We were walking up the tops of Northowram the other day, up past were all the old stone quarries used to be, and I suddenly spotted an abandoned pile of stone slates. Somebody had kindly chiselled numbers on each of them so they turned into a traditional stone equivalent of my daily calendar I was thrilled with this authentic historical discovery, and as someone had equally carved the name of the quarry on each stone, I headed home to see if I could pin down their origin to perhaps Northowram or the Shibden Valley. Oh, Burnett, Burnett, Burnett .... you gullible fool. A quick quarry of the internet revealed their origin. They are "reconstructed stone" made from glue and stone dust. They have been "authentically recreated" to even incorporate tool marks. You can even buy a version with fake green lichen clinging to them. They come from a factory somewhere down south. They are the stone equivalent of MDF. They are as genuine as a politicians promise to support NHS workers.
This opens an interesting debate of forgeries as against reproductions. Both have been around for a long time. It is said that in his early years, Michelangelo forged a sleeping cupid and artificially aged the stone in order to pass it off as the real thing.
ReplyDeleteI imagine that the old-time Northowram quarry workers are having a wry smile at this one from the next world.
PS. On a different topic. Did you pick up the news item I emailed to you a couple of days ago?
So why has someone abandoned a pile of them on top of a hill?
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