Prior to bidding on the item, I send an email to the Geschäftsführer, with the following questions:

- Are you definitely sure that this is an image of Faunus? Do you know of other such finds described in the specialist literature? Or is this something unique?

- If it is Faunus, then what was the usage of the statuette? Since it looks quite primitive, do you think it was used as a kind of protective amulet, or was it perhaps a votive offering?

- Do you have more information on its provenance, the circumstances and the context of its discovery. Where was it discovered and how? Is it a metal detector find by an amateur? etc.

Promptly I received the following answer from him:

"I am sure, that this statuette depicts the roman good Faunus – you can also see the typical attributes, which no other Roman god has. I have seen in the past quite a few other Roman bronze figures like this one, on the antiquities market. They are always worked out in the same primitive way, and obviously come from the same factory. Usually, they are discovered in the southern part of Pannonia, in Hungary and Croatia. Probably, it was a votive-statuette, standing in a roman sanctuary. The item comes from an Austrian collection, built in the 50's. For that reason, I do not know the exact place where it was found."

Since I am currently doing research for a book on the ancient cultic tradition of the werewolf among the various Indo-European peoples in antiquity, I was very happy to acquire a genuine artefact, so I hoped, that bears testimony to that tradition among the Roman people. Actually, I am not a collector of antiquities, it is the meaning of the object that fascinates me, and I am certainly no expert, but I do care for authenticity and would be a little disappointed if this Faunus image turned out to be false

A few days ago my brother alerted me to a similar object, which had just been auctioned on eBay and which was sold for 168 Euro. The seller is a so called "Power seller", Elysium Ancients, who does not appear on the fraud list, but about whom I cannot find any information on eBay. Elysium Ancients sells mostly coins and appears not to know what the object is, for it was offered with the following vague description:

"A VERY UNUSUAL CELTIC/ ROMAN FIGURE NOT SURE WHICH IF ANY ONE HAS MORE INFORMATION I WOULD BE INTERESTED TO KNOW 3.7 CMS IN HEIGHT FOUND IN GERMANY AUTHENTICITY GUARANTEED AS WITH ALL MY ITEMS"

Here are the pictures that went with it:

Clearly it is once more a statuette of Faunus. However, there are two things about it I find particularly disconcerting:

- The casting seams to be very coarse indeed (for instance under the ears). Rough edges have not been filed away. That is especially evident, in the picture of the back of the statuette, under the left arm.

- The bands of goatskin crossed over the chest – called "Februa" in Latin, hence the name of the month Februari, when the festivities for Faunus were traditionally held – seem to have been filed into the body of the figure and do not lie on top of it, as they do with the first Faunus. Also the edges seem too sharp, without any traces of wear.

What are the odds for the appearance on eBay in such a short time frame of two statuettes of Faunus that are so alike? Is this only a coincidence? Are such objects perhaps not so rare as I thought? Are the striking similarities between the objects (the head with the wolf's ears and the heavy eye brows, the bands of goatskin, the long extended arms, the button like penis...) proof of their authenticity, or do these similarities mean something else? Acording to the seller  these objects "are always worked out in the same primitive way, and obviously come from the same factory", but the first Faunus was on display on Ebay for quite some time and could have been forged quite easily.

My idea is that the first statuette is probably genuine (though I am not completely sure – for one thing, I have not been able to inspect it yet, since it is still in the mail somewhere between Austria and Belgium) and that the second is very likely a forgery. What do you experts think? Does any of you have first hand experience with such statuettes of Faunus? Are they all so similar to one another? Are they scarce or quite common? Can anyone send me references to articles in specialized magazines or photos of other images of Faunus of which the provenance can be established beyond all doubt? All relevant information would be most welcome. Many thanks in advance.

From rialtos

5th October 07

I've seen these before and I've never been sure if it's some Celtic god or what. I've even seen it described (and possibly correctly) as a Romano-Celtic Mercury, with the strange "horns" being stylizations of the wings, and holding some  abstraction of the caduceus. I'm just not sure who it is meant to be, nor am I sure which - if any - are ancient and which aren't. The fact that something is crudely executed with little or no wear doesn't bother me, especially if it's a votive piece that just sat in some shrine. The rough edges seem cause for concern, although not really conclusive in terms of fakery.