EXAMINING THE AUTHENCITY OF MEDAL AMULETS / RIAN
Rians/medal amulets are moulded out of different types of metal, pure or mixed alloys. Majority of medal amulets are machine-moulded, old period of medal amulets may be moulded manually by hand. They are moulded in molten state, and cooled immediately to solidify them. After solidified, uneven edges are then filed and smoothed, paint or enamel are then coated.
Medal amulets/Rians are easiest to identify authencity, easiest to produce imitation too. Easiest to identify because it's identification is based on geometry and dimensions, easiest to produce imitation because of the same reasons. However very high quality imitations do exist, especially for pieces which are expensive and popular and often old.
You need a 10X magnifying glass to examine amulets. Examine the difference between pieces in regards to the following (not all are applicable):
The shape, size and thickness of the medal.
The depth of the imprint (indent) and height of the relief of the moulding.
The clarity, the size and shape, thickness, and the depth and height of the wordings and Yantra scripts.
The direction Yantra scripts overlap and intertwine each other.
The clarity of the figure's eyes, forehead wrinkles, ears, hair and the wrinkles of the robes.
The significant hair-fine lines, needle lines, dots, grooves, ridges and plateaus formed on the medal from the moulding.
The shape of punched in stamps and coding, and the shape and size or font of the punched in numbers.
The freshness/aging of scratched Yantras scripts if any.
The sawed/chiseled/filed marks of the edges, some old medals made before BE2500 may have these marks due to different methods/technology of production.
The color tone and of the medal's metal in regards to gold, silver, navaloha, bronze or other alloys.
The color tone of the medal's coated paint.
The aging of the medal, the luster and patina of the metal, and the freshness of the coat of paint.
Take note that although all medal amulets/Rians moulded out of the same mould should be identical, there are bound to have some very slight differences from piece to piece, which occurs more often with older medals made before BE2500, such as extra lines and dots, and variable clarify in fine detailed areas. This is because of the moulding and color coating process, as the same mould is used for same few thousand pieces and may cause some slight differences such as extra tiny dots, variable clarify and deepness in hair texture, forehead wrinkles and the wordings, these differences however, are extremely slight and uncommon for newer medals.
Examining Rians/medal amulets rely a lot on sensitiveness to shapes and sizes, geometry and dimensions, and more importantly on finesse and detail and therefore spotting differences between imitation pieces from authentic pieces.
The above guidelines and advises are made from a general point of view, not all points mentioned in this article are applicable, simply because every pieces are different and special in their own ways.
Back to Home Page
Next to Examining Phong
https://www.angelfire.com/art/thaibuddhistamulets/3rian.html
Comments