Dawn of the atomic age helps carbon dating detect forged art

By Emma Stoye2019-06-07T10:16:00

An image showing a forged painting of a 19th century village scene signed and dated 'Sarah Honn May 5, 1866 A.D.'

Source: Image courtesy of James Hamm (Buffalo State College, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY)

Spike in radiocarbon from nuclear bomb tests harnessed to detect fakes

A technique that uses radiocarbon dating to pinpoint when an artwork was created could make it easier for experts to detect forgeries. Conservation scientists performed the analysis on a known counterfeit painting created by the forger Robert Trotter to test the new technique. The painting Village Scene with Horse and Honn & Company Factory is signed Sarah Honn and dated 1866, but measurements of the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in an organic component of the paint shows it can’t have been created until the late 20th century.