31 October, 2011
Real or Fake?
There was a vase that came to the attention of a museum antiquity department.
They wanted to buy it but it was offered at such a high price that the curators called for experts. The experts confirmed that the designs were authentic,
that the glazing was right,
and they determined the source of the clay used in the vase.
They concluded that the vase was authentic based on their studies.
After the purchase, the vase was shown to museum workers who immediately proclaimed it a fake. "How could you be fooled by this?" they asked. "How much did you pay for it?"
These museum workers had held and studied authentic artefacts all their professional lives. They knew what was real by experience. They had a "feel" for what was real. A "feeling" or recognition based on a gut-feeling is not based only on clinical study but years of experience that the brain has processed and cross-referenced and linked with other information in a way that no computer can.
In order to recognize false money you do not study the counterfeit, you study the real thing.
The same is true for truth, you do not study the false in order to comprehend the truth, you must study the truth.
note; it is shocking how many museums have purchased false antiquities, they should let the curators be the buyers.
see "Royal Ontario Museum Displays its Fakes" cbc.ca January 9, 2010
see "Royal Ontario Museum Displays its Fakes" cbc.ca January 9, 2010
