Whilst this is a quite clever souk item probably made recently it offers the opportunity to encourage a collector in the early stages of collecting and advice for some who are a bit more experienced but if they were honest would agree that they too had stumbled on certain objects... There are some very prestigious museums ...like the Wallace that have made mistakes with authenticity ....after all what is a forgery? I know a lot of collectors who have been wrong footed by such items...Muscat has been hoodwinking people for the better part of half a century with these and even cleverer efforts. Fake armour adorns a lot of great halls in the UK and elsewhere....
Look carefully at the face of this shield and you will see the faint lines of concentric circles allowing the pattern to be accurately drawn and then chased with mallet and chisel. Often these pieces have a central deep dot caused by the lathe on which the pattern was applied or spun. Spinning can go back to the 11 th/ 12 th Century... The individual strikes can be seen under the scope on the shield showing it as new...The hammered heads fixing the brass rosettes are fresh. It has no patina and no wear consistent with it trying to be say 19th Century.
..but Robertguy dont worry about that ... scoop up a few books at the local library or get on line and in no time at all you will have the knowledge to go and get a real one ... Everybody makes similar mistakes .... well done on the pictures .
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.
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