Source: wechat official account: Jiubian has been authorized to reprint
It’s reasonable that I can’t write this topic, but it’s a coincidence that my friend gave me a big newspaper clipping clip. He said he spent ten yuan on the stall to get it.
Maybe some friends don’t know what newspaper clipping is. In the past, when people saw good content in newspapers and magazines, they cut it down and put it in a big folder. Later, electronic products became popular, and this thing slowly disappeared. Among the materials I found this time, the original owner is an antique news enthusiast. He has collected hundreds of pages of such news materials, and there are a large number of interviews with the parties. I will share some with you.
01
The history of antique counterfeiting is almost as long as that of the cultural relics themselves. Moreover, people who make fake things spend more energy and brain power than those who make real things. After all, people who make real things don’t have to consider whether their works are real or not.
To put it simply, fake antiques are divided into two aspects: one is to make new goods close to antiques, and the other is to sell the new goods as old goods at a price.
Sometimes two things are done by a group of people, but many times, they are not done and sold together. An integrated counterfeiting gang like the one in Jackie Chan’s movie the Chinese Zodiac basically doesn’t exist in reality. The reason is very simple. The industrial chain is too long and the risk is uncontrollable. In reality, it is often separated, and production and sales are not the same group. This is very realistic in matchless, where it is also said that people who make counterfeit money never use counterfeit money.
First of all, it’s not illegal to make new goods publicly. For example, it’s completely legal and compliant for me to produce a handicraft that looks like the tri colored pottery of the Tang Dynasty, even if it is sold in scenic spots. What really broke the law is that I said that my Tang Tri Color is true. I just dug it out of the ancient tomb and induced everyone to buy it at a high price. This is a violation of the law.
Therefore, the manufacturers of new goods usually hang the signs of handicraft factories. Most of the daily products are also handicrafts, and the prices of handicrafts are also sold. Ordinary people can also buy their products at various prices through various channels.
It is often said on the Internet that some places are fakes gathering places, and even that some places are “fake villages”. Some friends may wonder that they are so blatant? Nobody cares?
But if you go to the local area, you will find that the local people don’t hide at all. There are signs of “XX handicraft factory” everywhere, which is completely a legal business. Sometimes the level of these rustic workshops is extremely high.
The most legendary person here is Gao Shuiwang, who is the God of Henan workshop. Once, because others sold his things for a huge amount of money, he was arrested and locked up for a few days. Later, he found that he had no knowledge of it and had been doing legitimate handicraft business, so he didn’t break the law and let it out again. Later, he also worked as a repairman hired by the museum, and his work has won many awards.
Compared with Gao Shuiwang, who fought alone, Fang Xingqing of yanyunjian village, Yichuan County, Henan Province taught the villagers bronze technology, which helped the mountain village get rid of poverty and become rich.
Fang Xingqing’s situation is similar to that of Gao Shuiwang. His handicrafts were taken out of the airport in the 1990s, although passengers said they bought souvenirs by themselves. But after identification, it is believed that it may be the genuine bronze wares of Shang and Zhou dynasties. So I followed a line and found Fang Xingqing in Yanyun stream. After seeing the finished and semi-finished products in the yard, the matter was over.
Fang Xingqing popularized the technology, so that now yanyunjian is known as “the first village of bronze ware counterfeiting”. In fact, it mainly relies on tourist souvenirs, customized bronze handicrafts, and even high-end imitations of exhibits for museums (many times, the exhibition will cause damage to cultural relics, but in order to show the audience the achievements of ancient civilization, it will make high imitations that are enough to be unreal to replace the exhibition).
Speaking of this, you may wonder why Henan is so awesome when talking about pearls last time, it was said that the Tianzhu counterfeiting industry in Henan is invincible in the world. This time, it was said that Henan’s bronze and Tang Sancai are also outstanding?
In fact, Henan has always been a major antique production province, and now it is also a production base of artificial diamonds. It has long been said that if the policy allows, even the atomic bomb can be rolled out by the villagers in Henan.
