There is a theory that the famous "Mask of Agamemnon" from the Shaft Graves at Mycenae is not ancient but a fake done at Heinrich Schliemann's behest, but so far I don't think it has a lot of adherents.
I've read some accounts of Schliemann's excavations, and the whole thing does come across as very iffy. He just kind of pulled that thing out of, uh, nowhere. It seems strange to me that he retains the credibility that he does.
:’)
An Ancient Masterpiece or a Master’s Forgery?
(Did by Michelangelo Sculpt the Laocoon?)
New York Times | April 18, 2005 | KATHRYN SHATTUCK
Posted on 04/19/2005 12:08:30 AM PDT by nickcarraway
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1386416/posts
Famed Roman statue ‘not ancient’ [ Romulus and Remus and she-wolf ]
BBC News | Thursday, July 10, 2008 | unattributed
Posted on 07/11/2008 6:29:54 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2044256/posts
With all due respect to my fellow FReepers and the profs that cooked up the “faked masks” fiction, it’s, uh, fiction. I attribute it to the near-mania of the British regarding Schliemann. Schliemann definitely liked being taken seriously, and may have been morbidly sensitive to criticism (and he certainly received far more than anyone’s fair share of it during his career as an archaeologist, almost from day one), leading him to embellish (at best) his account of finding the “jewels of Helen”, but the treasure itself was indeed found (Sophie wasn’t there, whereas in his account she was; it wasn’t all found in one spot or on a single day) and is indeed authentic and ancient (it was stolen by the USSR and remains locked up in Russia somewhere).
Other finds of such masks have been made, including in much more recent digs in Thracian sites, and there’s never been a question about those AFAIK.