gems, gem collecting, antique gems, glyptic, engraved gems, Greek, Roman, C.W. King

A Cambridge don with particular interests in classical literature and minerals, Charles W. King devoted most of his life to the study and collecting of antique gems. This essay attempts to shed light on the development of a new concept of artistic authenticity in the latter half of the 19th century. While for other collectibles, forgeries were in part responsible for the growing appreciation of the original objects, King condemned this “fraudulent ingenuity” and identified it as one of the main causes of the crisis of gem collecting in his time. His papers, bequeathed to Trinity College Cambridge upon his death, offer valuable insights into the nature and characteristics of 19th-century gem forgeries. In spite of his expertise, King’s collection of Greek and Roman engraved gems, acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1881, counts a number of modern imitations, which will help explore the criteria and methodology he adopted in the evaluation of antique gems. By focusing on Charles W. King, this essay aims to reassess the impact of modern forgeries and interpolations of classical engraved gems in the 19th century, thus reaching a better understanding of a transitional and critical phase in the history of gem collecting.