As a collector/buyer/seller of ancient Native American relics, and as a longtime volunteer for the Authentic Artifacts Collectors Association, Inc.,  or AACA, I am often asked my opinion on certain auctions or sellers. The best general advice to be followed would be to only purchase from reputable AACA sellers that adhere to the AACA rules and goals. You can search AACA under Native American/pre-1940 to see all auctions offered by our members. If AACA members do not follow fair business practices, the Association will hold the member to the AACA rules to which they agreed when joining. If the rules are not followed, members are removed from membership.

When considering an artifact auction, look for certain red flags that indicate that you as a buyer may not receive what is described by the seller.

1. Private auctions- The AACA has opposed the private auction feature since its inception, and the Association does not permit its members to conduct private auctions. This feature is often used to hide the names of bidders and records of past auctions from potential buyers. Honest sellers will have nothing to hide from bidders.

2.Guarantees- Good sellers will offer an unconditional guarantee of at least 14 days to give buyers time to determine authenticity. A guarantee of less time may not be long enough to have another collector or authenticator examine the relic plus get it returned to the seller. Also, remember that a guarantee from a non-AACA seller is only as good as that seller's word, as the seller has no rules to follow but his own. A good seller will stand behind his artifact sales as being accurately described in the auction. A bad seller may decide to start his guarantee at the close of the auction, not when you receive the item, and then may take a week or two to mail the relic!

3.Pictures- Auctions with far away or fuzzy pictures may mislead a buyer into believing more than actually meets the eye.If auction pics are not clear as to the true condition and identity of an artifact, contact the seller for more pictures. A good seller will attempt to get you better closeups and answer all of your questions.

4.Feedback ratings- The feedback feature is often misunderstood. In grade school, we learned that 90-100% is an A, 80-90% is a B, and so on. Not so with feedback. Some of the biggest sellers of fraudulent artifacts can carry feedback ratings of 95-98% positive feedbacks.How is this possible? It is possible because of this- MANY buyers of  relics DO NOT KNOW or DO NOT CARE if an artifact is ancient. Also, buyers may be hesitant to leave bad feedback even if a deal was bad, because they do not want the seller to retaliate with bad feedback on them. So, these two factors combined create for the ancients buyer a feedback rating that is not a true reflection of the true authenticity of a seller's auctions. Private feedback should be avoided as it is commonly used to hide shortcomings.

5. Questions- The online auction houses offer a means of asking the seller questions BEFORE bidding. Use this feature to determine if a seller can offer better pictures, a longer guarantee period, or to answer any other questions you may have about the offered artifact. Not all sellers are experts on native American Indian artifacts. A good seller will try to answer your questions and will give you a good idea as to whether you want to deal with them, or not.

6. Seller's other auctions- The other items offered by a seller will give a clearer picture of the seller's collecting habits. Always look over other offerings and completed auctions for signs that the seller may be misleading or merely un-informed about ancient artifacts.

7. Price- The saying if it looks to good to be true, it probably isn't, applies strongly to collecting ancient artifacts on the internet. There are no $5 authentic Clovis.

8.Shipping and Insurance- A good seller's shipping policy will be stated clearly and concisely. If you are haviong artifacts of great value shipped, use the insurance services available. If it is not available, ask the seller for the service BEFORE bidding.

9. The Story- Some of the newest artifacts are sold with a good story, such as old grandpa found this digging the garden or I picked this up in----, or this came from a famous old (unidentified) collection. The story is easy to make up, so a buyer should always take the story with a grain of salt and the knowledge that even in old granddad's time, there were modern replicas being made.

10. The Artifact itself - KNOW what you COLLECT. If you are not familiar with a type or material, LEARN all you can about it BEFORE bidding. Sites like AACA, arrowheads1, arrowpack, and arrowheads are good places to learn more about ancient artifacts. Many AACA members have linked educational websites with a wealth of information for the smart collector.

11. BUYER BEWARE - No matter whether in Latin or English, there is great truth to the warning when buying authentic relics. There are sellers that will take your money and mail you gravel. Even more insidious are the thousands of modern replicas that are passed off as ancient artifacts for fast profits. Buyers may also want to pay using credit cards or Paypal for the buyer protections that they offer.

Your very best protection in dealing with authentic ancient artifacts on the internet is to only deal with reputable sellers who are members of the Authentic Artifact Collectors Association, Inc, or AACA. There are, of course, some good sellers that are not AACA members, but there is no good reason for those sellers NOT to subscribe to minimal rules of honesty and fair trading.

If buyers will follow these basic rules of buying, the internet auction house can greatly expand your ancients collection and provide a much more pleasant collecting experience.

Cliff Jackson, President

AACA, Inc.