made an honest mistake. I still feel he could have handled it a little more responsibly. Especially since he seems to be one of the good ones. Seems like it must have been an isolated incident.

  • #3
    are the emails legit?
    Searching the fields of NW Indiana and SW Michigan

    Comment


    • Pickwick
      Pickwick commented
      Editing a comment
      As far a I know they are.... I reached out to the customer and he sent me several other screenshots of them corresponding. I didn't post them. But I asked myself that same question and wanted to see more evidence that the were legit before posting the one i did.

  • #4
    He made an honest mistake. He examined the point and has pictures of it. Just so similar that he didnt realize he forgot to change the pic. Since he has picsxof the actual authentic point, there is little chance someone could make a fake to sell with the paper,.

    All good as far as I can tell

    Comment


    • Pickwick
      Pickwick commented
      Editing a comment
      I agree, I'm sure it was just an honest mistake. But What about the coa the guy received with the wrong point pictured. I feel like good business would be to have the customer return that flawed coa, rather than asking the customer to destroy it and risk having an incorrect coa floating around out there. Someone could fairly easily make a reproduction of that point pictured and no one would know because it would appear to have a respectable coa to go with it. Again I realize that the odds of that scenario
      actually playing out are fairly slim, but it's definitely possible.

  • #5
    Yup, I've known Jerry for a while and it seems like an honest mix up.

    Personally I'd rather email a couple of measurements for an artifact that has been examined vs mailing the relic again.

    Hong Kong, but from Indiana/Florida

    Comment


    • Pickwick
      Pickwick commented
      Editing a comment
      I'm sure he is and I get your point. But I still feel like a dishonest person could take advantage of that situation and give Jerry measurements of a modern point similar to the one on the picture and then have a COA that would appear to correspond to that modern point... do i think this actually ever happened....idk, prob not... but i see rumors and allegations in these forums all the time-'don't trust so and so's papers.' just seems he would want an airtight procedure.

  • #6
    The point pictured was a legit point as well.

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