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Message:: [QUOTE="DonnaML, post: 7850316, member: 110350"]I agree about coins, but I'm not quite as confident about the antiquities available through V-Coins. For example, there's a dealer located in Dubai who always seems to have dozens of Egyptian ushabtis for sale in what I would call a low-to-medium price range (say, $400-$2,000). They all look basically like ushabtis are supposed to look, and I have no specific knowledge that this dealer sells fake antiquities --  only that he's rather notorious for the artificial "desert patina" he applies to certain coins -- but I'd be a bit hesitant to buy one of them without having an expert look at it first. Especially because, authenticity concerns aside, I can't help wondering where he gets such a continuous and regular supply of ushabtis to sell, given that they aren't exactly indigenous to Dubai, and it's been illegal for years to export antiquities from Egypt. I do realize that huge numbers were taken out of or exported from Egypt when it was legal to do so -- the Cairo Museum even used to sell genuine antiquities in its gift shop! -- but I still wonder. The Egyptian "antiquities" for sale on Ebay, by the way, tend to be so ridiculously fake-looking that they make Sadigh's products look like genuine masterpieces by contrast. It's hard to imagine that they fool anyone, but they do.[/QUOTE]