FAKE ARTIFACTS
PHONEY ARTIFACTS
REPRODUCTION ARTIFACTS
Call them fake, phoney or reproductions, it all amounts to the same thing - artifacts that were, or are being, made in contemporary time and being sold as original ancient artifacts. The artifacts pictured here were all sold by Mary Peltier of Manitowoc, Wisconsin as being old and original Copper Culture artifacts, which they are not. She has sold fake artifacts on ebay under the seller name Letsfindbargans, or direct to unsuspecting collectors. She has recently been selling them on ebay with the description "very old Copper piece's". This does not not make them any less a rip-off than when she called them Copper Culture artifacts, they are still fakes. She tells the story that they were all found by her father-in-law and that she and her husband are selling them from his estate. The artifacts she sells are not Copper Culture artifacts, they are newly made and mis-represented to defraud buyers. Mary is not the only one offering fake artifacts, just the most prolific. Some of Mary's pieces have fooled long-time collectors, while others are obvious fakes. Many of her pieces are over-sized for their type, many have a very poor patina, some just a black patina, and none exhibit the tell-tale worm track pattern seen on many authentic copper artifacts.
Buyer beware!
