PLACE YOUR BIDS WITH CONFIDENCE and ENJOY!!

Advice and Help from Fitzgerald's Antiquities and Ancient Relics for authenticity

At Fitzgerald's we try to find and list items that everyone could afford and buy from the most secure sources we can find.
The items listed will be around for another 60+ generations, handed down and will become even more valuable over time as a growing investment.
Most are 1 of a kind in the world as mass production could not produce exact copies like they can today.
If you need authenticity of date or substance, we can help by setting you up with labs to give you comfort results.
All relic researchers will tell you that 2 different non bias labs are suggested for the best authenticity available today as it constantly improves.Radiocarbon testing gives the best results at the moment on certain test for dating.
Each lab testing will cost around $350.00 to $400.00 extra. As methods improve you will want to get them done again in the future. There still is no exact methodology but they are improving and getting closer all the time. The percentages of accuracy in testing is listed below and on attached sites.
If you are a private investor keep your cost low and enjoy what you have bid on and bought.
The information below will lead you to references and make you better informed on Ancient Relics.
WHEN BIDDING ON AN ANCIENT ANTIQUITY or RELIC

If bidding on an ancient antiquity from our auction site, buy it because you like its looks or are a collector and understand that our auction company does the best we can do with the information we have been given on the item we list.

(There are no 100% guarantees that can be given from any auction companies on exact dating (or) if the item was not stolen and resold at 1 time through history and resold again. We buy and resale from the most secure sources we can find and hope for the best. These items are extremely old have been bought and sold many times over and testing results continue to improve)

If an auction company of ancient relics guarantees and indicates what they have for sale was not stolen material at 1 time or has an exact production period date they are misinforming you.

As an auctioneer company we strive to sell legitimate items that are legal for resale but are limited to information we receive from the sellers we have purchased from or a consignee. We try to check from missing antiquity sites for stolen items but can only go so far as there are so many thousands on the market. We are an auction company and not the antiquities police. We leave that to the true legal experts and not independent experts trying to protect their own market.

What you should know about ancient antiquities and relics.

Is the item from the time specified?

There are no exacts of date stamping from any organization from Universities to Private facilities.

The closest method for date checking is Radiocarbon Dating which is within a few percent under proper circumstances but it too has its flaws See https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/everything-worth-knowing-about-scientific-dating-methods

Information from Oxford University on Relic Dating

Unfortunately, everyone from antiquity companies to museums can only go by the information they have on items for sale from past sellers or testing they have done. No one can give an exact time dating or 100% authenticity, even if they may have sponsored and monitored a dig themselves according to Oxford University.

All authenticity tests from all laboratories are subject to these limitations, regardless of what limits are quoted. An authenticity test is not the same as dating an archaeological site where the object is excavated under controlled conditions and the theoretical limit of date accuracy is 6%.

An excavation site is at least 6% on time dating but still is not guaranteed 100% accurate mainly because antiquities have been subjected to erosion or reburied from a different time or dump site.

Oxford testing laboratories indicate items tested for time periods in a lab can be within a 20% range of date authenticity thru TL testing and other sources.

Example: an item that you are bidding on is 4000bce which is 6000 years old, then the time difference can very 600 years either way or within a 1200-year time span or even more from the date established.

Another example: If an ancient antiquity selling site indicates a lab test on an item to be between 200bce to 300bce, it is merely a guess at the dating.

The normal accuracy from lab testing is within 20%. This would bring the item into a 450-year dating accuracy span. Not a hundred-year accuracy span.

Information on this is listed below and can be found at many University sites on the internet but we have listed Oxford University.

Go to: https://www.oxfordauthentication.com/faqs/

Is the item stolen of missing from the original owner, collector, or Government?

We do our best as an Ancient Antiquities auction house to sell legal sellable items.

Unfortunately, even if an item comes from a museum or independent collector stolen items can appear.

Ancient antiquities transfer through multiple hands after being found or excavated. They can be stolen relics from anywhere and any period as hundreds of thousands were stolen just during WW2 and are stolen today throughout the middle east and other locations. Sold legitimately and then stolen again for resale over and over.

2 Examples below are of artifacts or relics that were listed as stolen. They were found at museums and private collectors and returned.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/19000-artifacts-recovered-international-antiquities-trafficking-sting-1-180974836/

https://www.theverge.com/2013/5/13/4326306/museum-artifacts-looted-repatriation

GOOD LUCK BIDDING!!!