This is complex and simple to say. Henan and Shaanxi are the great gods of cultural relics. Most of the ancient dynasties of China wandered in Guanzhong and the Central Plains, that is, Shaanxi and Henan. Rich and powerful families are also in these two places. It’s normal to get something to bury with the death of noble people. It’s often ancient tombs stacked with ancient tombs, which naturally becomes an antique trading market. Local people are affected by these things, and gradually become very familiar with them. Later, they gradually rely on mountains and eat mountains, play with antiques every day, and copy them by the way. It’s also normal, just like a repairman with a wrench.
02
Fake antiques are also divided into three grades to deal with different customers.
The first is the kind that is usually on the stall and in some “crosstalk treasure”.
A buyer pointed to a handicraft and said how much it was. The seller said 80000. The buyer directly made a counter-offer of 40. The other party was stunned and almost fainted. Then he calmed down, showing a strange smile at the corners of his mouth and shouting, “deal!”. A group of netizens below said that the store owners made 30 in tears.
The second kind is more normal. Generally, they are imitated according to the existing utensils, and the materials are also consistent with the proportion of real antiques as far as possible. The production process is also done according to the previous one as far as possible. Each step is carefully explored and tested, and the people who do the key steps are teachers with many years of experience.
For example, for bronzes, wax molds should be made according to the proportion of the original objects, which is an expensive and very technical work. At the same time, all kinds of metals are mixed according to the proportion of the genuine era, and then cast. The lines and lines produced should be unified with the original as much as possible. People who don’t have to learn for years can’t do it.
If it’s calligraphy and painting, whether it’s paper or silk, it can’t be bought from ordinary people, and it can only be used when it’s specially made into a form close to the real one.
The picture itself is printed with collotype (a very complex precision glass printing technology). The most advanced is hand-painted by real people. Although the painters have the original reference, people of different levels draw very different pictures. The ink and color used should not use chemical materials. It must be made by ancient methods. It is not only expensive, but also takes a lot of time to make a thing.
For porcelain, pottery and purple sand, we need to use the soil used in the original year. Now these soils are very difficult to deal with. For example, Jingdezhen Laokeng kaolin, even if bought, will sell thousands of bags. These soil can’t be used yet. In order to remove impurities, it needs to be washed repeatedly and precipitated manually, because the tire mud made by modern machines can be seen at a glance by experts.
The natural glazes and colors used are more expensive. Good ones sell for thousands of kilograms. Some people specialize in making antique glazes. As for hand drawing and painting and glazing, it’s all about skill. Those with superb skills can do the same as the authentic ones. When firing, the modern electric stove and coal stove are not good. We must build an old-fashioned kiln to burn firewood, using the same large solid wood as before. It may cost tens of thousands of firewood to burn in a big kiln.
This kind of kiln temperature control is also very troublesome. The experience of fire watchers is very important. If it is not for the teachers who have been here for many years, just looking at the thermometer can’t control it at all. If a kiln is burnt out, the material cost will be at least tens of thousands of yuan.
When these things are made, their appearance is basically the same as that of real antiques when they first came out. The difference is the mark left by time. So the most important “obsolescence” is about to appear.
03
The technology of obsolescence is developing very fast. The methods we talked about today may be out of date.
There are two main reasons: first, modern chemicals are widely used; First, the continuous emergence of scientific and technological detection means.
For example, the key to the aging of copper ware is copper rust, which used to be buried in the soil after soaking in liquid to make it rust quickly. Nowadays, copper rust is produced by chemical corrosion, which is not only fast but also looks real; Or use real copper rust, scrape it off and then stick it with special glue. There is no problem with it, unless a piece scraped off is detected to contain glue. Therefore, a whole piece of copper rust was made and welded on the surface of the utensil. After polishing, even if it was sampled and tested, it could not be found.
If it’s calligraphy and painting, the key is color. Before, it was dyed with tea. Guo Degang said that it should be dyed with urine. At first, he thought it was nonsense, but later he found that it really happened.
