Ion Beam Analysis and 14C Accelerator Mass Spectroscopy to Identify Ancient and Recent Art Forgeries

Abstract

Forgeries exist in many fields. Money, goods, and works of art have been imitated for centuries to deceive and make a profit. In the field of Cultural Heritage, nuclear techniques can be used to study art forgeries. Ion beam analysis (IBA), as well as 14C accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), are now established techniques, and the purpose of this paper is to report on their capacity to provide information on ancient, as well as modern, forgeries. Two case studies are presented: the production of silver counterfeit coins in the 16th century and the detection of recent forgeries of 20th century paintings. For the counterfeit coins, two silvering processes were identified by IBA: mercury silvering (also called amalgam silvering or fire silvering) and pure silver plating. The discovery of 14 mercury silvered coins is an important finding since there are very few known examples from before the 17th century. In the detection of recent forgeries, among the five paintings examined, 14C dating showed that three of them are definitely fakes, one is most likely a fake, and one remains undetermined. These results were obtained by using the bomb peak calibration curve to date canvas and paint samples.