Throwing out the baby with the bath water!

[Strobilus]

I was browsing through Dr. Ilya Prokopov's Fake Ancient Coin Reports ( https://www.forumancientcoins.com/fakes/thumbnails.php?album=31&page=2 ) and I was a bit surprised to see two of my own lamps listed as fake!

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/fakes/displayimage.php?pos=-11506

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/fakes/displayimage.php?pos=-11507

I have added brief comments to the list. Both these lamps are genuine beyond doubt.


In fact, it is a little ironic that I used the first lamp (11506) to illustrate what an authentic Balkans lamp looks like when comparing it to a fake copy in my short article some years ago: http://www.romulus2.com/lamps/articles/art1.htm

The second lamp (11507) is a good example of a genuine Roman Loeschcke Type Ib lamp made in Italy (with evidence of having been excavated over a hundred years ago). It just happens to have an erotic scene as its motif. Both gladiators and erotic scenes - particularly this one (see for instance Kirsch, 493-4 and many others) - are actually quite common motifs on Roman lamps. Sadly, they are also extremely popular on fakes too - but let's not throw out the baby with the bath water!

In most cases it is not difficult for an experienced specialist in the field of lychnology to distinguish real lamps from fake ones after many years of study and research. A danger arises when a specialist in another field examines an object outside their own expertise and incorrectly applies their own methodology or criteria. Comparing the erotic scene on a lamp with those on "Tiberian era spintriae", for instance, reveals a knowledge of numismatics but a lack of familiarity with more meaningful comparisons (i.e. those on comparable documented lamps). In the absence of that familiarity with objects of the same type, both physically and in published lychnological sources, any conclusions are likely to be largely misleading or meaningless.

I do appreciate the need for extreme caution when acquiring antiquities - especially those with popular themes - but let's not get carried away! There are a few real lamps out there.

11506 is here: http://www.romulus2.com/lamps/database/lamp.php?2
11507 is here: http://www.romulus2.com/lamps/database/lamp.php?153

[Joe Sermarini]

I removed the listings for the two lamps. Thanks for your correction. Unfortunately, Commodus can't tell us why he thought they were fake.  He has passed away. 

Please help us by adding fakes to the reports. 

[Strobilus]

Thanks for that, Joe. I'm very sorry to hear about Commodus.

There is a small selection of fake lamps on my website: http://www.romulus2.com/lamps/fakes/fakes1.shtml
I'll try to add a few fresh items to your own list of fakes when I find time. Sadly, there is an enormous amount of them, some obvious and some less so, but the more of them that are publicised, the better.

As you know, the best way to arm oneself against fakes is not only to be aware of them but, perhaps even more importantly, to become thoroughly familiar with what authentic objects look like. That requires years of experience but without it the fear of fakes can all too easily degenerate into a frantic witch-hunt, in which perfectly genuine objects are needlessly condemned along with the rubbish. And that is a pity.