Indian Artifacts; The same way as Confederacy Artifacts??. ???

[MObushwhacker]

Last week I watch the Pawn shop show (Pawn Star) on the history Channel. An elderly gentleman brought a very valuable confederacy sword in to sale. The sword story was that this sword was a family heirloom and been in the family for generation. The sword was a non-impressive old sword with the CS engraved on the blade. The pawn star not knowing what a confederacy civil war sword was worth ask that a military sword and arms expert look at it and get some advice, like what the sword is worth.
The expert looking at the sword give a brief history of sword used by the confederate states and then dropped the bombshell, recommending that the owner not buy the sword or other confederacy items, because over the last fifty years the market was swamped with counterfeit items and people were not buying because of the many reproductions. Some so good that they could not be distinguish from the real thing. End of movie. The pawn star did not buy the CS sword because of modern reproductions.

The morrow of the story is. Just recently, I was speaking to a knapper and he jokenly made the remark that he no longer made perfect arrowheads because they will not sell and now only makes imperfect arrowheads because they will sell. Stating, “If there too good people will be scared of them.”
I have a large collection of Indian artifacts that I have accumulated and found the last fifty plus years and if I go to sell them, the true value propably would not be paid because of all the reproduction over the years. Will Indian artifacts go the way of Confederacy Items?? Or is there a 100% test to prove their authentication?

 

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[uniface]

You've pretty well summed the situation up.

 

[Th3rty7]

I think you've described a local, singular situation with the confederate sword story. Last I checked cw and american indian artifacts are a thriving and lucrative part of the market even in the economic recession were in. Unfortunately there's nothing that is 100% accurate in determining authenticity, and it's safe to say if you buy artifacts, you have some fakes in your collection...even the 5 inch dovetail with convincing patina and mineralization is most likely a repro.

 

[Get-the-point]

A-lot of people consider the shelacking of points a tell tale sign as a possible fake. The catch is most of the old timers did this to shine up the point!! Alot of Artifakers do this as well to try and get the laymen to purchase their piece. The good thing is is that any point that is shelacked will hold the mineralization and patina, unless of course it was scrubbed to death. If this is the case and it is devoid of any mineralization and patina then it will lose all value as most collectors will not purchase a piece like that. I would say the best thing is the laser test in that case. That should come up with positive results even if it was coated by removing the coating of laquer....................GTP>>>>>>>>>

 

[sekypaleo]

My thoughts:
First you are watching a reality show. Nothing you see or hear on shows like Pawn Stars or American Pickers can be taken seriously. Everything is set-up to garner the best ratings they can.
Second, ANYTHING that adults begin to passionately collect that is scarce or rare will begin to go up in value as the demand increases, the down side of it is that that is when the con artists come out. No collecting field is immune: stamps, Indian artifacts, antiquities, WW2, CW, Revolutionary war ,even coins are being faked in China now.
I am first and foremost a Civil War relic hunter and collector, next would be Indian artifacts, then Pre-Columbian art. All 3 fields are plagued by fakery. Has the value in Confederate items gone down due to this..absolutely not! The collector just has to be more careful, buy cautiously and educate yourself on how to determine authenticity. Attend shows and handle artifacts, and get to know the people in the dealer/collecting field. I have to be honest,my feelings are that the dealers who seem to be solely in it for the money (usually the big name guys)are the ones I put the least trust in.
From what I have seen there is no price/value drop off in Indian artifacts today. The most commonly faked pieces are Covis’es and Dovetails, but the authentic top notch pieces are still going up.
I would sum this up by saying if you work diligently to build a good clean collection, then years from now potential buyers will see what you saw in the points and you would make money. No bigger risk than stock market to me.

 

[joshuaream]

I think by definition pawnshops are lousy places to sell anything for decent value...

Antique stores, pawn shops, coin shops, etc. were never good places to sell relics because they didn't specialize in the material, and with the sheer number and availability of fakes many of these places have probably stopped buying them. The fact that a section of the non collector crowd is getting out of the market probably only hurts the very entry level pieces. I guess it potentially could slow new collectors coming into the hobby, as at least some collectors first see arrowheads in antique stores.

Targe and Sekypaleo's advice is sound, start the process early and keep a clean collection. If you've got some pieces you have doubts about, take them to a show and get some advice... It's never too early or late to improve your collection by isolating the rechips & replicas.

jrsherman- I do respect your desire to keep them in the family, hopefully at least one of your children and then one of their children will take an interest in them. I've seen many a collection of clear coated pieces glued on boards, with some careful work you can rescue them without damaging them. Authentic patina is tough to remove, unless the material is really soft you'll have a hard time removing all traces of it... If the pieces are stone and you don't care about the wooden frames, just put them in one of those plastic storage totes and fill with water for a couple of days (or weeks.) Eventually the wood, felt or glue should soften to the point they can be removed (I've also used mineral spirits to soften glue.) Hopefully the clear coat is either shellac or lacquer or a combo of both, all of them are pretty easily removed with denatured (rubbing) alcohol, lacquer remover or a mix of both. If they were varnished it'll take more work, but you can still do it. As a test try gently rubbing one of the lesser pieces with alcohol, it shouldn't damage the stone.