Didier Attaix

Hello everybody. I am not sure Bron is on Numis Forums, but he is for sure on https://groups.io/g/AncientArtifacts/post His email address is: collectorantiquities@fastmail.fm I know him very well, we met twice in London. He will certainly give you an expert advice on your scarabs and identify fakes. All the best, Didier

Hi Jean d'Acre, The main criterions in authenticating genuine Egyptian amulets are based on my personal experience. I had the chance to repeatedly visit the best Egyptian museums worldwide, and I have an elephant visual memory. I went to London every year for at least 25 years, when I was active. I did realize in this period that the British Museum was providing free advices. Thus, I met successively two curators John Taylor and Marcel Marée. Both were highly helpful, because they precisely identified artefacts I was totally unable to describe. Coming back to your interest in scarabs or scaraboids. I have only a few ones, not bad (see attachments). If you find a nice one to buy, contact Bron who is by far the expert in this group. Best, Didier Carnelian_scarab.doc Steatite_scarab.doc Negroid_scaraboid.doc

Hi everybody, This post is for members who do not believe that you can buy genuine Egyptian antiquities on eBay. To buy antiquities on eBay requires some experience. 98 % of the so called ‘Egyptian antiquities' are fakes. Indeed I bought 4 fakes on eBay: 3 on eBay UK and one on eBay Germany. I made claims and was always fully refunded. I am enclosing a document, which I routinely uses to send to professional sellers to let them know my precise interests in amulets. I did enlight in yellow the many I bought on eBay, plenty for ridiculous prices. All the best, Didier Amulets_faience_and_glass_artefacts_copie.docx

Do not worry, I am not attaching in my posts any document with a worm. Best, Didier

Hi everybody, The first attached example is a bronze Osiris. The two following ones (Tutu and Janiform Pataikos), attached are faience amulets. As you will see the tetrasodium salt EDTA procedure does not make any damage, preserves patina and reveals much further details. The value (if any in my attached documents) are for my son, who loves my collection. However, Romain has absolutely no idea of their value. All the best, Didier Bronze_Osiris.docx Tutu_amulet.docx Janiform_Pataikos_amulet.doc

Hello everybody, Ending up with a restoration period, I did restore today a very rare Tutu Egyptian amulet (see attachment). I bought it for nuts (€50 including S&H by direct offer to the seller Arqueo Mundis, i.e. Galeria Felix Cervera, Carrer Consell de Cent, 286, 08007 Barcelona, Spain). ll the very best, Didier Tutu_amulet.docx

You can add mine to this collection! All the best, Didier

I did refine the restoration of my glass inlay. Below is the very final result. For this kind of intervention you must be very patient and meticulous. All the best, Didier

Thank you for your detailed reply, I did appreciate, and fully trust you! Best regards, Didier

Hello everybody, This one was also bought in Turkey in the 70s by my life partner, Josiane. She thought she'd thrown it away, believing it to be a fake, but she found it again. I gently cleaned the bronze. It seems to me to be a Hadrianus coin. The diameter is 4 cm, the weight 20 g. Any reply would be appreciated. Yours sincerely Didier

Again, Many thanks, I really appreciated All the best, Didier

Many thanks for your detailed reply, I really appreciated. All the best, Didier

Hello, I also have two Byzantine coins with no idea of what they are. I am attaching two docx documents so that after opening them you can stretch the images. Any comment will be wellcome. All the best, Didier Byzantine_coin1.docx Byzantine_coin2.docx

Yes it could be, but unfortunately I did not find any close parallel, and this is not a pendant...

Hello everybody, I have 2 Roman coins. Any comment will be appreciated. I am attaching the 2 docx documents so that you can stretch the images provided. All the best, Didier Roman_Aurelianus_coin.docx Roman_coin.docx

I did repair correctly the inlay, see attachment. This was not a piece of cake, especially reattaching the rolling nose. All the best, Didier

I suspect the inlay has amuletic purpose, but this is only a speculation. Best, Didier

I agree with your opinion. I told Hussam that it was a Seth amulet, but he did not change his erroneous description in his COA (attached below). However, I strongly believe Hussam to be a much more trustable seller than both Christie's and Bonhams. They are unfortunately selling (very few, I admit) fakes but at rocket prices to unexperienced buyers 😠 🥵 Have a nice day, Didier

