Showerthought: Found a trick for identifying fake arrowheads at my local museum

I kept seeing these perfect Clovis points at antique shops near my place in Flagstaff and something felt off. Turns out if you scratch them with a steel nail, real ones leave a white streak while fakes (made from modern glass) don't. Has anyone else tried this test on supposed artifacts?

2 comments

2 Comments

richard_hall9d ago

Wait, you scratched museum pieces with a steel nail? I mean I get the impulse but that feels like something that would get you banned from every museum in Arizona. @kim.wren you might be onto something with the fake vanilla comparison because these modern glass fakes are getting scary good. The white streak test is actually legit though, I've used it on a few points I found up near Walnut Canyon and it saved me from buying a couple real pretty fakes. Weird thing is some of the old timers say flint knappers back in the day used to heat treat their stone which can change the scratch color sometimes. Might be worth checking with the geology department at NAU before you go scratching everything in sight.

kim.wren9d ago

Yeah, fakes are everywhere now, like fake vanilla extract at the store.

-1