Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Flintknapping => Topic started by: bubby on January 06, 2012, 08:52:08 pm
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I noticed alot of you sighn or mark your point's, is there a reason why or just like an artist sighning a painting? Bub
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bubby, a fella named Dan Hamblin up in Utah made me some arrow heads and a couple of knife blades and his was all signed. I guess it so they dont get passed off as "originals" or so they can be condisered fakes. All my points go on hunting arrows (including some very nice burnt butte from out west 8)) so it wont ever be a problem with mine .....but maybe if they was going into a collection of some kind.
rich
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Scratch em'with your mark,why take the chance of some idiot trying to make a buck on your hobby/skill.
Bone pile
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I scratch & date my hunting points. One day far , far in the future someone will find it & there will be no doubt about its age or maker. Kinda cool if ya stop & think about it.
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About 5-6 years ago an item appeared on a website that rhymes with Ebay. It was a French and Indian War era spike polled tomahawk. Along with the rather finely made forged steel head and (obviously) replaced curly maple haft was a detailed report from a reputable historian documenting the provenance of the weapon along with a list of probable blacksmiths that may have made it and where they had their shops.
I was interested to see it sold for about $8,000. You can get the same exact spike hawk today from the original blacksmith himself! After ALL these long years Joe DeLaRonde is still making 'hawks and using the same exact touchmarks on the blades. But he is sad to have to report he isn't getting anywhere near the $8K the seller online got after etching and aging the supposed heirloom.
"Buyer beware" of course, but there are the unscrupulous that will try to sell the points you gave away for a bucket of rocks. And trust me, they aren't going to offer to split the profits with you.
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Very well said!
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Signing helps to prevent fraud. But if someone wants to sell counterfiet arrowheads, it's not hard to do. Many modern arrowheads coming out of India and Mexico, for example, are routinely sold as authentic. Fortunately, collectors are getting better and better at spotting items that are modern made. If you want to be a serious collector, however, you'll probably want to find 90% of your collection yourself: surface hunting or digging.
Signing can also add value to a reproduction if the artist is well known.