After a decade of efforts by dedicated collectors and dealers, at long last an improvement is apparent in the eBay antiquities section. At times as many as 95% of the items in certain categories were fake, but finally someone has taken notice of us, and the worst sellers have been ejected.
This certainly doesn't mean that if you buy an 'ancient' item on eBay now that you can be assured of its authenticity, but as of July 2009 things are suddenly looking SO much better.
We're an open group and very broad based in the range of subjects that we like to talk about, but NO POLITICS PLEASE, since we are a peaceful tribe and greatly dislike flame wars.
Any artefact dating from China's Ming Dynasty or earlier is sufficiently 'ancient' to attract our interest.
We welcome many new collectors, and have many highly experienced and qualified members willing to offer help and advice, including many of the best antiquities dealers on the net, as well as Phd's, university professors and museum curators. Feel free to ask for help identifying items, ask for approximate values, background information, whatever.
If you have some news from the world of antiquities to pass on, this is the place to do it.
We are committed to responsible antiquities collecting, and members have compiled a voluntary code of conduct for collectors:
http://tinyurl.com/ancientartifacts
Dealers and individuals are welcome to post details of their own items for sale here, as well as links to eBay and other sales.
Tim Haines (listowner)
