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Post by Toby Benoit on Sept 6, 2008 9:17:17 GMT 12.75
Fellers, I got a question. My Dad was given a surgeon's scalpel from one of my not so distant cousins in Indiana. It supposedly was made for an ancestor of ours who was a country doctor/surgeon during the Civil War period. As far as anyone knows, he was never a part of any military unit or action, but he did practice up in the Pike County area of Illinois during the 1860's. It was used for generations as a castrator, de-balling hogs and steering bulls. The scalpel is hand forged and the handle is made from an antler tine of a deer that's so old and polished, it looks almost like ebony wood rather than antler. No stamp marks or anything such as that and certainly no dates. Only the handed down word of family members. How could you authenticate something like that for collectors? It's certainly not going to be up for sale...just wondering.
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Post by Paws on Sept 6, 2008 23:06:45 GMT 12.75
Generally authentication of hand made items is done by a chain of ownership stories, sometimes certificates. Write the history of the piece and include photos of the owners, especially the original owner. Check to see if there actually was a surgery where he supposedly practiced. You can do that through the AMA, tax records and period newspapers. Got a picture of it?
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Post by Toby Benoit on Sept 7, 2008 6:54:30 GMT 12.75
Generally authentication of hand made items is done by a chain of ownership stories, sometimes certificates. Write the history of the piece and include photos of the owners, especially the original owner. Check to see if there actually was a surgery where he supposedly practiced. You can do that through the AMA, tax records and period newspapers. Got a picture of it? No, I don't have a picture of it yet, but I'll take one and post it here. I just thought it was kind of interesting, it being so old and all and having been in the family so long.
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kj
Pan Wrangler
Posts: 140
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Post by kj on Sept 8, 2008 0:43:26 GMT 12.75
It sounds beautiful and like it has some potent history behind it. There is a program on PBS called the History Detectives. They always seem to be looking for interesting leads. A lot of the stories that I've watched have been submitted by people hoping to authenticate family stories and learn more about their items. You can submit a request at: www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/about/submit.html
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Post by Toby Benoit on Sept 8, 2008 15:43:57 GMT 12.75
Awesome!
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Post by Paws on Sept 22, 2008 7:11:37 GMT 12.75
PBS as in Politically Biased Stories or Programmed Bull S ; aw never mind. It just irks the hell out of me that we spend public funds for a liberal media and call it public. What a pant load! Guess what happens if we try to get public funding for a Christian station or one called The Freedom Republic or maybe Let's Talk Conservative!
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