Fakes: Old bells that aren't

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Some sellers intentionally sell new sleigh bells for old-bell prices at live auctions and flea markets and on eBay. These "instant antique" sleigh bells are usually petal bells given an artificial patina and installed on a graduated-body strap. With uninformed, eager buyers bidding, a seller can easily get a 300 to 400% return on investment.

Other people honestly believe their horse bells are antiques. These people are often unhappy to learn that their old family heirloom or estate sale bargain is a set of inexpensive reproduction sleigh bells made in the middle 1900s at the earliest.

Regardless of the reasons, "instant antiques" abound in the horse bell market. Here are some tips to help you identify new bells from antique ones:

In this article:

Bells
Leather straps
Workmanship
Buying basics

Other Classic Bells articles about this subject:

Dating bells
Comparing new & old bells
Rogues' gallery

Bells

New bells direct from the manufacturer are varying shades of golden yellow, depending on how recently they were polished (see below.) These bells usually have a gleaming, smooth surface with little or no marring, pitting, or discoloration.

Many artificially aged new bells have a splotchy, rusty color. The effect is similar to a sloppy layer of darkened amber varnish. Other artificially aged bells can be varying shades of green, brown, or even black.

Unpolished older bells are brownish, blackish or greenish too -- occasionally grayish. The color is fairly even over the surface of each bell. Bells on a strap typically will all have the same type of coloring. A layer of dirt and oil also coats most old, unpolished bells, making the surface dull and slightly rough to the touch and filling in design details. This grime cannot be reproduced by any aging technique that I know of.

Gently polished older bells tend to have a brownish gold (old gold) color or a rosy/reddish gold color, sometimes with splotches of darker color. Older bells often have a textured surface from the sand molds in which they were cast and from the dings and scrapes of long use. This surface texture tends to darken the apparent color of the bell, even after it is polished.

When evaluating large sleigh bells with size markings on them, keep in mind that new bells over 2 1/2" diameter are sized differently than old bells. A new #18 bell, for example, will be about 3/4" smaller in diameter than an antique #18 bell. See Sizing bells.

If you have a chance to weigh loose bells on a postal scale or in your hand, keep in mind that an old bell will weigh 25% to 50% less than a new bell of the same diameter.

Look for leather that has stitching holes, buckles, or other features that "don't fit" the purpose of a bell strap. People who are faking the "old" look often recycle old harness leather into straps for their antiqued new bells.

Bear in mind, however, that a strap made from old harness does not automatically mean the bells themselves are "instant antiques." An owner or honest restoration person may have put legitimately old bells on old recycled leather.

The leather of almost all old bell straps shows some signs of use in addition to usually being dry and fragile. Common problems include a missing buckle or billet (tongue), tears or deep cracks on the strap near the bells or the holes in the billet, and wear around the buckle or billet from use.

Artificially aged leather straps may look dry and cracked, but they don't typically show many signs of real use. Although an honest restoration of old bells could include the use of artificially aged leather, I would check the bells themselves very carefully before buying.

In our experience, nearly all older straps are various shades of brown, even if the straps were originally black when new. Truly black leather indicates the bell strap was made in the mid 1900s through today. Black leather does not automatically mean the bells themselves are new, but it is a clear signal to check the bells more closely for other signs of real age.

Workmanship

Rivets and holes are not centered on the strap
Buckles are not put on straight
Odd bits of leather are left hanging to look unattractive
Leather is not skived (thinned down) to reduce bulk at the buckle or tongue
"Figure 8" mounting pins are made of lightweight wire
Cotter keys, nails, or POP® rivets are used to attach cast bells to a strap

Bell straps manufactured through the early 1900s had steel buckles. Buckles were typically painted black (called a "japan" finish), but sometimes they were zinc or nickel plated. Today, most old steel buckles are heavily covered with rust, but sometimes you can see traces of the original surface finish. Brass, stainless steel or bronze hardware -- buckles, rivets, and staples -- is typical of straps made after the mid 1900s.

Hint: Use a magnet -- it will "stick" to mild steel and iron, but not to metals like brass, copper or aluminum.

Many "instant antique" bell straps have brass "halter" buckles. Although these sturdy, oval-shaped halter buckles are perfectly fine on horse tack, they don't look much like the squared-off buckles typically used on bell straps from the 1800s and early 1900s.

Hint: Because halter buckles are so often found on "instant antique" bell straps, I often check the buckle first to quickly identify this type of strap from a distance.

A sign of a quality restoration job is that the original hardware should be restored to working condition and reused whenever possible. If that is not possible, all replacement hardware should be historically accurate in shape and design.

A personal opinion: I do draw the line at using new steel hardware, because plated or painted steel quickly rusts and chips. This is unacceptable for a high-quality restoration, in my opinion. New buckles and other fasteners should be solid brass, bronze, copper or stainless steel or they should be chrome- or nickel-plate over solid brass or bronze.

New bells on a beautiful strap that may have been made from old harness parts

If represented accurately and priced fairly, this would be a nice set of new bells to own.

Buying basics

What would you think if you found at a flea market a complete string of huge, old-looking bells with clear size markings and no imperfections, on an old-looking strap with its buckle and tongue intact, and priced at a mere $300 or $400. The bargain of the century?

Perhaps, but it is much more likely to be an artificially aged bell strap with a wholesale price of well under $100. Don't let the "great" price hurry you into buying new bells at antique bell prices. If you want it, buy it -- but keep in mind that a fair price for new bells like this is $150 at most.

If you're buying on eBay, watch out for creative descriptions that lead you to think a bell strap is old. Ignore the flowery hype and focus on the photos. If the photos are blurry or do not show enough detail, ask the seller to provide better photos or more information before you bid. Don't bid on anything you are not sure about.

Look for the small things! For instance, a tiny "Made in Taiwan" sticker is a dead giveaway. Yes, this happened to us when we were just getting started in this business. We bought a set of bells we thought were old, but found the sticker after unpacking the bells. We returned the bells to the seller who honestly thought the bells were old. She was embarassed. We were chagrined. Everyone learned a good lesson.

I have distilled a very complicated subject into a very short article, so please keep in mind you will need to use common sense and gut-level intuition as well as the information you've learned here. Even after years of buying antique sleigh bells, we still sometimes let "auction fever" hurry us into not carefully looking at bells before we buy. That usually turns out to be an expensive mistake. I guess such experiences are a sharp reminder of the truth in the old motto "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is."