After reading the guides posted in this category, there are some things buyers also need to take into consideration. This is the facts that the AACA is not recognized by any accreditated College’s or University Schools of Archaeology. They are mere ameture’s giving an opinion and not any scientific facts, about the age, origin, of artifacts. As well there are alot of artifacts being sold with COA’s, a buyer needs to check the credentuals of the individual issueing the COA. As well most of these people are non professional collectors and not Archaeologist. Being a college student myself I took the time to speak with a professor in the field. He stated that these COA’s are not worth the paper they are written on. Unless the Authenticator has atleast a Masters Degree in the Field of Archaeology they can not be credible sources. So buyers need to be well aware that just because an item is claimed to have a Certifacate of Authenticty, does not mean in anyway that the artifact is truely authentic.

As well many of the Authenticators and Appraisers are also dealers in tha trade of artifacts. So being able to offer a certifacate with their artifacts makes them more appealing to buyers. All buyers should contact whom ever issued the COA, and ask to see positive proof of their credentials. Take into consideration the College or University attended by this person, and wether or not they actually have a degree in the field. A lot of College’s and Universities offer Archaeology coarses for elective class hours and they are not specefic fields of study. Just because a person took a 3 class hour credit in archaeology does not by any means make them a professional in the field. Look specificly for Authenticators that have a Masters Degree or higher in Archaeology.

There is alot of competition between sellers here on so many sellers will do whjat ever nessessary to down grade other sellers items or have themn pulled from the listing. Pay very close attention to the feedback percentage, and the number of total sales in the Artifact category. You can pretty much trust a person that has over 1,000 sales in Artifacts they are repretable dealers. I have been hunting, excavating, collecting and buying artifacts for more than 30 years. Most Artifact Dealers are just like a car salesman. They will feed you the biggest line of B.S. to get you to buy their items. There is truely no scientific way to authenticate artifacts, so patina means nothing. It can actually be grown on artifacts by placing newly made artifacts in a large container of water with metals, as well broken artifacts that truely do have patina on them. Another thing that comes into play at this point, many old collector’s cleaned their artifacts and destroyed any patina present. I have personally seen collectors come in from a field, creek, or excavation and scrub their artifacts with a toothbrush and bleach.

All in all this is a very riskey category for ametures as well as long time collectors. I can only say checkout the item the seller and ask lots of questions and save the responses. Saving these responses may give you a legal recoarse to use in the future, if you believe you have been scammed. contact other buyers that have boughten from a dealer in the past and ask what their opinion is of a dealer and how satisfied they were with the artifact and service of a seller. Don’t get in a hurry and think you are going to miss out on a good deal. Check out listings days in advance and ask as many questions as you need to feel confident in your bidding. Collecting Artifacts is a fun and exciting hobby lets help keep it that way.