In principle, the immorality of passing off dud antiques is utterly clear. In practice however the view from the saleroom floor is not quite the same as from the pulpit. The best dealers, like the best collectors, are extremely knowledgeable, but anyone can be fooled -- and most of us have been. There remains however a world of difference between making an honest mistake and deliberately perpetrating a deception. John Bly (from the Introduction to THE CONFIDENT COLLECTOR; see Bly 1986, p. 8)
When greed and antiques meet everybody ignors warnings. Jonathan Gash (in A RAG, A BONE AND A HANK OF HAIR)
NOTE: Many cut-glass items for sale today are claimed by their sellers to have been made by C. Dorflinger & Sons. Examples of this deception (intentional or unintentional) are discussed in the dorflinger7.htm file in Part 2.
Updated 16 Feb 2002