Need help with Chinese bronze sword

[Peter Dekker]

I agree with my countryman here.

Most stand out like a sore thumb by being completely off stylistically, but there is also a group of much better fakes. Of those, it is very hard to see, especially from pictures, and sometimes even in-hand.

This one looks fake, in terms of workmanship.

What you would want to do is study a good number of pieces with sound provenance. The Freer Gallery for example has some pieces with relatively early provenance, dating from before large scale copying began. (Or so we hope! People have always made fakes throughout the ages.)

What becomes apparent is that on the old ones, the geometry tends to be rather precise. These items were expensive, high-tech of the day.

Here's an example, purchased in 1924 and most likely dug up in Anhui: https://asia.si.edu/object/F1979.3/

Check the center ridgeline and how crisp and straight it is. Then look at this photo again. You tend to see this geometrical crispness on most well-provenanced Chinese bronzes, whatever the type of weapon or exact period.

Here is another: https://asia.si.edu/object/F1979.2/

So basically, if the geometry doesn't look impressive in the initiaul crispness and precision of execution, fat chance the piece is not very old.

And be warned, because this crispness is not that hard for a good faker to get right. So let it serve as a baseline, it should at least have that, to be real, but it is by no means a guarantee either.

I hope this helps.


-Peter

[Tim Simmons]

I'm faking it every day.