Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Billman · 13th December 2010, 06:41 PM

Labels and certificates of provenenace are only worth anything if you know the reputation of the dealer/seller... Even so, reputable dealers get sucked in - see my comments on a Pennsylvanian German billhook (fascine knife) offered for sale in the USA in 2010 that was bought in Germany in 2009...
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...?t=6972&page=2

I have also seen many European edged tools that only date from the mid to late 19th century being sold as medieval, complete with a Certificate of Authenticity.. The shape and the method of manufacture may go back to the Middle Ages - the give away is the maker's stamp... name and village allow a precise dating... Materials are much more difficult to date - late 19th century mild steel was very similar to wrought iron, and in fact wrought iron was still being made as late as the early 20th century (and is being made again in the UK at the Blists Hill Museum at Coalbrookdale). Even in the 21st century, Bernard Solon, in Orléans (France) is forge welding high carbon steel to a softer mild steel body for his vineyard hoes.... He also uses the same name and trademark as his great grandfather, Alexis - a few years' rust and a 21st century tool will be indistinguishable from a mid 19th century one... Not a fake, but a continuation of a family tradition....

13th December 2010, 06:41 PM	#12
Billman Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 129	Labels and certificates of provenenace are only worth anything if you know the reputation of the dealer/seller... Even so, reputable dealers get sucked in - see my comments on a Pennsylvanian German billhook (fascine knife) offered for sale in the USA in 2010 that was bought in Germany in 2009... http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...?t=6972&page=2 I have also seen many European edged tools that only date from the mid to late 19th century being sold as medieval, complete with a Certificate of Authenticity.. The shape and the method of manufacture may go back to the Middle Ages - the give away is the maker's stamp... name and village allow a precise dating... Materials are much more difficult to date - late 19th century mild steel was very similar to wrought iron, and in fact wrought iron was still being made as late as the early 20th century (and is being made again in the UK at the Blists Hill Museum at Coalbrookdale). Even in the 21st century, Bernard Solon, in Orléans (France) is forge welding high carbon steel to a softer mild steel body for his vineyard hoes.... He also uses the same name and trademark as his great grandfather, Alexis - a few years' rust and a 21st century tool will be indistinguishable from a mid 19th century one... Not a fake, but a continuation of a family tradition....