Detecting Fakes & Forgeries

In the antiquing world, knowledge is power. And collectors of every stripe need to be aware of the seedy underbelly crawling with fakes, forgeries and reproductions.

After all, it’s a limited number of valuable antiques that enthusiasts are after. So to make them available to the masses, there are always forgers eager to make sure that supply equals demand.

But the experts know what to look out for.

Charles F. Hummel, retired senior director of The Winterthur Museum in Delaware, has an expertly trained eye and will be holding a day-long, consciousness-raising seminar on how to tell the differences between the real-deal antiques and the passable imposters on Saturday, April 21, at the East Hampton Historical Society’s Clinton Academy.

“While there are outright fakes, the biggest problem for a collector are good-quality reproductions that are passed over the line and someone has pronounced them as an antique,” Mr. Hummel explained during a telephone interview from the museum last week. “That’s a major, major problem for collectors. There’s a myth that hand-craftsmanship—excellent hand-craftsmanship—died with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. That’s not the case.”

There is one key difference between fakes and reproductions, he said. A fake is purposefully made to fool a buyer into thinking it’s the original, while a reproduction is a remake of an earlier design that is produced to fill a void in the market.

Fakes, forgeries and reproductions began in ancient times, but took off in a big way as early as 1841 in the United States, Mr. Hummel reported. While methods are not yet foolproof, collectors and historians have an arsenal of tricks to detect the authenticity of an antique.

First, before even considering buying a piece from a dealer or auction house, be sure the object has a full receipt that lists its description, date, provenance, condition and any warranty that’s offered, Mr. Hummel advised. From there, the rest of the inspection comes through experience, he said, but there are simple observations that can come in handy for beginning collectors. For exam-

ple, due to different processing methods, 17th, 18th and 19th century ceramic and metal work weigh less than late 19th, 20th and 21st century pieces. If an 18th century brass candlestick feels very heavy, a buyer should be “quite wary and leery of it,” Mr. Hummel said.

“Also, in the 18th century, because labor was cheap, they took the time to clean up their brass and remove sand marks from the casting process,” he said. “They can’t do that because labor’s expensive in the 20th century, so the underside of cast brass objects will still be very, very rough.”

When shopping for ceramics, carry a blue, ultraviolet light, Mr. Hummel said, which can often detect repairs or problems with a piece.

“But what happens sometimes, the whole object will be coated with a transparent rosin,” he said. “That means, when using a blue light, it reflects the light all over and it becomes difficult to see repairs. If you’re knowledgeable about ceramics collecting, you should be able to see where something isn’t quite right on the object.”

In the glass market, cobalt blue—a favorite among collectors—is infamous for its fakes and reproductions, Mr. Hummel said.

“There was a firm near Philadelphia in the 20th century, in the 1920s, that produced a number of reproductions and fakes of cobalt blue glass, which they very slowly, through select dealers, put on the market,” Mr. Hummel said. “There are about 60 of these in museums’ collections throughout the United States. Winterthur is one of them. We’ve identified them. They’re now in our study collection.”

Reproduced prints are sometimes the most tricky to tell apart from the original, Mr. Hummel said. Always buy prints outside of a frame, he said, and then place it over a light source to see whether “chain lines” are visible.

“Paper was made from rag until fairly late, until almost the middle of the 19th century when wood pulp paper started to be made,” he said. “In the early years, paper was made from rags that were shredded and made into a mulch. Then, a device that looks like a basket made out of wire would be dipped into that solution and when it was raised, the rag material and mulch would cling to the wire. You’d let it dry and that would become a sheet of paper. You can see those lines when you have a light source from behind the print.”

The original copper plates or lithographic films that made prints in the 17th through 19th centuries have survived, Mr. Hummel said. But in the late 19th and 20th centuries, there have been re-strikes of those prints, he said, which are valued significantly less than a print struck 100 years earlier.

On average, the difference in value between a faked or reproduced object and its original can run thousands of dollars, Mr. Hummel said.

The same applies to furniture. Buyers should be concerned about condition. Look for breaks and repairs, he said. When purchasing a case piece, make sure the dovetails of the upper section match the dovetails of the lower section, Mr. Hummel said. If they don’t, the piece is probably a “marriage” of two or more pieces, he said, which decreases the value of the furniture.

Richard Barons, director of the East Hampton Historical Society, often runs into fake and reproduced furniture, he reported.

“After the 1870s, there was a fashion for Americana,” he explained during a telephone interview last week. “Collectors began to get so serious and just before and after the second World War, museums are adding American wings. Museums are suddenly in the marketplace. They’re going to want something that’s really good and totally authentic. That’s when the forgers really begin to participate.”

The boom led to widespread fakes and reproductions floating through the antiques market, some of which have ended up in the society’s collection.

“The finishes have been changed, the legs have been changed,” Mr. Barons said, referring to reproduced furniture. “We don’t get rid of them. It’s part of the history of collecting.”

Making poor judgment calls is a natural part of collecting, Mr. Hummel said. He admitted that he’s even made some of his own, which he’ll discuss during the seminar. But those bad purchases shouldn’t get collectors down, he emphasized.

“You gain experience,” he said. “Everyone who collects, if they collect regularly, at some point they’re going to make a mistake. Unquestionably, they will. It’s what you learn from the mistake that’s important, not that you made the mistake.

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The day-long seminar “Fakes & Forgeries” with Charles F. Hummel will be held on Saturday, April 21, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Clinton Academy Museum in East Hampton. Admission is $70, or $60 for members. Fee includes morning and afternoon programs, and a catered box lunch. All proceeds benefit the society. For more information, call 324-6850 or visit easthamptonhistory.org.