Photo Gallery Archeological Forgeries on Display
An exhibit in the Swiss city of Neuchâtel is taking visitors back through centuries of forgeries and fakes that have long stumped archeologists and the art world. Italians associated with the Mafia were arrested for trying to pass this horse off as an 800-year-old bronze statue, but not before they cashed a check for $40 million.
The exhibit, at the Laténium archeology museum in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, features this 18th century "dragon," originally made from the shriveled remains of a ray.
This gold helmet, crafted by the well-known forger Israel Rouchomowsky at the end of the 19th century, is considered his best work. It is embellished with scenes from Homer's Iliad, and bears an inscription claiming it was a gift from the Greek Black Sea colony of Olbia to the Scythian king Saitaphernes.
A bronze scepter, allegedly used in a religious practice, that turned out to be a modern fake.
A fake Egyptian bronze cat head, done in the style of the late period of Ancient Egypt.
A Celtic imitation of a Greek gold coin, found at la Tène, an Iron Age archeological site on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel.
