Collecting seals and scarabs is a worldwide hobby of many people. Unfortunately many offered objects, especially on Ebay, are fakes. (See Menu: Fakes on Ebay) The authentic pieces very often are looted from Near Eastern sites.  Nevertheless collecting these objects is possible and a very interesting subject so why not sharing some of our pieces with the public on this webpage ? Of course it can't show a full development of Near Eastern seals and scarabs. Only a few chosen items are shown to give the expert, scientist and collector some hints to compare and maybe to do further research. You will find information on this website that will help you to identify fakes and the sellers of forgeries.

There is a gallery with faked, dubious and problematic seals and scarabs on this website. Many of these items have an unknown provenance and were sent to me by other collectors. See menu "Fake Gallery" http://www.seal-collector.de/pageID_5325611.html

This web-page was created with the kind assistance of Dr. Sylvia Winkelmann, archeologist and specialist for Near Eastern and Central Asian archaeology.

Sept. 2010: There are faked seals sold on www.ebay.uk.co  see Fake Gallery:

http://www.seal-collector.de/pageID_5325611.html

June 2011: Warning: faked Lambert notes on Ebay !

http://www.seal-collector.de/fakes-on-ebay.html

And here is a comment from Dr. Winkelmann on these seals in my fake gallery.(Email from July 6th 2011) She kindly gave me permission to publish it:

"Very helpful, your analysis of the faked cylinder seals. I fully agree."

I wish to thank the galleries and collectors who gave me the permission to publish their seals and scarabs.

O. Sprenger