In India, the increase in thefts of precious bronze antiques has made it necessary to provide courts of law with scientific proofs regarding the identities of the pieces that, so far, were usually stylistically and visually appraised, dated, provenanced, and described. The various methods that can be employed for collecting and systematically recording as many data as possible on the bronzes are listed as photography, indexing by estimation of metal composition, radiography, x-ray fluorescence, thermoluminescence, and laser holography. Each method is briefly described. -- AATA