A Guide To Buying Ancient Artifacts Online
A lot of buying of ancient items begins and ends with knowledge. Many people don't even know they can purchase ancient artifacts and antiquities online and at a good price. Ever since the advent of the internet the world in general has changed and been pulled together as a unified place. The saying "it's a small world" truly applied to this coming together. The world of buying and selling is no different now with the entire planet being able to sell to one another things that would be impossible to find locally are now easily purchased. Due to the availability of many such items the benefit to the buyer has become much lower prices.
With any purchase whether it is ancient in origin of simply an everyday item there is always the chance that what you are getting is not necessarily what is advertised. So one must thoroughly educate themselves before making a purchase. This is especially true when purchasing ancient artifacts or coins.
If buying on Ebay steps should be taken to seek out a reputable seller. Check to see if they are a power seller, how long they have sold on Ebay, how many negatives and positives they have this will tell you if they are safe to purchase from. You can find all this information by clicking on the sellers name in any Ebay auction.
Most of the pictures from this article are from a single auction currently running on Ebay from a seller who has been there since 2002 and is a power seller with 4725 feedbacks. If you are in the mood to bid check the link for it below.
Another best practice is to educate yourself on artifacts that were used during the period that are being sold. For instance if someone is advertising an iron sword supposedly made during the era of the Minoan Civilization (2700 - 1500 BC) you will know it is a fake. The Minoans were a bronze age culture and iron was not smelted in that part of the world until hundreds of years later.
Items from the Roman era are often crude today as they have undergone varying degrees of rust throughout the centuries. A lot of their tools were simple from firestarters, daggers, rings, buckles, brooches and of course coins.
With Byzantine or medieval European artifacts and antiquities you will find a lot of detail and intricacies and since these are younger much less degradation. Common items from the Byzantine era include crosses, Christianity was huge in the Byzantine Empire for nearly a thousand years and many households has several or more crosses and other christian adornments. Bracelets, rings and other types of jewelry for both men and women were also quite common.
Medieval Europe was influenced heavily by the Byzantine Empire during the centuries adopting Christianity as well. Crosses were still a common item but many more types of items appeared.
Overall the bottom line is to know what you are buying to take the guesswork out of it. You can if you read up. Happy hunting.
