Hello Warren, long time no hear!
A year or so back there was a small Indian foundry casting repro safe brasses and bronzes in his ‘back yard shop’ and selling them as a business on eBay from India. Not good, a bit of a shock to say the least, but he was in all fairness clear in how he sold them at the time- he described and listed them as repros, and wasn’t trying to make out they were original or antique.
The can of worms gets opened when people buy them (from worldwide) and then sell them on, as the Indian description and reproduction title is often dropped, and swapped for the typical ’I’m no expert’ and ’looks like it’s old or antique’ sort of descriptions that we are all used to seeing on eBay.
What struck me was that they hadn’t picked out typical makers you’d expect them to copy, nor were they extremely rare examples. They were the lesser known and slightly obscure names which seemed a bit odd.
From an ID perspective the clues were in the general finish and dulled looking castings. They lacked the sharpness, definition and precise edges around the motifs and lettering you’d expect to see on most original examples.
Robert Tann was I’m pretty sure one of the copies they did but not 100% sure on your example there though- I’m not into them enough to determine minor Warrant and motif details etc so I’ll play it safe and sit on the fence…albeit perhaps leaning more towards the Indian side :-(
Anyway Ill have to catch up with a PM- often wondered the outcome of your GP mystery ‘masonic’ key
