184 



Frauds and Forgeries of Antiques." 



other matrices, or from ancient impressions of seals: and, therefore, although 

 they are worthless as being of modern make, the designs upon them are really 

 old, and perhaps will only reach us through their means. 



" Before entering on the question of forgeries of classical antiquities, it may 

 be well to say a few words on a matter relating to our own country, in which 

 the fraud does not rest with the articles themselves, but with the circumstances 

 under which they are stated to have been discovered. The older collectors 

 regarded but little the locality in which, or the circumstances under which, the 

 various relics were found ; but this is no longer the case. The numerous local 

 antiquaries who have sprung up since archaeology has been more carefully 

 studied, are anxious to obtain antiquities from some particular locality, and are 

 prepared to pay larger prices for them in consequence. Spurious localities are 

 therefore invented, and Greek, Etruscan, Egyptian, and Italian antiquities are 

 palmed off on the unwary as having been found in his own native soil. I have 

 been informed by dealers in curiosities that labourers frequently come to their 

 shops and purchase miscellaneous rubbish to be retailed to any stray archaeolo- 

 gist who should venture near their work.* I remember some years since being 

 shown a modern Abyssinian sandal duly steeped in oil, which purported to have 

 been found in Roman London ; and I have seen even Greek vases, which were 

 said to be found in digging the foundations in the city ; one of them I strongly 

 suspect to have been recently brought from the Cyrenaica, and another had all 

 the marks of having been through the hands of an Italian restorer of modern 

 times. Such frauds are carried on to a great extent in coins, and the recent 

 works in the city have supplied a profitable outlet for the rubbish of coin sales. 



" With regard to foreign antiquities, forgeries of Egyptian remains are not 

 unfrequent, some of them shewing considerable skill in their workmanship. 

 Mr. Cuming has recorded in the Journal of the British Archaeological Associa- 

 tion his having seen some scarabaei, formed of amethyst which had been manu- 

 factured in this country for a foreign market, f Italy has not been behind hand 

 in seeking for fraudulent gain ; although its ancient soil teems with remains of 

 the past, the number does not seem to be sufficient to supply the demands of the 

 travellers of all nations who visit it, and accordingly terra-cotta figures, bronzes, 

 vases, gems, &c, appear as required, and are carried home as trophies by the 

 deluded traveller. Such fabrications are of some standing. The clever imita- 

 tions of Roman* coins produced by those famous Paduan artists, Giovanni Cavino 

 and Alessandro Bassiano, are well known, J and in several museums are to be 

 found bronze lacrymatories which, from the inscription upon them, purport to 

 contain the tears of Caesar's wife. At the commencement of the last century, 

 several supposititious remains of Christian antiquity appear to have been fabric- 

 ated, including, as I have been informed by a distinguished foreign archaeologist, 

 some of the small pictures formed of gold and glass, made in imitation of those 

 found in the Catacombs, which are so much valued in museums. The imitation 

 of ancient glass vessels seems to be carried on at Naples, and is well exemplified 



* For an account of similar frauds see Journal of British Archaeological Association, vol. ix. p. 89, 

 and vol. xi. p. 72. Much credit is due to Mr. Gunston and Mr. Syer Cuming for having exposed 

 these frauds. 



+ Journal of British Archceological Association, vol xi. p. 72. 

 t See a catalogue of their works in " Cabinet de 1' Amateur et de l'Autiquaire," torn. i. p. 586. 

 Paris, 1842. 



