Roman glass question

I was thinking about buying some Ancient Roman glass jewelry for my girlfriend. My question is has forgers tried to fake Roman glass? Can it be faked? and How can you tell if its real or not?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Sorry, no idea.

 

Some pages that may be of interest, though not specifically dealing with glass jewelry...most of these examples are much more elaborate than the typical (genuine) glass we see for sale from trustworthy sellers:
http://www.collector-antiquities.com/real-or-fake/fake-ancient-glass.html
http://www.collector-antiquities.co...cient-glass/fake-ancient-glass-varieties.html
http://www.collector-antiquities.co...ties/fake-ancient-glass-varieties-page-2.html
http://www.collector-antiquities.co...ge-2/fake-ancient-glass-varieties-page-3.html
http://www.collector-antiquities.co...ge-3/fake-ancient-glass-varieties-page-4.html
http://www.collector-antiquities.co...-page-4/fake-ancient-glass-made-in-syria.html
http://www.collector-antiquities.co...syria/fake-ancient-glass-made-in-syria-2.html
http://www.collector-antiquities.com/real-or-fake/fake-ancient-glass/fake-core-formed-glass.html
http://www.collector-antiquities.co...re-formed-glass/fake-core-formed-glass-2.html
http://www.collector-antiquities.co...-formed-glass-2/fake-core-formed-glass-3.html
http://www.collector-antiquities.co...ed-glass-3/fake-core-formed-glass-page-4.html
http://www.collector-antiquities.co...-4/forgeries-of-core-formed-glass-page-5.html

 

Wow. What about glass shards that are converted to earrings? Are there a lot of fakes like that going around?
How much is a decent genuine one cost?( $US)

 

Go to Vcoins.com and search for "glass" and you'll see all kinds of Roman/ancient glass, from jewelry to vessels in all price ranges.

 

can we see pics of it ?

 

Ancient glassware are usually more expensive than stone or even bronze items.

 

I bought my wife a pair of Ronan Art Earrings and I have a nice piece of broken glass. All ancient. I also have a perfect small bottle. It's more plentiful than you are led to believe. Anything can be faked including Ancient Roman Glass.

 

Wait, are you saying the earrings you bought for your wife were fake? How did you know they were real? I am confused.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ancient-Ro...rentrq:ffcd6bb61640a6887e10ee30fffcb25d|iid:1

 

No, I said the earrings, the broken piece of glass and the bottle are all ancient. I also stated that anything can be faked.
Roman Glass has a few colors, mainly blue, green and yellow.

 

Making jewelry out of broken and ancient glass is an old tradition and I have seen some really nice examples. The examples you show above dont look right and I have to wonder if they are even glass at all. Most ancient glass is very thin (not all of course, but the majority) and no fragment would survive having a hole drilled through it, though I am certain its been done. In cases like this when I question authenticity the first thing I do is look at all the other offerings from the seller. In this case when I did so all the other 'antiquities' were clearly fakes. As such I would not buy them. Genuine stuff is out there. Here is one seller who often has glass jewelry:

https://www.ebay.com/usr/failla_numismatics_inc

Full disclosure: I do know the guy personally, so that may be a conflict of interest, but I can vouch for it all being genuine. I also know his father, who was a diplomatic attache to Israel for many years, which is how Jason got the collecting bug. Let me tell you, his dad has some of the most interesting tales from his years, but that is another story!

 

I have never figured out why ancient glass jewelry attracted so many. Most of the females I know would much rather have gemstones. If its antiquity , zircons are quite inexpensive and are most of the oldest crystals on/in the earth. I have some samples of ancient ( so said) volcanic glass that is very similar to the ancient glass, so how does one tell it from purposely/ accidentally made glass by mankind? With volcanic glass, the included bubbles of gas might help, but ancient glass ? Jim

 

not sure. if it's only $25 you would not be out a huge amount of money.

 

When I buy Roman Glass I prefer matters to be transparent !!!

 

I once had a small Roman glass bottle, maybe 2 1/2" high. It was intact and sure looked old and fragile. I figured it was genuine, but I was no expert. After years being displayed on an out-of-the-way surface, I accidentally brushed it with a sleeve and it toppled and smithereened into a million pieces, each (as I recall) about the size of a grain of salt (that might be an exaggeration). Now I am quite convinced it was genuine.

 

I would suggest that a one and only Roman glass set of ear rings could be found with prettier glass and set into a mount that would protect the shard from becoming what Valentinian described as smithereens. I have never seen a glass piece just drilled and mounted on a wire like those so I would keep looking. More are at least wire wrapped. A Google search on 'roman glass earrings' shows many of what I recall seeing over the years but I have no opinion on which are real and which are not.

I do not know your girlfriend but I hope you know what metals she will/can use for earrings. Allergies can make a gift useless. I gave my daughter a pair of holed Edward I pennies on silver findings years ago. They did not work.

 

The Roman earrings with French hooks are like nothing I've ever seen. Keep looking. Please make sure your girlfriend is not allergic to the metal. If she's allergic to gold, find a metal she's not allergic to.

 

was there any holes drilled in it?

 

No, it was completely intact. I was pointing out that old glass can be very fragile.