Troika fakes and rogues gallery!

Jump directly to the important 18th July 2011 update

Due to the ever increasing number of pieces of Troika that we come across that are not 'right', we have put together a page of information to aid buyers to identify and hopefully protect themselves from buying pieces of pottery that are not all they first appear to be. We won't give specific details to look for, as this information would probably be used by the fakers to try and make their pieces even more realistic and would be self-defeating.

Like many artisan endevours back in the 1980's, the Troika pottery suffered from falling sales and interest in its work, and finally closed down in 1983. In an effort to recover some of its costs, the contents of the pottery were sold off, and this included all the moulds and more significantly the entire undecorated 'biscuit fired' ceramic that formed the base of the Troika 'product'. Undecorated, these pieces hadn't yet had the touch of the likes of Alison Brigden, Avril Bennet, Louise Jinks or any of the other now well known artists, and were unceremoniously secreted away in a shed by Neville and Ann Donaldson.  

Over the intervening years, the couple have drip-fed auction houses with small quantities of these biscuit-ware forms, which consisted of anything and everything from small wheel vases, marmalade pots, spice jars and coffin vases through medium and large wheel vases, anvil vases and double bases, right up to the highly desirable Aztec Mask. Whilst these pieces are an 'interesting collectable' in their own right, concern was expressed right from the outset that it wouldn't take much for an unscrupulous individual to have a bash with an airbrush kit and some paint (or even just a paint brush!) and start churning out 'replica' or fake pieces which unknowing collectors would be so tempted to buy believing them to be originals. They also purchased a quantity of the original 'slip moulds', and we have seen examples used originally in the production of Wheel Vases, Offset Chimney Vases and one for a Mask. These moulds make it extremely easy for 'replicas' to be made that appear to be wholly original, but other unscrupulous fakers have made rubber moulds cast from original Troika pieces, and made replicas from material such as Plaster or Paris!

Due to the significant rise in Troika prices since about 2003, and the recent (past 3 or 4 years) explosion of buyers frequenting on-line auction venues such as Amazon and eBay, fake pieces have been appearing in ever increasing numbers. During the month of March 2010, a 'well known' ebay seller who is also believed to be a 'ceramics restorer' as he buys damged Moorcroft to restore and resell, had no less that 10 suspect pieces listed! Some of the more 'desirable' fakes such as Anvils, Chimneys and a couple of Masks reached figures in excess of specialists retail prices for the genuine article. It should be noted that many of these so called dealers use other mechanisms to push their own prices up, such as shill-bidding (using other ebay ID's to place bids on their own items), made much easier by ebay hiding all bidder ID's and further aided by sellers making their auctions private. Shill bidding is a well known technique for tickling bids up, as it plays on peoples desire to WIN.

So how can you avoid buying a fake? Well, we'd always recommend viewing the item in person, handling it and giving it close scrutiny. Buying from a Specialist Dealer at a shop, fair (warning here though) or through a specialists website such as ours is the best move, and whilst you may not get the same 'rush' or satisfaction as picking up a 'bargain' by bidding on ebay, paying a little extra (though not always!) and having the protection afforded by law through the Distance Selling Regulations when parting with quite large amounts of hard-earned cash just makes sense! As for buying from a dealer at a flea marked or antiques fair, well you need to be especially careful there as we've seen fake Troika and Whitefriars being blatantly sold as genuine at some of the large and well-known venues. If it's too cheap, ask yourself why no one else, particularly another dealer hasn't bought it. Look at it closely, in good light. SMELL it (yes, really); sometimes you can still detect the smell of paint!! If in doubt, put it down and walk away, as once you get your purchase home and discover it's not right, by then it's too late and you will probably never see the 'dealer' again!

Right, so down to the gallery. The photo's shown here I don't have copyright for, and I probably never would even if I asked! But they are shown as an example of what you might find whilst searching for a piece. Some are very convincing, and need to be closely studied to realise that they aren't right. You will also find that photo's of the fakes seldom if ever show the inside of a vase. This is because that is the hardest part to fake convincingly. Fakers use paint, and you just can't paint the inside of a Troika vase to look exactly like the high-gloss tin glazes, which have a very hard and glassy appearance and very often have crazing. Often the decorating 'rules' haven't been adhered to; I'm not going to go into any detail on this as it will just give the fakers and scammers more information to rip people off, but experts and collectors will understand that the decoration on Troika follows certain rules and methods which make identifying fakes from photo's that much easier, especially on things like Masks, Plaques, Anvils, Double Bases and the more expensive pieces.