Now all kinds of modern chemicals, direct fumigation, to hundreds of years the effect of the corresponding fumigation for how long. Some people are afraid that chemical residues will be detected, so they fumigate with various natural ingredients. It is said that the formula is similar to Guangdong herbal tea. What is more high-tech is to use high-intensity rays to irradiate for a long time, simulating the damage of the real environment to calligraphy and painting for hundreds of years.
If it’s porcelain, the key is the so-called “get rid of the thief’s light and anger”, which means that the new porcelain will carry the bright light of new things inside and outside, and experienced people can see the problem at a glance. It’s a little similar to your refrigerator. It looks bright when it’s moved here, and it’s disheartened after a few years. Antiques are the same. Newly made ones look new and need special treatment, which makes people look like they have experienced hundreds of years of vicissitudes.
In the past, methods such as grinding or earth burying were inefficient and easy to damage the luster of porcelain. Now there are various chemicals to remove fire and gas. As long as you soak them a little, you can get the effect for hundreds of years.
As for high-tech detection means, it can be said that almost all possible new technical means have been used for identification.
But so far, no one has found a way to do it once and for all, because people in this industry also pay attention to new technologies and find ways to deal with them anytime, anywhere.
Someone once sold some mud stained Han briefs to the Nanjing Museum. Sent to the Research Institute for dating, the test results show that the wooden slips have a history of more than 2000 years, and they look very real. Finally, it was confirmed by many parties that these things were made of coffin plates of the Western Han Dynasty unearthed by the counterfeiters. If it weren’t for the words written, they couldn’t be the same as the ancients. They really fooled them.
You may wonder, should the man who sent fake goods to the museum be arrested? Generally not. After all, you can’t confirm that it was his forgery. He said he inherited it from his grandfather. You can’t arrest someone just because someone inherited a fake.
Next is the third kind, which is the high-end goods in antique counterfeiting. It’s just for experts to see. Genuine antique counterfeiting. The goal is to let the brick experts punch holes (point to being deceived) and make the real experts uncertain. It’s the craft that sells.
These things are different from the use of materials to the process, such as copper, which is generally re proportioned according to the proportion of real things. For high-end goods, we need to buy scrap copper ware of the same era and smelt scrap copper money. If it is a bronze ware of Shang and Zhou dynasties, we can’t use wax, but use the same clay model at that time, which is much more troublesome than wax models, and the process is more complex.
However, this will still be seen by experts. It is better to use real goods and increase value through techniques rather than reproduction.
For example, incomplete utensils are made into complete pieces by intercepting and repairing from other utensils; Or several pieces of broken utensils are intercepted and spliced into a new product; Engrave patterns on plain ware without patterns; Add inscriptions on the authentic products; Even the genuine products in ordinary shape are changed into rare and expensive types by cutting and other methods.
Sometimes there are few moving places, and most of the artifacts are authentic, so it is very difficult to determine whether they are true or false.
Some calligraphy and painting categories are forged out of thin air, so they use the old paper of the same era to paint; You can also use works of the same era that have no inscriptions or postscripts or whose authors are not well-known, and turn them into works of great masters through addition and modification; In order to add value to the things of famous people, add inscriptions and postscripts or seals of famous people on them; There are also things of real celebrities, which have become boutique and value-added in ordinary works, such as daily flowers, meticulous meticulous brushwork, insects and birds, and so on.
This kind of person who can work on authentic products, whether painting, inscription, postscript or chapter carving, must be a master for many years.
In the “twelve zodiac” and “matchless”, there is a forgery technique: because there are many layers of rice paper, you can uncover the painting layer by layer, one into two, three or even more, each of which is still true.
In fact, this practice sounds very mysterious, but it can’t be operated in reality.
First of all, the general rice paper is not so thick. If you want to split one into two, you will probably damage the original painting. Typical stealing chicken can’t erode rice. Besides, only ancient paintings are valuable. When those paintings are put on for a long time, the paper will become very fragile and can’t be exposed at all.
