Caveat Emptor

By John Sexton · Originally published January 2019 · p. 33

Caveat Emptor I appreciate all the positive responses from last month’s column and have been asked for more examples of fake items in market. There are expert dealers/collectors who know the difference between fraudulent objects and the real thing who will not speak up when items are brought to them or they see them in collections or displays. Many experts do not want to “rock the boat” as they constantly work with the same dealers and collectors; they just stay away from the “suspect” material. If a collector believes he has something real, no need to tell him different; if he is told it’s not real, he may quit collecting, and if it fooled him, it will fool someone else and if not, his estate can figure it out. That is the attitude I constantly hear. The Franklin Battlefield Trust appreciates my frankness and saving them $90,000 this weekend over a potential purchase. The FBT had pledged to spend $90,000 in late October to purchase Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood’s battle hat, with its attached silver star emblazoned “TEXAS,” with other material. The organization’s director and CEO recently called me for a consultation about authenticity since my December article on authentication was recently published. What a coup it would’ve been to have John Bell Hood’s battle hat back in Franklin; the battle that ended the war in the west and, not just for Hood but essentially for the entire Army of Tennessee. The hat offered was a total fake with fraudulent provenance and it is quite doubtful that anything about the offer is even remotely associated with Hood. The Trust was offered other fraudulent objects from same collection that included a presentation sword to John Bell Hood from Napoleon III. To the untrained eye the presentation looks quite good but from a historical standpoint, Napoleon III was never king of France as it is presented. Such an historical error makes this presentation sword easier to identify as a fraud. It is amazing that one man turned up such large groupings belonging to so many famous people; it’s only amazing if you believe he did. All the groupings that I am aware of had at least one very fanciful presentation sword. The presentations are hand engraved, and quite excellent. Even experts can study the actual engraving and have a mix of opinions as the styles match those of the 19th century. The main problem with these items is their lacking provenance. I have read associated provenances and histories that were fabricated to go with these different collections. None could be substantiated in any way or were proved to be just made up such as with the Hood group. Several of these groupings have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and one group for over $1 million. Caveat Emptor. It amazes me that so many purported rare inscribed swords, firearms, uniforms, and other material ascribed to famous or historical people show up in a variety of institutions for short-term display with no prior provenance or collection history. Having items on temporary loan at unsuspecting institutions, where items are not vetted helps establish a short line of provenance. “This was displayed in a museum, it has to be real,” or “this item is pictured in a book, it has to be real.” Well this is not the case, there have been many fraudulent items sold where the buyers were “set up” by such scenarios. Unsuspecting authors or museum staff who might know little of an artifact’s originality allow photographs of purported historic objects to be associated with their texts; they do look good in the book, but when the objects are not real, they now have a semblance of originality. For more information: https://civilwartalk.com/

John is an certified appraiser with International Society of Appraisers specializing in Civil War memorabilia. He authenticates and evaluates other rare and valuable historic items as well. His website is www.civilwardealer.com. He is coauthor of the book Confederate Bowie Knives (2012) by Jack Melton, Josh Phillips and John Sexton, that was published by Mowbray Publishing, Inc. Send “Ask The Appraiser” questions and photographs to [email protected].