I don't collect much in the way of flint type tools. They are the easiest to fake and next to easiest to get fooled by. Slate relics are easily the most difficult to 100% authenticate. Anyway,  I have seen obviously fake flint artifacts that some of the most respected collectors proudly display as authentic. When I tactfully ask them, one must always walk on eggshells when questioning authenticity of an old timer, "why are you sure that piece is ancient?" I have heard replies like "I was there when it was found & the finder needed some cash and sold it to me" or "The person I bought it from found it in a box of artifacts that was tucked away in some old lady's basement". #1 scenario: the finder put the $10 fake in the field himself to make an easy $100 #2 there was no old lady. The point being that these pieces in any other collection would be suspect and the only reason they are in the old timers collection is because he thought the tool was awesome and believed the story before believing his own eyes and personal experiences.

This is my favorite box of rocks. They are all very symmetrical and made by master masons. They are all smaller axes & celts but unlike the humongous ones, these were likely carried and used on a daily basis. I guess there are around 40 pieces in this box. Ohio short poll axes are my favorite but it looks like they are in the bottom layers.

Fossils are way cool! For a short period of time fossils were flowing out of Morocco like funny money out of the Federal Reserve. Supply and demand kept the prices low on eBay and I managed to acquire a few. The flawless great white in the bottom right corner was found by my mother on Myrtle Beach! The 6 inch meg was acquired thru a marble trade ... that was a sweet acquisition! The lower KY cave bear jaw section was purchased at the Springfield antique show. The cat claw was given to me by my "Lion Tamer" Aunt Elloise 40 years years ago when the circus was in town and one of her cats got it wedged it the holding cage. The small meg in the right bottom was given to me by a childhood friend Phillip whose father picked a bunch of them up on the beaches of Vietnam [his father was killed the next year and Phillip and his mom moved away]. The rest of the frame came from eBay.

Some bigger rocks.

Another box of bigger rocks. I really have an affinity for squared Hopewell celts. My bestest, most favorite one [not pictured] is a piece I purchased from a known dealer of fake everything. He used to set up at the Ohio Arch shows and must have been like J. Egar Hoover and had dirt on everyone of any influence. So at another show I walk up to his table to examine the fakes and learn what not to buy, looked down and immediately the most perfect, most obviously ancient, 7" square celt just jumped out at me. In the middle of all of those fakes, it stood out like a sore thumb. I tell this true story because there is a lesson to be learned by newbies ...

Yep, that is an honest to goodness Christianson Agate Guinea! Plus some pretty peltiers and the clear peach/white/baby blue experimental run pieces glow like crazy. I don't have a clue who made them.

Some pretty Akro Agates

My broken slate collection. Most of these pieces were acquired 1 or 2 at a time. I did buy a huge box-o-slate from Frank M. but over 1/2 of the pieces had brand new drill holes in them. The person Frank got them from, Frank is one of the very few honest artifact people I have met, must have been working on some fakes and was practicing hole drilling on these broken pieces. I was initially perturbed at the deal, but by the time I separated the good from ruined pieces [I got the altered pieces in 2 big ziplocks somewhere] I decided that $500 was not a bad deal. Most were common broken gorgets & pendants but there was one very nice notched butterfly that was 60% intact.