[MR] Counterfeit Dyes

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends, Especially Costume and Fiber Workers,

Lady Sophia called this interesting article from Ancient Near East Today to
my attention. It concerns research into dyes made from cheaper vegetable
ingredients to simulate the rich purples used in clothing for the uber rich
during Roman times.

"True purple" was derived from marine mollusks (sea-snails in the murex
family), and involved a number of complicated steps. It was a rich and
color-fast dye which was favored by Emperors and other high-status Romans.

There apparently was quite an industry of dyers who "forged" true-purple by
double-dying fibers in successive batches of reds and blues. These were
derived from plant sources such as madder root and woad.

The article shows some very interesting samples from modern experiments, as
well as fragments of both true-purple and its imitators recovered from
archaeological sources.

The story is at
https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2019/10/Counterfeiting-and-Fake-Dyes/ .

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