Most sellers of antiques on Ebay are ethical and honest, and most people genuinely sell the real deal, but a few may require more looking into and research before buying.

THE ITEM or SCENARIO;

I noted recently an auction for an "Antique mid 1800's terra cotta keystone" purportedly salvaged from a building.

MY BACKGROUND EXPERIENCE;

As a lifelong avid collector of these very pieces, as well as a sculptor who creates new ones. At one point I had 50 TONS worth of architectural salvage, every piece removed from buildings myself. I worked 5 years in a commercial plaster statuary production business, and 4 years in a commercial ceramics firm as supervisor, chief mold maker and more. I have cast bronzes, worked with foundries and as a sculptor I have produced my own sculptures since I was 16- some 30+ years of experience there. I consider myself about as expert as it comes to identifying these pieces.


THE PROBLEM;

 Most people make the mistake of calling anything that looks old "antique" or hand carved (see my other guides) while others mistakingly name almost everything a "corbel" or a "keystone" regardless of shape, for the most part,  in both instances this is simply a lack of experience and knowlege on the items. When I have contacted sellers with corrections or more information on their item, 99.9% say thanks and they had no idea and make a correction or additions in their listing.

Recently I noticed the aforementioned "keystone" and looked at the photos, especially of the BACK, I instantly recognized it to be stained/painted plaster of paris, NOT terra cotta.

SIGNS TO LOOK FOR and CRITERIA;

Scratches; terra cotta does not show SCRATCHES!, terra cotta can chip but you will not see a multitude of scratches. Terra cotta on buildings is never chalk white where  chips appear, if you see a chipped corner and it's white, it's PLASTER.

Terra cotta is always made HOLLOW in anything larger than a baseball, it must be made hollow otherwise it will explode in the kiln when the water in it turns to steam- quite dramatic! If the item  is SOLID, it is PLASTER, concrete, or resin or fiberglass, rarely it might be stone in which case most stone weighs 150# a cubic foot, concrete can be mistaken for stone too.

Terra cotta does not permit METAL of any kind in it, metals will expand and crack the clay or they melt in the intense heat of the kiln, thus you will NOT see any kind of hooks, wires or rods on the back of a terra cotta piece embedded into it.
Architectural terra cotta and stone salvaged pieces do NOT hang on the wall, so the back would never have a way to HANG it on the wall, they were embedded INTO the wall.

As can be seen in the photos, there are white spots on this piece along with scratches on the back (photo 2 and 3), that shows it's plaster of paris, it is also solid and there's a dug-ou notch in photo 2 made in the plaster before setting so it can hang on a nail or picture hook. The tell-tale evidence proves it is not what it is claimed to be and is probably a circa 1970's plaster cast stained to look old, it is absolutely not terra cotta nor from the 1800's!

EXAMPLE PHOTOS;

 

THIS is what a real architectural salvaged grey terra cotta piece looks like in the back, note that it has compartments and is hollow, this one shows red paint only on the exposed surfaces, a closeup shot will show finger marks inside- slightly seen in the top compartment- from the worker's hands hollowing it out, concrete is always smooth and shows no such finger prints and marks;



CONCLUSION;

An ethical seller will recognize these bits of knowlege and take corrective action, unethical people won't, I noted the auction page remained unchanged after my email and still described as "1800's" terra cotta, whomever winds up with it will have to learn on their own, hopefully my guide here will prevent  similar in the future.