Yes, thanks for your comment! Although I collect mainly Egyptian artefacts, I have in my collection a superb Phoenician or Carthaginian glass pendant, see below. This a quadrichrome one, the mouth is red. H 2.9 cm All the best, Didier

Hello everybody, I bought last week on Catawiki (which I hate because of their numerous fakes sold weekly) a stunning inlay. It was hopefully for sale by Chris Martin in London, who I fully trust. This is a tiny artefact L 1.6, H 0.7, T 0.4 cm Although badly repaired (I will try to fix that) this inlay is interesting for at least 3 reasons: 1. It is not flat, as usually. The red nose is indeed in relief, 2. The upper face is convex as you can see on the upper image, 3. The lower face is made of another layer of totally transluscent glass, see lower image. I am not sure at all it is Romano-Egyptian. Thus, I did send my pictures to the Corning glass Museum. I hope they may identify the origin of the inlay and on the technique used to make it. All the best, Didier

Hello everybody, I received today a glass inlay bought on Catawiki through Christopher Martin in London (https://www.catawiki.com/en/l/81073749?utm_source=selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EMAIL-TRN-BUY-ALL-FUL-SHIPPING-NEW_ORDER_CONFIRM_DELIVERY_WHEN_DELIVERED&utm_content=&utm_term No problem with its authenticity, I am 100 % sure it is genuine. However, this inlay is highly unusual as the most important green piece of the inlay is pasted on another transparent glass. I never came across such an artefact. As far as I know, most inlays were cut from a bar, see below: Indeed, I also bought years ago from Chris Martin the right example above with both sides. This inlay is presently soaking in acetone, as it was extremely badly repaired. It came not surprisingly into 3 parts: the nose, the right face of the inlay, and the inlay itself. I am also 100% sure to restore it correctly. Therefore my question is as follows: is anybody in this wonderful group able to explain how such an artefact was made and if possible where? All the best, Didier

Hello everybody, I received yesterday a silver Seth amulet, which is very rare for two reasons: 1. Silver was imported in Ancient Egypt and there are few silver artefacts compared to gold ones. Gold was abundant in Nubia, now Sudan. 2. Seth amulets are very rare. I am aware of only 5: one in copper alloy in the British Museum (#EA22897), another wooden one also in the British Museum (see Fig. 79c in Carol Andrews, Amulets of Ancient Egypt, 1994) , one glazed in the Art Institute of Chicago (#X36), and one in gold in Le Louvre (#E7659). The 5th one, an inlay in red jasper, was since years in my own collection. As you know Seth was the devil because he killed his brother Osiris. Therefore, amulets of Seth were only worn, especially under the Ramesside Period (Dynasty 19), but never placed in mummy bandages (see Carol Andrews, p. 26). In any case I bought my silver Seth from Hussam Zurquieh, who I fully trust. Hussam has been accused of selling fakes. This was not deliberate but by ignorance: a) Hussam sold me a very sophisticated fake of possibly Mehet-Weret, an obscure goddess mostly known by a bed in the treasure of king Tut. I was dubious and asked Ralf Kotalla in Germany to perform a thermoluminescence test of this amulet. Verdict: recent glazed fake. I sent the Kotalla's report to Hussam, asking him for either a refund or an exchange for an amulet of similar prize. Hussam did not make any difficulty. He accepted an exchange. In addition, Hussam did not ask for a return of the fake, clearly indicating that he was intending to resell it. b) Hussam described my silver Seth amulet as a Khnum one in electrum. I gently cleaned and polished it. This is a hollow silver one, not in electrum. However, this is in my opinion, a masterpiece. The amulet is large (H 5.6 cm), well detailed, and in a rare material without any parallel to my knowledge. Apologies for this long message, Have a nice day, Didier

Hello, I just put for sale on eBay this very rare shabti https://www.ebay.fr/itm/126338831240 Its description is very informative. A close parallel within a group of three was sold years ago by Christie's for a fortune (about reactualized €9,000 each!). The Christie's description was wrong, as the Period and with irrelevant references. I submitted it for sale to Christie's with updated information. Christie's refused to consider it, telling me this artefact does not fit with our sales! Next I submitted it to Bonham's. They lost my submission... If I do not sell it through eBay, it will go to Drouot. All the best, Didier