TIL that fake Egyptian artifacts are way more common than I thought

I was watching a show last week about museum fakes and they said maybe 40% of Egyptian pieces in private collections are forgeries. That blew my mind. The big giveaway is the tool marks - real stuff from the Old Kingdom has these specific curved cut lines from copper chisels. Fakes usually have straight cuts from modern steel tools. I even noticed it myself on a 'statuette' my uncle had on his shelf for 20 years. The patina was all wrong too, too even and dark. Has anyone else started spotting these details at antique shows or is it just me?

3 comments

3 Comments

jessem5911h ago

Go look at auction listings for Egyptian stuff on eBay sometime. It's honestly wild how many obvious fakes are up there.

grant15512h ago

Wait, isn't that number maybe even higher than 40% once you factor in the fakes that fooled the pros too? I used to think most stuff on the market was legit, but after hearing about the tool mark thing I started looking closer and now I see why so much gets flagged. It's funny how one simple detail can turn your whole view around.

troychen10h ago

Yeah but honestly I've seen plenty of legit pieces slip past the pros too so who really knows.