EFTIS FAKES?

[Miguel Diaz]

I've bought two artifacts from Eftis.

1) Deep Red Ancient Egyptian Ptolemaic Glass Bangle dating to around 100-250 BC.

2) Ancient iron age Cypriot snow man figure dating to 800-1000 BC.

I am not a specialist of these artifacts, but I would want to know if these are fakes or not.

[legio_gemina]

Hello,
first of all, let me say you have bought from one of the worst fake antiquities seller on Ebay.
Well, not all his artifacts and coins are fakes, but a 70/80% of what he sells is fake. He received many emails from other dealers and expert collectors signaling his fake items, but he simply ignored or even answered in a rude way and never removed items. Not only he sells fakes but he is not in good faith. He obviously protect auctions with private bidder, so you can't even contact bidders alerting them if they're buying fakes. Shame on Ebay as well that does nothing despite the various email sent about this seller.

Anyway, let's come to your items. Glass and terracotta aren't my main area of expertise in antiquities, i am specialised in ancient arms and jewellery, anyway, the bangle could be fake, while the statuine could be genuine (it is glued anyway, i wonder how much you paid for it). The statuine IS NOT a snowman (how funny!) nor probably cipriot, it is probably a statuine of a god, syrian-elamite, iron age, valued around 150/200$.

Hope this can help you.

Best

Legio

P.S.= I hope Eftis will read this message and I hope he will be enough "man" to answer with intelligent comments, since he usually ignore or attack anyone that question his items.

[legio_gemina]

Yes,

make a post in the yahoo group "ancient artifacts", he's full of member that are dealers or expert, everyone has its own are of specialize, so I think someone can help you.

[Miguel Diaz]

Thanks you very much !

Yes,

make a post in the yahoo group "ancient artifacts", he's full of member that are dealers or expert, everyone has its own are of specialize, so I think someone can help you.

[gavignano]

I don't have enough guts to buy something from EFTIS, even though some of his stuff looks ok. Now, I'm a newbie - what about this solidus of Constantius II - its got nice even wear on the hair, field scratches, etc. Can't afford it, but trying to learn. I don't see cast evidence...What do you think?

[ember]

Hi,

I wouldn't buy anything from EFTIS, ever.  It's like playing slots, you may win once, but the odds are stacked against you.  In the long run it's a losing proposition.

Darcy

[Hydatius]

I don't have enough guts to buy something from EFTIS, even though some of his stuff looks ok. Now, I'm a newbie - what about this solidus of Constantius II - its got nice even wear on the hair, field scratches, etc. Can't afford it, but trying to learn. I don't see cast evidence...What do you think?

EFTIS has sold the well-known modern forgery of this type before but this isn't it.  On the other hand, he does sell a lot of this particular type of solidus more than any other (maybe he likes it?).  If I'd been clever I would have kept track of them all.  Nevertheless, I wouldn't touch it.  As you can see from my thread 'Dangerous forgery' even a beat up VF solidus can be a fake.  I suspect it's easier to cast a VF coin (or make a cast coin look VF) because wear naturally softens the surface.

Richard

[Joe Sermarini]

One service I will do not want to offer on this board is helping people buy from unreliable eBay dealers.  I don't want to support their business in any way.  Also, does anyone really have the confidence to recommend buying a coin from an unreliable seller based on a pic?  Don't post pics of coins from unreliable dealers and ask if they are ok so you can bid on them.  And members, please do not respond to such requests other than to say, just say no.   

[Mike Deigan]

Thanks for all the input everyone!

FYI: I emailed EFTIS with the following,

Hi there,

I just wanted to let you know I came across this thread at www.forumancientcoins.com and I am now a bit worried.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=28349.0

Also, this coin is not from 323 BC like you claimed in the auction... here is the attributation I was able to get:

Price 1808 Alexander the Great, AR drachm, c310-301 BC, Colophon Mint, Head of Alexander the Great right, as Hercules, wearing lion-skin knotted at base of neck.
/ ALEXANDROU, Zeus seated left, B and TI monogram before, ½ below throne. SNGCop 928.

It seems to me that you have knowingly mis-identified this coin and thus sold it under false pretenses! Please respond and I hope we can discuss this.

Thank-you,
Mike

And his response:

i have not misidentified knowingly or otherwise. look on the various forums and you will find a lot of insanely jealous people. i am a reputable seller.
best wishes,
eftis.

I am pretty upset that I bought a coin which was not what was claimed on the aution (lifetime issue). However, if the coin is authentic, I still like it but feel as though I deserve some sort of compensation. I emailed him back and asked that he give me a 25% refund and I will not open a dispute with eBay. who knows, but I had to try.

Anyways here are some more pictures that will maybe give you all a better idea of what I have.

Thanks again,
Mike

[Miguel Diaz]

For me it's too late ... I've bought my artifacts more than one year ago ...

I didn't know that fakes of artifacts were so easily made and sold on Ebay ...

It appears in ancientartifacts yahoogroup that my snowman is probably genuine, but perhaps not Chypriot, but from Syria.

"Just to clarify...
The snowman technique was used to form the majority of Cypriot
terracotta figures, but it's not a technique exclusive to Cyprus. The
idea is that you start by making a simple tubular or cone-shaped body,
and then subsequently add all the details by applying clay strips,
tubes, and blobs to the basic core body. (If you've ever built a real
snowman, it's the same idea -- you make the core body, then add all
the details by sticking on a face, arms, hat, etc.)

Generally, figures made from this technique are pretty crude, and the
detailing is commonly done by hand. However, there are plenty of
snowman figures from Cypriot and elsewhere that have mold-made pieces,
generally faces. As long as the head is an applique added to the
pre-made body, it's still technically a snowman. However, this Eftis
example looks to have some non-applique details running down the front
of the chest, and the thickness of the neck suggests that it isn't an
applique. (You can generally look at an average snowman figure and see
evidence in the fabric of the clay where arms, head, etc were added.)
Based on the photo, I wouldn't categorize this as a snowman.

As for origin, the loss to the arms makes it impossible to say
anything conclusively. Cypriot is possible, but from a sheer
probability perspective, Iron Age Syria is probably your best guess
for this style of figure. In terms of authenticity, it's always a crap
shot with Eftis. One aspect of the figure that I don't like is the
dirt layer that starts mid-torso. This is frequently used to hide
repairs or sloppy combinations of fragments to form "Franken-figures."
However, other than the dirt, there are no major red flags here -- you
might have gotten lucky on this one. Jason Dahling"

I was lucky ... But my bangle is probably a fake ...

Eftis is a thief ! He should go in jail !

His artifacts may often be authentic, but most of the time they have been totally restored. I can't find the link, but on a website, they showed the before/after shots of one of EFTIS's Greek hoplite helmets. Shocking, to say at the very least.

--Peter

[Istinpolin]

Res Ipsa Loquitur:

http://www.toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=bidancient&Dirn=Received+by