The Mask shown above was originally offered for sale on ebay, and several months later appeared at a reputable auction house in South Wales! As always, when viewing & buying at a real auction, apply the 'buyer beware' rules as you have little comeback when the hammer has fallen and it's yours!
Below is shown a collection of undecorated Biscuit Form pieces to show what is available to the fakers to paint up and dupe unsuspecting collectors. I've included these as I know there are some people who are a little sceptical that there are fakes out there. The hardest part of faking Troika is creating a 'believable' form/shape. It is clear that some novice collectors don't look beyond the shape, believing if it superficially appears to be right, then it just MUST be. Unfortunately, that's not true, and whilst it can be said that much of the 'artistic style' of Troika is the shape/form, it was that part of the production that was 'mass produced' in moulds. The real artistic element was the embelishment and decoration applied by the talented few, and it is that which makes each piece unique. Do you really want something on your shelf or cabinet that has been knocked up by a grubby little man in his shed, purely to deceive and to make him money?

Note just how many Masks have been 'caught' as fakes and dubious overpaints being sold on ebay? No surprise as they are one of the most expensive of Troika pieces, and must be very lucrative for the scammers. Some are very clearly recognisable as being wrong, but a couple are almost passable and would easily fool the novice collector and the unwary. One mask (the brown one with the nasty blue painted eyes, shown just under the horrible small wheel vase) was placed for sale in a well-known auction house in South Wales a few months after it had been listed on ebay; an attempt by the faker to move it on after it was returned by an unhappy buyer, or perhaps the ebay buyer was trying to get rid of it. Either way, it was pulled from sale after they were contacted and made some checks on the piece. Just because a piece is listed as Troika at a reputable auction house, doesn't actually mean it's genuine. It is very much 'buyer beware' and you are expected to do your own checks.  

Well that's a few in the gallery for now. I have quite a few more images on file that I hope to post when I have time, and I'm always on the hunt for more images from Auction Houses and the infamous Ebay!

On a serious note, if you are a novice at collecting Troika, please be VERY careful about what you buy. Whilst there are many good pieces available, as can be seen from the gallery above, there are also some very passable fakes and repaints out there. Knowingly selling a fake is illegal, so if you have bought from ebay and you are unhappy about it, open an Ebay or PayPal 'not as described' case and clearly state you believe it is a fake. Request a full refund and push hard until you get your money back. The only way the scammers and fakers will stop is to prevent them making money.

** Update on fake masks and anvil vases ** (18th July 2011)

We were asked to check a mask purchased from ebay back in June 2011 from a seller with good feedback. Looking at the photographs used in the listing, it appeared superficially to be fine, but on checking the mask in person, it was clear it was a fake. The buyer was advised to seek a refund immediately, and opened up a PayPal case to get his money back. The photo's below show the mask in question. 

The auction description read as follows:

"I AM SELLING A PORTION OF MY TROIKA COLLECTION, I HAVE A NUMBER OF THE SAME ITEMS  SO I WILL BE SELLING ITEMS THAT WILL PUT ME DOWN TO ONE ITEM (FOR MY COLLECTION TO KEEP) HERE WE HAVE A TROIKA FACE MASK THAT IS PERFECT CONDITION WITHOUT ANY FLAWS, I THINK THIS IS DECORATED BY MARILYN (MURPHY) NOW PASCO, MY PHOTO SHOWS IT A LOT DARKER THEN IT IS,IT IS MANLY GREEN IT IS PERFECT IN EVERY WAY WITHOUT ANY FLAWS AT ALL,  I WILL ONLY SEND THIS VIA SPECIAL DELIVERY FOR OBVIOUS REASONS, THANK YOU FOR LOOKING.

We initially put this down to 'just another fake mask', however the seller in question listed two or three more, all in different colours, but all in the same style (what we call the 'smiling face' type mask) and more importantly, all with the same traits and 'defects', indicating that they were all taken from the same poorly made mould. Supposedly slimming down his collection. Well, we have now 100% proof, thanks to a sharp-eyed customer who emailed us a couple of days ago about a shop he found in St. Ives. The photo is his copyright, but I won't state his name on here (unless he says it's OK!).