by Kenny Simper, Hamilton, Indiana
Edited by Dr. Jeff Pyle – Indiana State Editor
Volume 66, Number 4, October 2019 Central States Archaeological Journal
On June 3, 1984, myself and two collector friends of mine, Bill Koup and Russ Gilliom, were attending the late Cameron Parks artifact auction. Cameron Parks was an early prominent collector from northern Indiana who was known as “The Slate King.” He had a very large assemblage of birdstones and flat slate artifacts.
Figure 1. Left side view of the authentic birdstone.
Figure 2. Left side view of the fake birdstone.
As I always have done, when knowing the person who purchased nice birdstones, I would write their names and the amount they paid for the birdstone in the auction catalog. It was a fun way to keep track of where the birdstones would now reside. Russ was the buyer of a birdstone found in Genesee County, Michigan (Figs. 1,3,4). So his name went down in my catalog as the new owner.
Now, 26 years later, in the early spring of 2010, I received a telephone call from a well-known seller of reproduction Indian artifacts. He had found out that birdstones are my favorites. So, he told me that he had a birdstone pictured in Townsend’s Birdstones of the North American Indian for sale. Curiously, I allowed him to bring it over. After unwrapping it, I immediately knew this was a copy of the original that Russ had purchased back in 1984 (Fig. 2). I laughed and asked him why I would want this one knowing where the authentic one was. I suggested he leave — not wanting to hear any more of his stories as to why he thought his birdstone was genuine.
The copy was far too slick and shiny with the tally notches too deep and sharp edged. There was no patina to be found on it anywhere. The faker did somewhat choose the right color of reddish purple slate, but with no age it was far too brightly colored.
The authentic birdstone has good patina and has very light faint purple color left due to many long years lying and bleaching out in the soil. The crooked faker even went so far as to use the correct medical tape and number 57 that Dr. T. Hugh Young used for his catalog. Townsend’s Birdstone book prints this information on the caption of all the Dr. Young birdstones. Dr. Young was an even earlier, very prominent, collector in the Midwest.¹
Thinking that I’ll never see this piece of trash again, I was wrong. Since the fake birdstone was offered to me, it has been sold no less than four times in auctions from 2010 to 2017!
Figure 3. Right side view of the authentic birdstone.
For collectors that believe an artifact is genuine because it has a “Certificate of Authenticity (COA),” think again. The fake pictured here has been papered twice by two of the so-called experts.
It is my opinion that you are simply throwing your money away on these COA’s. You can benefit yourself much better by spending your money on old books and journals with plenty of genuine artifacts pictured in them. Educate yourself and arm yourself with knowledge before venturing into the purchasing arena of artifacts that is strewn with landmines for you to step on.
I purchased the authentic birdstone from Russ for the sole purpose of exposing the fraudulent bird once and for all. Also hoping that the unscrupulous dealer who was trying to burn an honest collector would get stuck with it. I recently logged on to eBay. There were a total of 49 fake birdstones on the site, 29 had COA’s, 20 did not. Their profiles were wrong and many of them were made from exotic materials not even used by the birdstone makers. My guess is that some of these authenticators have never held a genuine birdstone.
Figure 4. Bottom view of the authentic birdstone.
A short time ago, I passed this authentic birdstone on to a true collector, Steve Ward, who claims it will not be sold again in his lifetime. The true authentic birdstone is pictured in several publications, including Birdstones of The North American Indian by Earl Townsend, page 499, figure E, the Ohio Archaeologist Volume 2, 2018, page 6, Prehistoric Artifacts 1986, Volume 1, page 16, Legends of Prehistoric Art Volume 2 by Onken, page 79, and finally, now in this publication.