Glasgow team ink new detector for Rabbie Burns’ fakes
● Researchers find poet used stale beer and wine to write manuscripts
beer with another ink made with wine to achieve writing lustre and consistency on some documents.
Glasgow University’s Dr Karl Burgess, who worked on the study, said: “Through this technique, we now know some things about Burns that we never knew before.
“However, we’re particularly excited about that fact that we have a new way of providing more evidence for a fake or a real manuscript if one turns up and we have a technique that we can apply to any manuscript to gain more information about it.
“The simplicity of the sample preparation method we used means that the sampling can be easily performed at the site where the manuscripts are stored, which in turn could make it an ideal technique for auction houses to confirm authenticity.
“In future, we’d like to analyse as many historical documents as we can, so that we can begin to build a database of inks and manuscripts.”
University colleague Professor Gerard Carruthers added: “In terms of Robert Burns, there has been a huge historic industry in forgery and fakery and he is not alone in this.
“It is very exciting that we’re creating an authenticity tool that will have wide implications for scholars, libraries, archives, auction houses and collectors.” The study is published in Scientific Reports.
From the moment of Burns’s death in 1796, a hunger to obtain original versions of his works, letters and personal items began.
Smith – a Scottish document forger of the late 19th century whose efforts are now collection items in their own right – is among the most renowned to have faked Burns’ manuscripts.
He was forging documents in Edinburgh by the 1880s and was widely reputed to have given his works an antique appearance by dipping them in weak tea.