Minuscule 2427

Codex 2427 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), formerly known as Archaic Mark, is a miniature manuscript of the Gospel of Mark written in minuscule Greek. The manuscript had been very difficult to date paleographically and had been assigned to the 13th-18th century, until 2006 when it was proved a forgery (though doubts had been expressed earlier) following the publication of digital images of the codex, which had been made available online to renew interest in the manuscript. Microscopic, chemical and codicological testing eventually proved in 2009 that the manuscript had been made in 1874 at the earliest, and textual analysis showed tests showed that that it was textually the closest known manuscript – in fact, virtually identical – to Codex Vaticanus. It is believed to have been made as a souvenir.
The codex is written in a tiny minuscule hand on parchment leaves, containing 44 leaves (11.5 cm by 8.5 cm), written in one column per page, 21-25 lines per page. The codex has no sections, canons or headings, but it contains 16 colour illuminations. There are no indications on the codex that it was originally part of a tetraevangelium. The codex includes text of Mark 16:9-20.
The codex 2427 was found among the possessions of John Askitopoulos, an Athenian collector and dealer of antiquieties, after his death in 1917. In 1937 the manuscript was sent to the University of Chicago Library, where it still resides (Ms. 972).
Illustrations are very similar to those from minuscule 777. Robert S. Nelson suggested that they were copied from that document.
 
More information on the Wikipedia page 
Category:Fakes and forgeries
Category:Ancient World