Do you recognize these imposters?
SHIPIBO POTTERY (at left) is all MODERN.
They are coil pots with colored slips, geometric designs and crudely varnished. Some are round and others are anthro-pormorphic (having human features.) Terra cotta or cream colors predominate. Made in the Amazon basin in Peru by a tribe of the same name. The oldest Shipibo pot you will ever see dates to the 1940s and few that old are still around. They are not hard-fired. I used to sell this pottery for importers who lived with the Shipibo, so these facts come straight from the experts. I once saw a Shipibo pot featured in a Sotheby's catalog of Precolumbian* art--which proves even they can make mistakes.
PERUVIAN "MUMMY" DOLLS also fall into the IMPOSTER category. They are charming replicas which are made from actual precolumbian fabric scraps, thus a test of the fabric would indicate that they are indeed ancient. They are often hawked as original precolumbian* artifacts on Ebay bringing shockingly high prices.
However they can be bought in the handcraft markets in Lima for about 3 dollars each--a good buy in the States would be about $15.00 for a single size doll. Importers used to feature them in their catalogs.
The actual ancient dolls, are extremely rare and you should never expect to see one turn up on Ebay. The new dolls have yarn embroidered faces but the originals have flat-woven facial features and would be worth at least $1,500. (Another type is featured on the first page) *Precolumbian means pre-1492.
