Also see my guide on FAKE SILVER YAD POINTERS.

Recently there has been an  upsurge and flooding of the Judaica markets on Ebay and Judaica shops all over Europe of certain types of silver Besamim holders. A Bessomim holder is a spice container which can contain fragrant spices that are used at the commencement of the Sabbath. Blessings are made over these spices and a candle. The Besammim holder is usually made from silver, but all types of mediums can be used, gold, wood, ivory and even plastic. In the past 10 years or so, there has a been a inundation of Bessamim holders  flooding the Judaica markets all over the world and Ebay is no exception. These forged besamim holders are made of silver and have hallmarks from the 1700s and late 1800s, usually of a Russian type. I have not located the source of these Torah pointers, but an educated guess can point out that they come from Russia, Romania, Poland and/or Israel. Certain sellers on Ebay, located in the USA, Canada, Italy, Russia & the USA have been selling these bessamim holders for at least the past 3 years and unwary customers who don't know better have been plucking down from $100 to up to $600 and more a piece. These sellers misrepresent these pieces as being over 100 years old! Judaica antique shops in Europe also carry these pieces and also misrepresent their true origin and age. While these pieces are nice, their actual Judaica value should be no more than $50 (silver content and work)!

How can you tell if you have one of these FORGERIES?!

Aside from the pictures that I've provided here, I have listed 5 points that every Judaica collector should be aware of:

1) The item not only looks unused and new, IT IS NEW! If you have a similar besamim holder and peek inside, you will see new silver, never used. If these pieces are 100 years old, it's not possible that they were never used! My goodness, they were meant to be used at least once a week!
2) The piece has no rough edges. A 100+ year old item has to have some wear and tear, usually seen through rounded edges. This piece has sharp edges, like it was made yesterday.
3) The hall marks of 1844,1878, 1873, 1867,1894, 1884,1889 etc is usually put on the wrong place. It was usually put on the bottom, INSIDE the piece where it could not be seen right away, or one after the other. Also, how many hallmarks does one need? 1 or 2 is usually enough, some of these have FOUR different hallmarks just to PROVE TO YOU that they are "authentic"!
4) Why are there so many of these pieces  being sold on Ebay all of a sudden? Did someone just discover a giant collection of these in the thousands??!! Just do a search on ebay every few days (now is a good time) with the words " YAD" or 'BESAMIM". See how many of these silver judaica you come up, with similar images that you see here! Coincidence or....fraud?

5) The theme of some of these besamim holders is not very "jewish". A sad looking Jew may be looking down towards the ground? Ask yourself, "who wants a sad looking jew reading the Torah?"! Why remind Jews fo sadness on the day when the Torah is read on the Sabbath, the holiest and happiest day of the week?!

These 6 points should make you enough of an expert to realize if you have a forgery on your hands. Please look at the pictures provided and you will get a better idea of what I am talking about. The themes in these pointers keep on repeating themselves.

Also see my auctions on Ebay for 2 of these works which I myself bought thinking that they were real! I too made the same mistake!

If you made a mistake, complain to your supplier or ebay seller! Complain to Ebay! That's the only way we can put a stop to these con artists! Thank you for reading this and I hope I have been helpful in educating you in the field of Judaica Torah Pointers. Also, check out my review on Bessamim holders, which come from the same source of pirates and be aware!

Check out my Ebay store for 2 of these YAD POINTERS and Besamim holders. Also check out my link for more examples. Thanks for reading this and I hope I have been
helpful in saving you some money!

FORGED BESAMIM HOLDERS

Last but not least and perhaps  MOST important, I BEG YOU to PLEASE vote on this and my other guides. It's the only way others will know that they have been conned. My gradation in the listings will give more exposure to all Ebayers and perhaps some newspapers who will pick up on this fact that cons are working on EBay to make a quick buck to the unsuspecting consumer. Only YOU with your vote can help fight this type of internet fraud. Help me to help others by voting on as many of my guides as you can....PLEASE! Thank you for taking the time to look at my guide. God bless you and may you get only the best that life has to offer!