Moreover, only the ink freehand brushwork with strong halo can be so deep. If it’s fine brushwork or the like, you can’t see the lower layer, but even if you halo the lower layer, the color of the place where the ink is not thick is much lighter. And that kind of ink uncovers the lower layer, and the ink color on the top will change.
Although the rice paper is layer by layer, when you uncover it, you will find that the surface below is rough, which is different from the real surface. Finally, although the ink is faint, the title is generally made of dry ink and stamp paste, which are much less faint. After being uncovered, it must be supplemented. Once experts find the supplemented pen from these two places, they basically believe that it is a forgery.
As for porcelain, there are more ways. Some collect a large number of broken porcelain pieces, and then classify them according to the style, and put them together into a whole piece; Some cut the bottom of dishes or broken pieces separately, and then re draw the blank to make high-priced goods such as bottles and cans; Some change the original plain white things into colors that are very difficult to burn in ancient times, or re burn colorful things; There is also the re burning of the selected products of folk kilns and the style of official kilns, etc.
Many of these techniques are used to identify the most common parts of the bottom, mouth and tire of immovable porcelain, not to mention the brick family’s two knives can’t see it. Even if some experts identify it, they often rely on accumulated experience. The so-called “first glance” feeling is wrong, and the problem is found only by starting with this feeling.
After it is made, whether it is repaired or redone, some places still need to be made old. The aging process of high-end goods is also very different from ordinary things. To put it simply, if it’s something buried, you need to get the same soil from the place where the real thing is located. You can’t use electric tools or brushes for old grinding, otherwise the regular grinding marks will be obvious under high-power mirrors. You should manually polish with cow leather stained with oil, and you can’t rush at all. Things should be put away when they are ready. It’s best to put them into one with the surroundings.
There are some ways to add value to jades besides being old. Some jades in ancient tombs will produce purplish silk or strip lines, which are called “blood Qin” in the industry. The article about heavenly beads actually mentioned that jades look complete, but in fact they look like sponges, filled with all kinds of crystal tubes, and are easy to be penetrated by other fuels.
This thing can make the value of jade soar, so making blood Qin has been the research direction of many people since ancient times. After heating the jade, put it into the stomach of the pigs and dogs that are not killed by bloodletting, bury it in the soil and take it out for a year or two; Soak the jade in the blood bag, and then freeze and thaw it repeatedly.
There is also a widely spread method of stuffing jade into live lamb legs and taking it out three years later. But this effect is good, and the fresh red comes out with green. It’s slow and troublesome. Sheep are long legged things. Maybe they all get lost.
There is also a special value-added. In ancient times, many dignitaries were buried with jade, which is more valuable than ordinary ones. So some merchants bought all kinds of things at the bottom of the coffin of the ancient tomb, which became “corpse mud”. They wrapped the chemically treated fake ancient jade in the mud, waxed it after the gap of the jade was stained with mud, sent it for testing when they sold it, scraped it from the top, and the test really met all the characteristics.
At this time, this thing is the real high imitation. Even if many real experts get it, they dare not say it is fake. The more high-tech equipment is carefully checked, the more it looks, the more it is true.
04
What surprised me most was that I pretended to be a tomb robber. The principle has existed since ancient times. This technique is called “burying mines”. Bury the things in advance and get them out in front of the buyer when he comes. What is there to say about seeing is believing? Pay for it.
In fact, this is also more complicated. Generally, sellers are not stupid. They often stay with their own feng shui masters. Feng shui masters know that a place is indeed a feng shui treasure land at a glance, and it is normal to bury a dignitary.
At this time, the best way is to find an ancient tomb that has long been hollowed out, put something on it and fill it with earth. Let it “grow” for a few days, and wait until the weeds grow into a whole with the nearby area before greeting customers. It’s also the same as stealing tombs. Contract all the nearby areas, pull up the fence, and get some equipment to run inside to cover up the sound of digging. Finally, the things were dug out, and the goods had to be picked up at night, and the things were only delivered in cash. When it’s over, I’ll break up in two. If I want to find these people again, I’ll be gone.
