Billy and Charley - The Story of the Shadwell ForgeriesWilliam 'Billy' Smith and Charles 'Charley' Eaton ( -
January 4, 1870) were an
enterprising pair of Londoners who made a living by digging
on the Thames foreshore and selling the ancient objects they
found there to both collectors and dealers.
Around 1857, demand for medieval artefacts had
outstripped what Billy and Charley could supply from their
excavations on the river bank, so they started making their
own medieval pilgrim badges and medallions in workshops in
Shadwell, London.
After years of selling their forgeries many people became
suspicious, the inscriptions on the items were meaningless
scrawls, dates as early as the eleventh century appeared on
objects in Arabic, instead of Roman, numerals and the
resulting bad press from noted archaeologists and
antiquarians of the period put them out of business.
Today, 'Billy and Charley' forgeries are very collectible
indeed.
Hopefully, I will be able to get some photographs of
Billy and Charley forgeries to illustrate this page, but
there is already an excellent site showing many different
types here.
External Links
An online gallery
of known examples of Billy and Charley's handiwork |
