Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

All that glisters: flood of fake ancient jewellery dupes buyers

All that glisters: flood of fake ancient jewellery dupes buyers

The 3D printer is enabling ever more sophisticated forgeries to be sold as Greek or Roman collectibles

There is a “pandemic” of fake gold jewellery, primarily ancient and medieval, according to a leading British historian, who warns that forgeries extend to more recent pieces that any one might pick up in a market.

Dr Jack Ogden, a specialist consultant for museums, auction houses, dealers and collectors, estimates that half of the supposed ancient gold jewellery he is shown is fake. Such pieces are cheap to produce, and people are being duped into buying something that is worth a fraction of what they paid. Although gold, these fakes may not be older than a few months.

“If it stands still long enough, they’ll fake it,” Ogden told the Observer. “It’s a bit of everything. There’s been some spectacular, supposedly Greek and Roman, gold. A lot of Greek gold, because that’s very collectible. They find pieces or styles they’re able to copy and which are desirable.”

One of the fakes he studied was a Romano-Celtic gold mask. It had been made from a simple gold disc of pre-Columbian origin – featuring designs applied with the point and cap of a ballpoint pen.

Ogden, the president of the Society of Jewellery Historians, notes that new technology has always been adopted by fakers. While “electroforming” copied gold pieces from the mid-19th century, computer-based technology has been used more recently.

Strange linear ridges seen in a recent fake of a Viking gold object shows that it was made using a 3D printer, he said, noting that it is obvious on this piece but that, “as the resolution of such printers improve, it will become trickier to spot”.

His warnings will feature in the forthcoming issue of Antiqvvs, a new magazine devoted to past civilisations, to be published this week.

Ogden was initially wary of releasing details from which the forgers can learn from their mistakes. He recalled his involvement, as co-curator, with the British Museum’s 1990s exhibition, Greek Gold: Jewellery of the Classical World, which was also shown at the Metropolitan in New York and the Hermitage in St Petersburg. “Within months, almost direct copies were appearing out of Russia. They got the technology pretty well because that was all discussed in the accompanying book. They suddenly had a recipe book. A huge mass of fake Greek gold was appearing.”

An openwork ring of vaguely Roman style, but made the wrong way for the period.


In Antiqvvs, he notes that the plausibility of filigree work on fake Greek and other jewellery has increased significantly, with fake copper corrosion being added sometimes to suggest a long burial.

He warns that pastiches combining genuine details within larger designs are “constantly turning up”. In one case, a single genuine Hellenistic gold earring formed the centrepiece of a fake gold diadem. In another, a single earring later emerged as a pair.

There has also been an exponential growth in the forging of documents for both genuine and fake objects, many of which are sophisticated.

The worry is that if fake objects enter museum collections they will be accepted as part of the archaeological record. “Museums are cutting back,” Ogden said. “In the old days, old Dr So-and-So headed a department with lots of assistants, who’d be learning. By the time he retired, there would be a body of knowledge that would continue. Nowadays, there aren’t resources for such continuity of expertise.”

Dr Mark Merrony, editor of Antiqvvs, said: “Reputable ancient art dealers and auction houses expend considerable financial resource to address this problem. The acute intelligence of many forgers, coupled with advances in applied science, compound this issue – rendering it, in effect, an artistic cat-and-mouse game of technological warfare.”

Ogden added: “I actually admire forgers enormously. They’re very clever guys.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
×