Pictured above are the most popular Private Auction reproductions (FAKES), sold on eBay, of Smiley and Winnie. They are advertised as Shawnee when it is nothing but a cheap fake. A seller may use the word RARE and/or imply that the jar is a collectibe in their eBay auction descriptions.
Sellers of Fakes want you to believe these jars were found "fresh out of the blue ridge mountains," "estate sales," passed down from their grandmother or that they have found another treasure from an estate sale in Dixie. Example: southern-best's description of this jar says - 'made by the known jar maker, "Shawnee"' and "Mint" in the title.
Beware of Private auctions that say, " no restorations, no chips, damage, crazing - a perfect example." This is a subtle way of hoping you will think that this is the real deal.
The ad may say crazing or "age crazing" indicating that the jar is old. On fakes, this "crackle finish" has been synthetically applied to give the appearance of an antique. The cracks may be empasized through staining. See an example of this
here.
Be sure to check the seller's Completed Auctions and History ID. Often the same auctions are repeated - same pictures and with little variation in the description. The same jar over and over - how lucky can one get!
|
You may see
a pair
with the same features up for auction. The seller may say they have
two jars
that have been together forever and they hope they continue to stay together - they really hate to see them broke up. In other words, they sure would like to sell a
pair of fakes
to you.
Grammatically flawed descriptions are often created to make you think that the seller is not educated or savvy about the jars they are selling. Research the jar you would like to purchase.
Fake Sellers know they are selling Fakes, 99.9% of the time!
Just because a jar is advertised as
"RARE"
does not mean that it is hard to find or old. I have seen jars advertised as "Rare" or "Vintage" when they absolutely were not.
There are many, many pictures of fake jars here as well, collected by an expert on Shawnee pottery. If you are a collector of Vintage Shawnee - it is very important that you ask direct questions and research thoroughly. Get an expert's or another collector's opinion of the jar you plan to bid on.
Just because a jar is marked
"Shawnee"
or "U.S.A." does not mean it is authenic. Reproductions/fakes are marked this way in the hope that collectors of authentic, vintage Shawnee might be fooled. Educate yourself and/or ask another collector.
|
