3. The Etruscan Warriors
New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art has always acquired exquisite pieces. Yet, in the 1920’s, they were granted three life-size, Etruscan, terracotta warriors that they believed were made in the 5th century B.C. The warriors’ authenticity was criticized by some experts, yet many claimed the figures were real.
The answer was eventually settled when, in 1960, scientific testing debunked the initial idea, stating that the warriors were of modern origin. The statues had been made by a group of Italian men who modeled them after tinier figures they’d seen at museums beforehand, decades before the truth was found out.