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 Can you tell the difference?*

IF YOU BUY OR SELL Latin American crafts or antiques, this site's for you! Learn how to tell an artifact from an artifake. These are modern items commonly described as ancient, new items made from old components (IMPOSTERS) and the most common REPLICAS for sale.

THE IDEA FOR THIS SITE came one day while browsing the Latin American Ethnographic antiques category on Ebay. The vast majority of the items that I know best were being misrepresented.

MOST of those described as 18th century were actually new-- or at best-- old copies. There was enough horse manure in some of those descriptions to grow mushrooms! What's worse, they were getting bids!

I think most sellers don't mislead purposely--they simply don't know better. Some just don't care. Either way, it was clear to me: buyers need inside information to do well on Ebay. Scammers or misinformed dealers exploit buyers and hurt conscientious sellers as well.

WHAT MAKES ME SO SMART? For the past 26 years, I have made my living dealing in Latin American handcraft, religious art and antiques. I've made more than 30 buying trips to South America since 1984. I speak, write and read Spanish fluently, and I know what is for sale on any street corner of Otavalo or Cusco. I am a trader, a student, a craftsman and a restorer...in short: This is my life.  

Enjoy the site and please email with ideas, comments, photos of items you would like to have identified and maybe I can use them in the site. (7 more pages to come!)

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DISCLAIMER....This site is for educational purposes only. I cannot offer legal advice or respond to emails about specific auctions or vendors. These are my opinions and this site is in no way associated with eBay.com. PLEASE DO NOT DISTRIBUTE OR REPRODUCE without permission--and/or awesome compensation to the author. :) I will only feature items here that I know extremely well and every fact can be documented ©2011 Leslie Goodwin