BBC's 'Fake or Fortune?'

On Tuesday 26 September 2023, the BBC aired the first episode in a new series of 'Fake or Fortune?' (this is a documentary whereby the presenters (Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould) investigate works of art and put together a case to a panel of experts, who decide whether the item is a fake, or genuine).

This week, it was the turn of a small sculpture which the owner claimed was one of a limited series called 'Warriro' by Dame Elisabeth Frink.  Throughout the episode, Oxford is mentioned, but the starring role in our opinion belonged to Dr Chris Salter (OMCS) and Dr Peter Northover (School of Archaeology) who were shown working in the Begbroke Science Park's OMCS labs carrying out an analysis of the composition of the piece by using the microanalyser.

If you haven't seen the episode yet, it is available on BBC iPlayer until August 2024, but regardless of the outcome (we won't spoil it), the panel and the presenters were all in agreement that without Materials Science, the truth would still be a matter of debate.  The most important evidence presented to the experts was the metallurgy report from Begbroke Science Park. 

As Philip Mould concluded:

"... we should have absolutely no doubt about this - what really nailed the [panel's judgement] was the metallurgy report".