Came across this quite book by chance "THE ANTIQUARY'S BOOKS, ARCHEOLOGY AND FALSE ANTIQUITIES" 1905 and it had this to say...
"At a seance of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-
Lettres, held on the ist of April, 1896, it was announced
that the Musee du Louvre had just acquired two wonder-
ful monuments of ancient Greek goldsmiths' work, viz.
a tiara and a neck-collar, found in Southern Russia, near
the site of the ancient town of Olbia. For these objects
200,000 francs were paid. Oh the tiara (PI. XVIII.) there
was an inscription to the effect that it was an offering by
that town to a Scythian king named Saitapharnes. One
did not know, it was said, which to admire most the
fresh condition in which the tiara had reached them,
the importance of its composition, or the historical in-
terest attached to it. From the very beginning, some
experts, such as Furtwasngler, of Munich, De Stern,
conservator of the Odessa Museum, and Murray and
Read, of the British Museum, had expressed doubts as to
the authenticity of the tiara, as well as of other antiquities
professing to come from the same quarter. But these
opinions were confined to experts and had no effect on the
public, or on the responsible authorities of the Louvre
Museum. It was not till the summer of 1903 that the
circumstantial evidence of its forgery reached a climax.
M. Reinach thus describes the circumstances :"
"Meantime a correspondent of the Figaro telegraphed
from Odessa that Rouchoumowsky was ready to come to
Paris for 1200 francs, and supply proof positive that
he had actually manufactured the tiara. The result of
the official investigation which ensued on his arrival
in Paris ha
not, however, completely solved the mystery.
There is no longer any doubt that the tiara to the extent
of three-fourths was the actual work of this artist ; but as
to the rest, as well as certain ornamental details, they were
supplied to him as mutilated fragments, said to be
ancient, by one Hochmann, a grain merchant, from Otch-
akoff, near Odessa, for whom he had executed the work.
It is reported that behind all there is a learned archaeolo-
gist who manufactured the supposed ancient fragments,
but who will not come on the scene till 1905, when the
time for taking legal action in cases of forgery expires."
![[Image: image-254800-galleryV9-rvfw.jpg]](http://www.spiegel.de/images/image-254800-galleryV9-rvfw.jpg)
