Fake kilij and pala

[Kubur]

Be careful
a friend of mine sent me some photographs of fake kilij and pala that are circulating on the web, E-Bou and others...
They come from Eastern Europe
They reuse old blades with new fittings and hilts...
but with the prices of full old antiques!
Kubur

[Sancar]

Eastern European and Russian fakes are common(some are even so old, they can count as genuine antiques on their own right) but there is also a new wave of Syrian fake antique kilijs here in Turkey. Syria has always been a popular place of kilij reproduction production for tourist market with varying degrees of quality; and recent tragic civil war caused this tourist pieces entering illegaly through southern border in thousands. Those tourist pieces are being sold in the market as the real deal for really high prices. Long koftgari inscription with huge letters going all the way through the surface a late period formed, wide and unfullered blade is the most common example of this.

[ALEX]

Kubur, Thanks for sharing the pictures. Always nice to see this info and closeups. Personally, I'd not call these "fakes". Even with new/newer hilts and crossguards, these are restored blades, the fact that they sell as genuine antiques, and some improperly matched, does not make them total fakes As Sancar pointed out, there are completely new swords (including blades) out there in thousands, and those are fakes IF selling as antiques. The burden of knowledge is always on the buyer

[estcrh]

Faking a spiral stitched scabbard would be much harder, has anyone seen that done?

[ALEX]

of course it is done. But once again, "faking" is only when it is made/sold to deceive. Most antique arms underwent restorations many times, and it is ok if done properly and skilfully. Should one call sword a fake if it has restored scabbard, stitching, hilt scales or crossguard? I do not think so. fakes have AssadAllah cartouches on brand new blades

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by ALEX

of course it is done. But once again, "faking" is only when it is made/sold to deceive. Most antique arms underwent restorations many times, and it is ok if done properly and skilfully. Should one call sword a fake if it has restored scabbard, stitching, hilt scales or crossguard? I do not think so. fakes have AssadAllah cartouches on brand new blades

If a sellers fails to mention known restorations in their description and instead sells an item as if it were an untouched original.....the item then becomes a fake. If the seller unknowingly sells a restored item as an untouched original it is a fake. It could be on purpose or accidental but the result is the same, the purchaser does not get what he paid for, on the other hand if the restorations are pointed out to the purchaser it is not a fake.