The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-19 00:00:00

SHAM ANTIQUI7IES.

On Wednesday, at the Bucks Petty Sessions,
held at Slough, before Mr. C. P. Stuart and the'
Rev. H. H. Way, county magistrates, two men,
who gave the names of Charles Eaton and George
Henry Smith, were charged with a long series of
frauds by the sale of sham antiquities, re-
presented to have been dug up at Windsor. The
men represented that they Ind been employed at
some excavations for an addition to the Victoria
Brewery at Windsor, and that while so engaged
they came upon and broke with their tools an urn,
containing weapons, coins, spoons, and other arti-
cles of Roman or Saxon workmanship. They pro-
duced specimens of these " antiquities" to trades-
men in Eton, Datchett, Slough, Ashford, Feltham,
Staines, &c.—in fact, a pocketbook found on one of
the men shoWed they had started from London on
speculation, and taken the several towns on the
South-Western Railway all the way up to Windsor.
At Datchett, for instance, they sold two articles for
7s. to Mr. Dickman, an innkeeper, who purchases
curiosities for a friend. A second lot was purchased
at 55., and a third at Gs.- Next morning Mr. Dick-
-
man went to Windsor, and discovered, upon in
quiring for the remains of the urn, that he had been
swindled. Mr. William Sharp, of the White Hart
Hotel, at Slough, bought four articles, including a
ring, a dagger, and a fish-shaped medallion, for
ss. Mr. Sharp happened to know Mr. Purcell,
the 'Secretary of the Archaeological Society, and
on going up to the town he called with his pur-
chase at Burlington-gardens. Mr. Purcell could
not reconcile the date with the characters upon the
supposed antiquarian relics, and
The Mr.
men Shar
sold p left
them for expert investigation.
sham coin for half a crown to a youth named
Wyborn, the son of a chemist at Eton. Mr. Wyborn
took the coin to the Rev. J. Rawlins, an antiquary
at Windsor, and the reverend gentleman at once
pronounced it a forgery. Mr. Rawlins then ascer-
stauisnpeedtdhhaattdhaabteceoannnsdiaditsetporeanslbedpl et quantity
oaauntltd‘i tvbyienodfmstoahrdes,
a anti-
quities"sdulpi
broker
information to n
e
dhleectigt
trrhheeEgtaonng boysn,in eaento‘d‘
tatt,haet poWind-
sor, out of 45., and Mr. Drake Lewis out of Bs. ;
but at Mr. Lewis's the two men who were the ring-
leaders of the gang were apprehended by police-
constable Crichton, of the Bucki constabulary, and
they at once returned Mr. Lewis his money. The
policemans conveyed his prisoner to the county
police station at Slough. A large parcel of the
" antiquities" was produced in court. On breaking
specimens it was found that they were all modern
cast brass, covered with a green oxidation to give
them an ancient appearance. Mr. Dunham, the
sergeant of the Bucks constabulary, informed the
magistrate that at least twenty caseA, all precisely
similar in the false representations made and th
articles vended, could be proved against the pri-
e
soners in the district between Staines and Windsor:
The magistrates committed the prisoners for trim
at the Aylesbury assizes. The rest of the
gang and
the mother and wife of one of the men precipitately
left the court.

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dam,gos claimed by the plaintiff were 500 f.; but the
Court, admitting there had been some negligence on the
part of the comrany, awarded a sum of 400 f. as sufficient
compensation.