How’d I do?

[Older The Better]

Well I rolled the dice on a point, as long as it makes it to me this time it will be the first point I bought. Here’s what I saw that made me think it was worth a shot.
Pros,
material looks fine not like an Indian jasper or anything.
The flaking seems fine, doesn’t look like a sloppy woodland random flaking
The base appears ground which i take as a good sign I don’t think a casual knapper would bother to grind the base, but a forger would.
I think I see a faded mark that could be the county where it was found.
The way it was listed made me think they didn’t realize what they were selling.
I looked at other artifacts from the collection being sold, there were no obvious fakes but there was a birdstone that seemed a little too good to be true.
Cons,
Looks super clean
Came from eBay
Hopefully I didn’t miss anything obvious I’m curious what you guys think.
I’m not sure site rules about prices I think it’s just sellers but just in case I’ll just say I paid less than 400.

 

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[Fat]

...it’s the middle of the nite and I’ve looked at several times. I don’t like that hanging hinge from the flute strike and the hinged line along the opposite side.
Make some new pics in natural sun in your hand when you can, my gut shot reaction is it’s a re-chipped piece...

 

[Older The Better]

Will do, I plan on putting under a magnifying glass too to see if I can see any copper marks, I felt good it wasn’t touched up because the piece seemed very uniform in color, I figured it was either entirely authentic or entirely modern… that’s the problem with going off a few pictures. Why is the hinge suspicious I figured that happened time to time especially when fluting.

 

[unclemac]

I hope you got it for a good price....

 

[Older The Better]

I think I did if it’s real and there’s a return policy no questions asked won’t ship till after the new year though so I’ve still got a wait

 

[unclemac]

I will add this little bit... on ebay right now if you search auctions for "clovis" you get about 150 hits. No brokes, no chips, no patina, no signs of wear... just nice "authentic", "from an old collection", descriptions.

 

[Older The Better]

I actually wasn’t looking to buy anything every so often I’ll just look and see if anything jumps out at me. This one wasn’t listed as Clovis it was just listed as “Native American Indian artifact j-c9” In the description it went on about coming from a different estate than the other points the seller had posted.
It was also only 30$ With a few days to go so I thought I’ll take a shot… I will admit I did get competitive and I went past my initial 100$ ceiling I kept thinking I don’t see any major red flags I checked the rest of what the seller was posting, I looked at their rating, return policy. I felt as good as I could about it. If it wasn’t from eBay I’d be pretty excited.
If it turns out to be a fake I’ll just see it as a gamble lost, an alternative to going to the casino instead of coming out of it with a jackpot I may come out with a Clovis or I may come back with nothing but less money.

 

[joshuaream]

I see a couple of things I like about it. I have several broken bases from Southern Indiana & Northern Kentucky that have that same style base and are thin like that one. It looks to be sharpened like a Dalton (hafted, strait sides and tip angles in) which isn't very common on Clovis. Could be a red flag for a rechip.

No clue if it's real. Seller doesn't look bad, and it doesn't have a baker paper so those are positives.

 

[Older The Better]

Appreciate the feedback, just in case I’m mistaken, when you mentioned rechip you are saying they have altered an existing point to make it int a more valuable one, in that case I would assume there would be a color difference where new stone was exposed. I’m trying to get a mental list of things to look for when it’s in hand, no copper transfer, motor oil, discoloration on flake scars…

 

[joshuaream]

Appreciate the feedback, just in case I’m mistaken, when you mentioned rechip you are saying they have altered an existing point to make it int a more valuable one, in that case I would assume there would be a color difference where new stone was exposed. I’m trying to get a mental list of things to look for when it’s in hand, no copper transfer, motor oil, discoloration on flake scars…

Yes, there are far more broken points than complete points, so it's not uncommon for a large base to have been resharpened in modern times.

I'm not saying it was resharpened, but I'd look at those edges on the point when you get it in hand.

 

[Older The Better]

Well that didn’t take long… already started the return process, it actually looked better than the pics at first, little dirtier it had some crud stuck up in the fissures but I can’t justify the shiny copper, didn’t even need a magnifying glass… but assuming it all works out as far as a refund it was a fun ride and good learning experience,

 

[OntarioArch]

Appreciate those close ups. Since I posted several days ago the saga of my jaspar re-chip which actually turned out to be a complete repro...can I ask what might be an obvious question?
What tool used to chip old flint leaves copper traces?

 

[Fat]

Appreciate those close ups. Since I posted several days ago the saga of my jaspar re-chip which actually turned out to be a complete repro...can I ask what might be an obvious question?
What tool used to chip old flint leaves copper traces?

... a copper billet. It is a common used tool modern knapper’s use...

 

[smallfoot]

Besides the billets that Fat mentioned, there are flaking tools also made from copper. I have large copper nails and hard copper wire that works great for flaking.