How to spot faked or forged antique silver hallmarks
Moderator Msn
How to spot faked or forged antique silver hallmarks
Laura Chesters - 16 Apr 2024
The Goldsmiths’ Company London Assay Office has run the Goldsmiths’ Hallmark Authentication Committee (GHAC) - formerly the Antique Plate Committee - since 1939.
Run by experts in the field, it advises on the authenticity of an object’s provenance based on the hallmark, professional analysis and a scientific analysis of its metals, and was put in place to protect consumers and uphold the law on hallmarks.
Anyone with an item that they are unsure of or have questions on can bring the item to be assessed by the committee.
Dr Timothy Schroder, chair of GHAC, said: “We are not a vetting committee at an antiques fair and not a police force. Instead the committee is like an advisory body and with the assay office we are helping to clean up the world of antique silver.”
Among the updates during the one-day event at Goldsmiths’ Hall in the City on April 12 was a session from silver specialist and special adviser to the GHAC Alastair Dickenson, who spoke about the type of fakes in British silver from c.1700 to today.
He detailed the variety of items that can contravene the 1975 Hallmarking Act but noted that any objects without hallmarks and any foreign silver is outside the jurisdiction of this act.
The three main types of fakes and forgeries are:
- Transposed marks (cut out marks and stuck on);
- Illegal alterations or change of use;
- Counterfeit hallmarks
Transposed marks
One era where transposed hallmarks were common was the early 18th century when ‘duty dodgers’ (owners or silversmiths) did not send their items to be assayed during the period 1720-58 when a steep tax was placed on silver.
There were a variety of methods of escaping this tax – including transposing marks from small articles to large or overstriking marks from older pieces. These items are still illegal to sell.
Illegal alterations
For items that have been altered or a change of use made (ie adding a spout to a beaker to make a jug) it is only legal if specific addition marks were struck on the newly added addition (if over 5g).
Counterfeit hallmarks
Counterfeit hallmarks can be made in a number of ways including electroforming (copying the item, hallmarks and all); casting (either via the lost wax or sand casting method including the original marks); soft punches (made by copying other marks using copper); as well as fake steel punches created to make new, forged marks.
A number of famous cases involve talented silversmiths who have turned to forgery and Dickenson highlighted their various techniques and methods.
The one-day seminar, titled Marks of Deception: Tackling fakes & forgeries in antique British silver, attracted attendees including valuers and specialists from auction houses, collectors, dealers and many more.
The sold-out event had been delayed due to an IT issue at the Goldsmiths’ Company and was warmly welcomed by the trade after five years away.
Other sessions during the day included Will Evans, director of the London Assay Office, on scientific testing and new processes; Eleni Bide, Goldsmiths’ Company librarian, on the available resources at the library including an extensive archive; plus a roundtable handling session of fakes and forgeries to help attendees see just how skilled and difficult to spot some of the fakes are.
Also among the highlights of the event was a session presented by London Silver Vaults dealer Peter Cameron, GHAC member and freeman of the Goldsmiths’ Company.
It focused on the worrying rise of fake items purporting to be by preeminent 18th century Huguenot silversmith Paul de Lamerie (1688-1751) that have been offered on the market.
For more on this Paul de Lamerie session see Antiques Trade Gazette next week.