Hi Folks,
Perhaps, it is time for me to post some items from my "rogues"
gallery of
fake scarabs; some I bought when I first started collecting and didn't know any better, others I bought as examples of unusual
fakes.
Years ago, I did a lot more traveling than I do now. In those days,
scarab hunting was better in
England,
Holland, and
Germany than it was in
Egypt! I bought a wonderful
scarab necklace, probably made in the 1920"s or 30's, in
London. I realized some of the
scarabs in it were
fakes but the real ones were outstanding and the center (pendant) one was an absolute
gem. It was an authentic "ladder back"
scarab which was equated to the
scarabs of Wah by one of the world's greatest authorities on
scarabs of the second half of the 20th century. That
scarab is another story.
This
scarab has a rounded hole in its back from a round plug which is now missing. This
scarab may be made of plastic, Bakelite or some other substance.
Scarabs with inlayed backs as
part of their design motif were made at least as early as the Middle Kingdom, but
scarabs made of pieces of material fitted together (mosaic), that were drilled in the
area where no pieces could be fitted in and plugged are extremely
rare. They are usually made of exotic or expensive material, like
lapis lazuli.and most, if not all, examples come from
King Tutankhamen's tomb. Illustrations of
his jewelry concentrate on the visual impact of the whole item, rather than on how individual elements were made, thus it is difficult to find illustrations clearly showing these round plugs, but a few do exist, see:
1. Vilimkova, Abdul-Rahman and Darbois.
Egyptian Jewelry.
London,
New York, etc.: Paul Hamlyn, 1969: Title page and No. 54. Bracelet.
Carter Catalogue Number 269 N.
2.
Edwards, I.E.S. Tutankhamun’s
Jewelry.
New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1976: pages 16 and 33, Number 10.
Carter Catalogue 269 N.
For a possible round plug on a prothorax, see:
Vilimkova, as cited above, Number 39.
Carter Catalogue Number 256 QQQ.
While this
scarab is not a mosaic, it does have a round plug which is now missing. Tutankhamen’s
scarabs were representations of Scarabaeus venerabilis (with striated/ribbed elytra) and this one represents Scarabaeus
sacer. The workmanship on this
scarab is
superb; it does not appear to be
cast or molded. The high karat gold mount is from the original necklace.
The
inscription might read: “
Good god, lord of the two lands, Amen Ra,
king of Lower (Northern)
Egypt” (?). For a
scarab with a vaguely similar
inscription which
Petrie called “obscure in meaning” see:
Petrie, W.M. Flinders. Buttons and Design
Scarabs.
London, 1925. (Re-printed by Aris & Phillips/Malter, Warminster/Encino, 1974) page 14, Number 738, Plate
XII.
Size: approximately 14.5 mm long x 11 mm wide x 6.25 mm high.
Russ
