I need some serious advice. I had purchased one sword "a Inlaid knights sword 1300 a.d. on ebay" and I am in the process of purchasing a viking era sword from the same source( in transit) (Eftis) . The famous last words" I am new to collecting". lol :(

I bought the books , did some research and I am finding that I may be getting scammed by a englishman by the name of Eftis, who I was lead to beleive owns a museum in England.

Buyer beware I guess. Any adivce on purchasing real antique swords. What can I do now to validate my current purchases. I did receive a cert. of authenticy, however, its only as good as the paper its on.

If I find I truely got scammed on these items, I will take that as as sign to find another hobby. I have such as great love and respect for ancient swords. I am not off to a good start.

Again Any Advice Please :)

Rick

post the pics and the certificate so we can see etc. and any research material the seller or you have aquired about such swords.


dont give up.

Thanks , Here are the links for the two swords;


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem...RK:MEWA:IT



http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem...RK:MEWA:IT



tks again
Rick

Without seeing antique swords first hand it can be difficult to get a good idea of their authenticity.
Latlely it sems there has been a flooding of "authentic" and "important" swords on the market.
I am not at all sure all of those are what they are made out to be.
Without seeing the swords first hand it can be difficult to know for certain, however.

Before one start buying antiques over the internet, I think it would be a good idea to spend time and money to visit museums to carefully study orginals. After having spent time with these, it will be somewhat easier to pick the odd stuff out even on photos.

I cannot say anything definite about the swords you posted before having seen them in person.
I am also not sure about the rules (laws) regarding comments on auktions on the internet?

It is almost impossible to judge the authenticity of a piece just by a photo. On these pictures they look quite real, but of course pictures lie sometimes.
What gives you the impression of being scammed?
It is not easy to judge the authenticity of a sword even when seeing it first hand, since there is no way yet to date steel. I know of some colleagues of mine who are working on carbon-based method of dating steel, but they are still experimenting.
So my advice would be to visit the nearest archaeological institut and aks them for advice. At least they should be able to refer you to their closest colleage who has specialised himself on that subject.

Mr. Connell, please let us know where you are located so that can possibly direct you to a facility that hopefully provide assistance.

the seller states:

Quote:

All items offered for purchase are guaranteed to be ancient / antique as described. Buyers receive a written guarantee from our Private Museum at no extra cost and can count on a 100% money back guarantee of authenticity. Ancient Artefacts (our advice to all eBay users): Whether you buy your antiquities from us or other ebay sellers we strongly recommend that you show all your purchases to your nearest reputable state museum for authentication and peace of mind. Unfortunately the ancient art market is cursed with a high proportion of fakes. Fakes often look better than real antiquities to the inexperienced eye - they are often intact, invariably unrestored and their colours are more vivid. Our buyers can count on a 100% money back guarantee if a state museum judges their purchase to be non-ancient. Seek the same re-assurance from all those who sell to you.

so take him up on the offer and get it checked out.

seller feedback:
Feedback Score: 3711
Positive Feedback: 99.5%
Members who left a positive: 3729
Members who left a negative: 19
All positive feedback received: 7708

thats a lot of good for the small bad. hmmmmm

Thanks for all your advice. :) I will take the items in for closer inspection by a professional.

tks Rick

Just a followup- if you do try cutting with these swords, make sure you are extremely careful. Only attempt a cut if you're sure that the blade and hilt have enough structural integrity to handle it. Don't cut any objects; rather, simply try cutting through the air. I wouldn't want you to potentially irreparably damage an antique sword in your quest to find out whether it is authentic or not.

Eftis again.

A few thoughts

1) Research can be done on Eftis on the internet.

2) Eftis consistently and almost constantly has a seemingly endless supply of very well preserved swords available at (relatively) modest prices. These swords range from the migration era to the 15th century but all seem to be in about the same state of preservation. Interestingly none of these swords appear to have ever been documented previously to my knowledge.

3) Eftis has a great ebay reputation... yet most of the auctions I've seen appear to not show the names of the winning bidder...

4)There are many reputable sellers available online and elsewhere.

5) If a buyer does not have the expertise to tell an ancient sword from a reproduction with a photograph perhaps they should not be spending thousands of dollars based upon a photograph and a claim of authenticity.

6)Most people that are experts would never try to make a determination based exclusively on a photograph.

I have attempted to put these few small thoughts together keeping myArmoury's reputation and liabiltiy issues in mind. If I have overstepped any bounds I have every confidence the moderators will act accordingly. Overstepping bounds was not my intent.

Since both of these items are described as being from old European collections then there should be some kind of papertrail of documentation, however short, that can be independently traced and verified.
And did you confirm and check the sellers name and address before parting with your money?
If the seller is unwilling to provide this information and have it checked then I would take that as a definite warning sign. The inlay on both swords is alike to a remarkable degree in colour, brightness and definition which would tend to lead me to an intuitive conclusion. The patina is also remarkably consistent.
Rod.

Certainly I am not an authority on judging true artifacts from forgeries; however, I will say that to my amateur eyes, the pieces I have seen from this seller in the past seem to consistently present new and or unusual engravings and inlays, which often don't look quite like the engravings/inlays which I have seen in my modest studies (mostly just my Oakeshott books). Of course there are engravings and inlays outside the run of the mill Xs and crosses that I have never, or perhaps that no living person has ever seen before just waiting to be discovered. The inlay on the 13th century sword really look out of place to me, almost like a more recent addition to the sword. Would it even be possible to add inlays to an old and corroded sword? I am far from saying that these two swords aren't real, however in my own mind I look at them somewhat wearily. If somebody that I consider an expert like Peter Johnsson doesn't look at them and automatically declare them "real" or "fake" then I sure as heck am not about to :confused:

One more note, I would agree with Russ that all (disclaimer: all which I have seen, not necessarily all that this seller has listed in the past) of this sellers swords seem to be in a very similar state of preservation.

That said, assuming this seller honors his word, which I have no reason to believe that he will not, you will have ample time to get the swords checked out and verified.

Hope things work out for you,

Kenton

I dont know anything about the authenticity of these weapons but if you have them inspected by a pro and they are not authentic historic pieces return them. If the seller won't give your money back then contact ebay directly. Ebay guarantees all sales and in my experience is great at enforcing their rules (which includes making sure the sellers are honest and keep to promises they make on the auction page).


-James

Rule 1. Do your research

No one can ever stress that enough. There is currently some guy selling a ton of stuff on e-bay under the guise that the items are from a freinds stash of old film props. The truth seems to be that this guy finds stuff that sort of looks like it could be be from the film and then sells it as such. All of it second hand store garbage, and most not even close to the original prop.... yet it sells... :\

You can never be 100% certain, but you can take out 80% of your doubt if you research before jumping in with both feet.

Congratulations on your swords though, both I thought were great looking and would have been happy to have!
I hope the end of the story is a happy one. :)