"Ancient Adornment" Webpage Spammers: A Supplier to be Trusted?

.
For the past few days almost every other webpage I open has a persistent advert embedded in it for an outfit called "Ancient Adornment" ("the Worlds Source for Ancient Jewelry and Rare Beads. Featuring modern designer Jewelry incorporated with Ancient elements"). It would seem that I have clicked on some antiquities sale site which has inserted a cookie into my computer which gives me this advert every time I open a page, no matter what its subject matter. Since they persist in thrusting their pathetic advertising in my face, I thought I would repay them by taking a look at what they are up to.

The outfit is quite secretive, the name of the proprietor is not visible on its website, it says it has been going on for nine years (though the website was started in October 2009) , and is based in Roseville, MI 48066 USA. They sell jewellery and other such geegaws (and masonic stuff it seems). Much of the material on offer seems to my archaeological eye to be in one way or another dodgy and I would not recommend buying anything from these people. First of all, although they guarantee authenticity (though see below), they do not mention anywhere in their promotional material where these things come from, how they left the source country not how they entered the USA.

One exception to that general rule is some of the Egyptian beads are said to be from a (single?) incomplete necklace they bought "in London" and then split up to sell the beads individually. If this was indeed one necklace it was of extraordinary composition, and as such no ethical dealer would have split it up. But actually I'd like to see some proof of this assertion, as it seems to me that this is a dealer's fiction. So this necklace had elongated biconical "jade" (nephrite) beads on it. Correctly they say that this material does not occur in Egypt but that it was "imported from Kashmir and Turkestan". really? And not Myanmar? But this one really takes the biscuit, some faceted amber beads 7.3mm diameter.

Ancient Egyptian Amber was mined in Basileia the capital of Atlantis and lay just off the Danish Coast. Amber was also used by Egyptians in the mummification process, possibly because it is a powerful desiccant, or drying agent. It was also valued as a medicine.

Hmmm. Atlantis in the North Sea, or is that the Baltic? These are the people whose knowledge and authority will be backing up the certificate of authenticity... By the way, the date they give is rather pre-dynastic than anything connected with what we think of as ancient Egypt. This form of bead was particuiularly popular in the nineteenth/early 20th, not "dynasty" but century. My picture is modern Baltic amber beads of exactly the same form, these come from an auction taking place now on a Polish internet auction site, where do the ones being sold as "ancient Egyptian" by "Ancient Adornment" really come from?

Conspicuous by their absence however are the "mummy beads" sold by most dealers and of course any scarabs/scaraboids which is odd given the context.

It's not a pretty picture when you look at the beads purporting to be "Roman" (and nota bene described as coming from "Italy" and "Cyprus" - countries with MOUs with the US, were these objects imported into the US by MOU standards?). Some of these "Roman beads" could be Roman period, some certainly are not. I'd single out as an example of the latter group for example the pink globular bead. There is a ring which is clearly a modern composite object with a fragment of glass ring with yellow trail on a dark (blue?) background glued onto the flat bezel of a ring and then smeared with gunk. One notes the manner in which the dealer thinks the owner of these loose rings can be assigned to social categories, this one was a "slave", this one was a "prostitute", and that one was a "pilgrim". The photos are too muddy and lacking in points of reference to determine how many might be questioned with regard to being among the mass of Balkan fakes currently on the internet market of "minor antiquities". Certainly the dealer's fanciful and digressive description of the items in his stock does not inspire much confidence in their actual ability to really be able to tell the difference.

Things go from bad to worse when we come to my own specialism, the Early Medieval period. There is a whole bunch of reputedly "Viking" stuff from "the excavations in York" on sale here. Well, I admit I do not know what some of these objects are, but they are not Viking. Like this shield-shaped thing (51230) with only one face illustrated and described as a "Viking Gold overlay Broach [sic] from the York, UK excavations". Apparently it "would make a great addition to an antiquities collection or for incorporating in to a modern jewelry design". Then there is another weird-shaped piece: "Viking Silver overlay Broach [sic] from the York, UK excavations [...](#512-4)". Or this one, or another. Here is, they say a "clothing brooch" (spelt correctly this time, but presumably different to the ones that the Vikings they might try to tell us used to pin directly through their skin - ouch). The "heart-shaped Viking brooch" was specially for Odin (the love-god?). This "Viking Silver overlay Broach from the York, UK excavations" depicts either gang-banging space aliens, or a decomposing piece of pig vertebral column. It certainly is not a Viking brooch.

Then we have the two cowrie beads. These are of a form known from across the ancient and modern world, but these two are said to be "Viking". The dealer begins by saying that "beads and other ornaments [...] often are found along side metal objects and weapons discovered by metal detectors".

In the 1970's and 80's, major archaeological excavations were undertaken in England and a great deal of new information came to light. We purchased a huge volume of antiquities from the London auction houses at that time. In fact, we once purchased 32% of the lots in one Phillips sale! One area where we were particularly active was Viking material. This is a rare Viking bead or garment ornament made from a cowrie shell. Others were discovered, described as 'Eastern imports' and pictured in the published findings of the archaeological projects. Details of that information and picture will accompany the bead.

Yeah, right. Why not tell us now where we can find this form of bead in the publications of Viking sites in the UK? I would be very interested to know in what soil conditions an object like that could be buried 900-1000 years and still retain its sheen to the degree these objects exhibit and not lose it due to breakdown of the conchiolin proteins and leaching. These I would add to the list of things being sold by this firm on which doubts may be cast on the accuracy of the identification (description, attribution).

Also what's the idea of fitting "genuine" ancient objects with "silver grommets" and then selling them to people saying they can be added to collections of antiquities? Were the beads altered in any way to get the grommets to fit, and is the process reversible?