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The Ultimate Karabela Guide - Part 5
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Fakes and replicas
Searching the internet auctions, the serious ones and the various "eBay´s", for Karabelas, the interested person comes across different offers. This topic about fakes in antiques as a whole deserves an own "Guide" which I cannot present you here because of the following problematic. The following is written under the umbrella "Karabela", my dominion, but is also usable for all kinds of antique weaponry. Since I am very specialized on my topic, please correct me if something is different for other types of swords, especially before 1600 and after 1800. I welcome and appreciate every note, correction and additional information. It would be very helpful to acquire metallurgic data of antique blades from that time period and comparison to modern replicas made "the old way" which I have not found yet and doubt it has been made yet.
What is a fake: A fake is something that is presented to you as something complete and original in all parts, a whole item f.e. which is typically known to be made in a specific way in a specific place in a specific time period, but in fact it is not what the title or description tells you.
Even if all parts of that particular item are antique, the whole thing may be constructed using different parts from distant regions and a time shift in decades which changed the phenotype of those parts. So a fake may look or is in fact old, but the parts of which it is made are inconsistend to each other. Such an item is not a representation of the craftsmanship which existed, again, in a specific time, region etc., etc..
An item can be antique and a fake at the same time.
This brings us to the question if an item is a fake, when the curator, seller or whoever tells you it is X but it is in fact Y.
Not completely!
Why is that, and here we look at swords to illustrate that:
As seen in Part 3 of this guide, parts of sword parts were commonly replaced due to destruction and so on. Even just for decorative reasons.
So is a sword made of a 17th century blade mounted on a 19th century hilt a fake? The answer is: Only when somebody who is in charge (for whatever reason) for this item tells you it is an original from the 17th century.
Fake and original are therefore terms which are strongly connected to interindividual communication and help us in categorization of, in our case, antiques. Beforementioned combination of parts on a sword is still an original in its historical context. We know, old blades were re-used. So it is a fake 17th century sword and a original antique hybrid which has to be described appropiatly.
The is of course another class of fakes. The obvious one: A replica has been made and somebody is presenting this item as an original.
What is a replica: A replica is an item made to look like an original item from a specific time and region. Most important here is the time component. In my opinion, an item can be copied in the same time but in different regions and it will still be an "time-original item". It wont be a "time-and-regional original". But time is crucial here. We can assume that historical context in a certain place at a given time will be similar to a different region in the world at the same time. But historical context at a given region in the year A will be a very different one at the same plaxe in the year A+100 years.
Ans this is what a replica in my understanding is: Something that has been copied later than its historical context.
Example: There are (well made) Karabelas made in the 19th century by I. Hoffelmayer in Cracow. Are they original Karabelas? Depends on what you are asking for! They are surely original 19th century Karabelas, but not original 17th century ones. I know this is very obvious, but sometimes obvious things have to be said.
In the rest of this part I will talk about fakes in the sense of "somebody tells you its X with high value but its actually Y with lower value".
Enough of "philosophical" talk, lets focus on the question how to recognize a fake Karabela which is said to be from the early 17th - mid 18th century (Because this is the time period Karabelas were used in their historical context. Later versions could have been used for battle, but they were made for nostalgic reasons mainly).
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The overview
When looking at a Karabela, first listen to your "heart". Does it match your basic understanding of how an antique sword should look like? If not, determine what disturbs this understanding and examine it further. Try to match your experience and with sources available to you (Buy Books about your topic!!!).
Knowing a certain sword-style from as much apsects as possible like historical context, regions it was made, techniques and materials craftsmen used and so on is absolutely crucial in the matter of spotting fakes. It is not enough to have seen some swords of a certain type or have red a little bit about it (Except this guide of course, Just a joke. But seriously, you wont find a better Karabela overview than this, I have looked for that! Why do you think I am writing this? ).
Before spending thousands on a weapon you have to be absolutely sure that you know that specific type of weapon you want to aquire. Unless you have too much money, then go ahead! (I bought a 19th century saber lastely myself. I have very little knowledge in that matter and couldnt be sure if it is fake! But I decided that the price is worth the risk and I would like to encourage you to decide for yourself how the chance-risk-ratio is. Researching a very specific type of weapon brings also the benefit to acquire a general eye for antiques, but thats not a security guarantee!).
So, lets say you see a Karabela for sale somewhere and are interested in buying it.
Go through these steps:
-How is the overall condition of the weapon?
-Are there signs of age, where they are and what type are they?
-Determine if these aging signs match your experience wich similar items. Example: Does 300 year old oak wood look like on that item for sale?
-Think about if aging signs on different materials match each other:
"The blade is pretty rusty, but the wood on the hilt looks un-touched by conditions." -> Has the hilt been replaced? Is this a hybrid?
-Look for signs of usage: Blade chipping, scabbard affection due to abrasion, grip abrasion due to handling.
You get the point. Think logically about how materials behave while beeing used and existing in a specific form for centuries. Keep in mind, battle swords have been heavily used. There are battle swords stored since 1650 and never used but you will most likely not see them on auctions. On the other hand, parade/"kontuszowe" Karabelas were probably not used that much in actual battle and therefore show less usage marks, but still aging.
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