Pottery and porcelain objects have been made for so many years, in so many cultures and in such a multitude of types that it is impossible to describe all the signs of falsification in any short essay. Generally speaking, however, the detection of a fake depends upon aberrations in manufacture, style and materials—as in any other field. Be sure you know the material—whether earthenware, stoneware, true porcelain or soft porcelain—that the original was made in, the type of glaze and the style and method of decoration that should be found in the type of piece you are considering.There have been some excellent forgeries of Sevres and Delft and some Etruscan and Oriental wares that are difficult even for the expert to sort out, but most fakes fail badly in one or more of these areas. Once you are thoroughly familiar with the materials, method of manufacture and style of decoration, you can protect yourself adequately. A piece that has been decorated in paint instead of slip—as in the case of some spurious Greek vases, and even American redware is easy to detect. Modern Delft reproductions that have printed designs rather than hand-painted ones are also easy. Viewed under magnification a printed design shows a dot-screen, especially in the mid-tone ranges, instead of a solid brush stroke. Even the recent painted Delft usually has a thicker body and darker colors than old pieces. Sometimes fakers are careless enough to decorate or place a mark over a glaze when the originals of that type were decorated before glazing.

Antique Collection

Repairs and touched-up decorations are among the commonest hazards in the fields collected today, and this touching up frequently involves the removal, alteration or addition of marks. Because he fears sags in the original glaze and color changes in the decorations, the restorer, retoucher or mark artist almost never tries to reglaze the entire piece. Instead he will use a simulated glaze that he can paint on. This is often difficult to see with the naked eye, but sometimes it can be seen under ultra-violet light. I own an Oriental export punch bowl in the rose medallion pattern. It had had a small piece broken out at the rim, and this piece had been cleverly cemented back in place. I lived with this bowl for several years before I happened to look at it under ultra-violet light and discovered the repair. Since it was an honest repair with the original fragment it did not bother me particularly, but if I had paid a high price for a perfect specimen, I would have been less than happy with my discovery. Often you will find a spot on the bottom of a piece of porcelain or pottery where the tell-tale label of the country of origin has been removed and a small dab of simulated glaze painted on. Sometimes you can see this with the naked eye, but ultra-violet light will more often reveal it. If the faker has thought to coat the entire bottom with his simulated glaze, there will be no difference in the fluorescence. Thus it is wise to look at the top under the light also and see if it fluoresces the same color. Seldom will the forger go to the trouble of coating the whole object.

I saw an interesting example of this recently during a seminar on fakes that I was teaching. One of my students brought in a small spatterware plate. Such ware commands relatively high prices these days, and he was curious about its authenticity. We had no genuine example to compare it with, but the design generally looked good. The bottom showed obvious signs of wear, and there was no doubt that it was indeed an old plate. Once we put the piece under ultra-violet light, however, the fraud showed up immediately. The glaze on the underside fluoresced an entirely different color from that on top. The original maker would have used the same glaze on the entire piece.

In the last few years a new formula for simulated glaze has been developed that cannot be detected under ultra-violet light when the new glaze is applied to pieces with a compatible original glaze. Oriental export porcelain is one type of ware on which this new paint glaze is especially effective. Fortunately its use is not yet widespread. The only way to circumvent the deception of this new material, which so skillfully hides a repair you are apt to miss it in a visual check, is to hold the piece up against a bright light. True porcelain is translucent, and the amount of light it lets through is normally determined by thickness or surface decoration. The cement and synthetic glaze, however, interfere with the light transmission. Thus, if you see any dark line or area that you cannot explain by variations of thickness or decoration, check the surface very carefully under a bright raking light and be very skeptical.

Signs of wear vary according to the type of porcelain and pottery. True porcelain is so hard that even an unglazed rim on the bottom will not scratch in ordinary use. Decorations applied over the glaze, however, will wear off in areas of heavy use. This is especially true of gold. Earthenware and some stoneware will scratch and chip more easily, and so you can often find evidence of use. If the effects of wear are too severe, they damage the value of the object; if minor or inconspicuous, they are a real comfort.

New Wedgwood pieces are in no way to be considered fakes or reproductions since they are still being made by the same firm. If you collect old Wedgwood, however, you would be wise to know the differences between new and old pieces. Most obvious are the jasper wares with classical decorations in white relief. The new pieces lack the definition in detail that you find in the old ones. In some of the cheaper Japanese and German reproductions the decorations are molded as integral parts of the piece instead of being added separately before firing.

Steins are another popular collecting field with numerous modern imitations being produced in Germany, Japan and England. The new ones, however, fail obviously to match the original colors, and the metal ornaments are poorly cast. This is especially true of those with military or railroad decorations as finials. Period steins with these sculptured finials have fine detail. The modern ones are fuzzy and poor, and you can usually see traces of the mold seams. Also, since steins are made of fairly soft earthenware, there are usually many signs of wear and use in the form of scratches, nicks and chips.

Lusterware, silver-resist tea sets, Toby jugs, and Staffordshire figurines have been widely reproduced in recent years. Almost all of the new pieces, however, are thicker and heavier than the originals, details in the designs and modeling are sloppy, and the colors do not match those of authentic specimens. A quick comparison with an authentic piece or sometimes even a good picture is all that you need to recognize them.

Because ceramics are so durable, because they do not shrink and almost never patinate, there are few guides of the type available to connoisseurs in other fields. In the main you must rely on a knowledge of materials, methods of manufacture and style— and be especially alert for signs of repair and restoration.

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