The worst thing is to play real. These people really steal tombs, but they buy a lot of things in advance according to the age of the tombs. In fact, countless tombs have been stolen since ancient times, and most of them have been stolen. There are ten tombs and nine empty ones. So when digging, whether there is any harvest or not, fake things are added in, hoping to sell more money. Sometimes even the receiver sees the problem and doesn’t point it out. He takes the opportunity to bring it at a low price, and then sells it at a high price as the unearthed genuine goods.
At that time, even if someone sees through it, it can be said that I saw it coming out of the soil, and I bought it at a high price. I think I’m not proficient in learning, and I deserve it. Why is it so funny to come to me without reviewing your problems?
In addition to these three kinds, there is a special antique counterfeiting. Some highly skilled professionals cheat.
In ancient times, Mi Fu was probably the most famous in this line. He was a first-class calligrapher and often looked for someone to borrow calligraphy and paintings to observe. It is said that he often imitates and then takes the real as his own, and the fake to the original owner will not be found. He especially liked the calligraphy of the two kings (Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi and his son), and copied a lot at that time. So from the Song Dynasty to now, it is very challenging to distinguish whether it is the authentic work of the second king or the imitation of Mi Fu.
In modern times, Zhang Daqian was the most famous in this regard. He is best at the paintings of Shi Tao and Badashan people, so that it is almost impossible to tell how many Daqian paintings there are in their paintings. There is a saying that seven or eight out of ten are imitations. The only good news is that Zhang Daqian’s paintings are also very high in painting level, and the price is outrageous. If you can’t tell it, you can’t tell it. It’s not embarrassing to buy Zhang Daqian’s paintings.
Every time Zhang Daqian receives an authentic work, he copies it several times, which is called “laying eggs” in the industry. Then it is brought to several places far away from each other by different channels and sold at the same time, which can sell at a high price and is not easy to help.
Antique counterfeiting is very harmful, not only causing property losses, but also making the whole market a mess. It is a very harmful thing to the foundation of the antique industry.
Among them, oracle bone inscriptions counterfeiting is a very serious event.
Oracle bone inscriptions caused a sensation as soon as they appeared. The price of bone fragments with words soared, and buyers from all over the country came to buy oracle bones. But the number of words is limited. A man named LAN Baoguang began to carve on the oracle bones by himself. Engrave words without words, and engrave more words with words (the price was calculated according to the number of words at that time). In order to confuse the eyes of fish with pearls, he also deliberately engraved words in a mess, and then used them by various means, so that many scholars were studying his handwriting at that time.
Of course, he is not the only one who is faking. Many people are doing it. It is estimated that most of the inscribed oracle bones on the market may be fake.
After this matter was exposed later, many people believed that the whole oracle was a complete fraud.
However, with the continuous emergence of new mining evidence, at the same time, the identification of words has also made rapid progress, and most people also confirm that it is not a forgery. This storm will pass.
But later, in order to distinguish the true and false words on the oracle bones, there was a special “oracle bone inscriptions to distinguish the false”.
Moreover, experts are not necessarily credible. There was a big case before. Businessman xiegenrong found a pile of jade pieces (these jade pieces may be ancient jade) and asked the director of a firm center to string these jade pieces into the legendary “Golden Jade clothes”. He also invited Wang Wenxiang, former Secretary General of the China collectors association, Yang Boda, former vice president of the Palace Museum, Yang Fuxu, former director of the gem identification center of Peking University Shi Shuqing, former vice chairman of the State Commission for the identification of cultural relics, and five experts appraised the “cultural relics” at 2.4 billion yuan. Xie Genrong used this paper to explain that he cheated the bank to issue 700million loans, but most of them didn’t recover later.
Through this, I understand that driven by huge interests, no one is reliable.
05
Epilogue
The article is written here. It’s six or seven thousand words. I’ve collected a lot of materials recently, and there are still a lot to talk about. I’ll talk to you later when I have a chance.
Through this article, you must also see that the water in antiques is not generally deep, so don’t try it easily, but if there is any good news, it is that this thing generally doesn’t pit the poor.
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