Newspaper Profile

The local newspaper did a profile on dad couple months back. But for the record, we never said "all knappers" goal was to replicate the Sweetwater blade.

Here is the link:

http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/060809-Piedmont-Profile-flintknapper-Bill-Earnhardt

Then a few days ago, this is the response we get in a letter to the editor. It is the second letter down. I will paste it below the link as well. For the record, dad has NEVER tried to represent any of his work as an artifact.


http://www.salisburypost.com/Opinion/080209-letters-sunday

Below is the context of the letter.

Flintknapping and authenticity

I recently read an article on "flintknapping" in the Salisbury Post.

Please don't misunderstand — I fully appreciate good craftsmanship, being a craftsman myself.

The problem, however, is that some unscrupulous flintknappers have created an extremely deceptive market.

The novice or unsuspecting amateur collector or anyone else is often deceived by these unscrupulous flintknappers.

Many true collectors have spent hours, days, weeks, months and even years talking fields, creeks and riverbanks, searching for true artifacts.

This is extremely frustrating when you know there's someone sitting at home chipping out a reproduction in 20-30 minutes and then possibly selling it as a true, ancient artifact.

I sure wish these guys would start woodcarving, etc.

After all, an appraisal of authenticity for just one flint point is $20 to $30.

— Tom Lewis

Salisbury