News & Events

Mid-America News
Show Calendar
State Event Calendars

Regular Features

The Antique Detective
Antique Detective Q&A
Common Sense Antiques
Refurnished Thoughts
Traveling with Ken
Good Eye
Books for Collectors

Directories & Classifieds

The Finder: Unique Shops
Lodgings Directory
Museum Directory
  Aviation Museums
Wineries in the Heartland

Classifieds
Web Links

Archived Features

Antiquing in Colorado
Dealer Profile Archive
Editor's Notebook
Heirloom Recipes
Helpful Hints
   for Collectors
Is This An Antique?
Past Cover Features
Reflecting History

2005 Best Of Winners
Destinations 2006

Discover Mid-America — December 2006

Saying ‘no’ to fake and repro

Traditional advice to dealers about selling counterfeits and reproductions has been of the "just say no" variety: "Just don't deal in them." Granted, the vast majority of dealers in the trade is honest and would not engage in deliberate customer deception. So how else explain the persistence - the proliferation, even - of fakes and reproductions in the antiques and collectibles trade?

Well, the traditional advice assumes, of course, that dealers can tell the difference between fake merchandise and genuine. The persistent problem appears to be that too many dealers can't tell the difference between the bogus and the genuine. And one of the less felicitous effects of eBay? on the trade has been greatly to aggravate that problem.

As a young couple 50 years ago, my parents had already fallen in love with antiques They began collecting Depression glass because it was all they could afford at the time. My favorite is this American Sweetheart pattern in Monax, with its opalescence and fire. Today, the pattern has one more thing to recommend it: made in plentiful quantities, American Sweetheart in this color is pricey today but still fairly readily available, which has so far insulated it from the attentions of the burgeoning industry in counterfeit Depression glass.

There is no particular test of competence for becoming an antique dealer, and the eBay model has disseminated the illusion that "anybody can do it." This means that much of what's sold on eBay under the "Antiques" umbrella is, unbeknownst to naive sellers, fake or repro. eBay thereby serves as a conduit for bogus goods into the trade as dealers, many of them little more knowledgeable than the eBayers from who they are buying, purchase fake merchandise for resale on the ground.

Here are a couple of my favorite examples of this crisis in competence, both seen in on-the-ground shops. I recently saw a votive candleholder, which the tag describes as Depression glass. The price was exorbitant. Moreover, the item was clearly stamped Fenton on the bottom and only very recently sold brand new for about 12 to 15 bucks. How much expertise does it take to look for a mark?

Another example was an item that was, once again, exorbitantly priced, based on the tag's claim that it was a piece of 18th century English china. The item was clearly marked "dishwasher safe" on the bottom. (One sees similar faux tagging, by the way, on plates marked "limited edition," a modern come-on term unknown prior to the mid- to late 20th century.)

It never ceases to amaze one how many faux Staffordshire figurines can be found in antique shops, masquerading as the real deal, despite all the literature and publicity on fake Staffordshire and despite how relatively easy most (if not all) of it is to detect. One has to wonder what valid excuse there could be for that level of ignorance in the trade.

Granted, no dealer can be an expert in everything, and a reasonably competent generalist may consider him/herself an expert in none. But there are certain fields, such as English Staffordshire and America's Roseville pottery, where the well-publicized supply of fakes might be expected to inspire, among conscientious dealers, some extra effort to make sure any given piece is "right" before representing it as such.

Certain authenticity challenged fields are best avoided entirely on eBay, where the ratio of fakes can range from 90% to upwards. One of these areas is antique Chinese porcelain. This lovely blue bowl, very loosely based on a traditional lotus bowl form, has a blue Ming mark, rings like a bell, and has much else to recommend it. It is, nonetheless, a late 20th century fake. The determination was made on the basis of irregular departures from the traditional lotus form and uniformities in the paint color and application seen in antique examples. The bowl is mine and I still love it, but my affection is based on what it is rather than what it claims to be.

A lawsuit and another approach
Recently, it was announced, to considerable fanfare, that the Tiffany company is suing eBay. The basis of Tiffany's complaint is that eBay's lackadaisical enforcement of its own anti-fraud policies is, in effect, providing a hospitable venue for the sale of counterfeit
Tiffany. For anyone who's ever tried to rely on eBay's self-policing and been left helpless in the process, that argument is inherently compelling.

The suit is being watched with great interest because Tiffany may be one of the few companies with a reputation illustrious enough and pockets deep enough to take eBay on. To understand why Tiffany thinks it's worth the effort, it will help the reader to consider that, for a famous name company, counterfeiting is essentially a form of identity theft.

Other famous brands have chosen to confront the problem of faux brand names less directly. For instance, the Tourneau watch company's trade-in program that gives customers a price incentive to trade up, direct from the company, from used to retail. This approach to building customer loyalty works among connoisseurs who know and care about the difference between a Tourneau and a fake, and who are willing to deal directly with the manufacturer to ensure the authenticity of what they're buying. But it doesn't really address the problem of buyers and sellers who either can't tell the difference or who simply don't appreciate the difference.

The antiques trade has a vested interest in appreciating the difference. Therefore, the trade has a vested interest in seeing Tiffany win this suit if the outcome would get eBay to change its business model, at least to the extent of making it less tolerant of sellers palming off bogus merchandise as genuine.

How does a good dealer cope?
The eBay-Tiffany fracas is unlikely to be resolved any time soon; the wheels of justice - much like eBay's "safe harbor" provisions – grind exceeding slow. In the meantime, a simple internet search will reveal many free online resources, a few dedicated to specific fields, that can help people learn to detect fakes.

This is a genuine antique Hood Calf Starter pail with wonderful lithography. This has obvious wear. However, wear can also be simulated by manufacturers of born-yesterday advertising pieces to deceive the market. A blacklight is a helpful tool in identifying fake advertising ephemera and lithography because the newer print and paints will usually be fluoresce, whereas genuine items are not. (photo by the author, courtesy of Messier's Farm & Garden in East Randolph, VT)

Repronews.com, for example, has an entire online database of fakes and repros. Another decent place to get educated is an inexpensive but invaluable paperback by Mark Chervenka titled Antique Trader Guide to Fakes & Reproductions, the 3rd edition of which was published by Krause Press in 2003.

For example, it's pretty widely known that the market in Roseville pottery has been heavily affected by counterfeits. But did you know that there's counterfeit Van Briggle out there, too? (A revelation that was of particular interest to me, as my parents collect Van Briggle) Yet, the fakes are fairly easy to detect by paying attention to a few irregularities of mark.

Did you know that digitally produced labels have been artificially stressed to look old, then married to genuinely old wooden boxes and antique perfume bottles? Would you know how to tell a digitally enhanced toy or advertising tin from one with genuinely old lithography? (Hint: a blacklight isn't just for detecting porcelain repairs any more.)

Secondary market dealers need to get at least as good at detecting fakes and repros as the less sophisticated counterfeiters are at making them.

Peggy Whiteneck is a writer and collector living in East Randolph, VT. If you would like to suggest a topic she can address in her column, email her at allwrite@sover.net.

> Good Eye Archive — past columns