True Life Tuesday: The Tiara of Saitaferne

This story could be made into a movie. It proves that sometimes even experts can be fooled.

On April 1, 1896 the Louvre in Paris announced an exciting purchase. The stated that they obtained a gold tiara that once belonged to Scythian king Saitaphames. The purchase price was 200,000 gold French francs. Right away there were some questions about the authenticity of the tiara. One of the first questioners was German archeologist Adolf Furtwangler.

In 1903 the story of the tiara reached a goldsmith from Odessa in the Ukraine named Israel Rouchomovsky. He realized that this was the item he was commissioned to create in 1894 by brothers Schepechelle and Leib Hochman. The brothers told him that this was a gift for an archeologist friend of theirs. Israel did make his way to Paris and presented himself as the creator. The museum did not believe him at first until he was able to replicate portions of the crown. 

Embarrassed the museum removed the tiara from display and hid it away in storage. Rouchomovsky became famous for his work and remained in Paris until his death in 1934. He earned a gold medal at the Paris Salon of Decorative Arts. In 1954 the museum decided to display the tiara in its "salon of fakes". it has also been lent out to many other museums for display over the years.