In 1983 an Etruscan terracotta head was presented to the Collection of Antiquity of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, by private owner, who had acquired it in Italy, in order that its authenticity could be proven. Because of the close and striking relationship with the terracotta sculptures of the sanctuary of Portenaccio near Veji, now in the Villa Giulia in Rome, we suspected from the beginning that the head was a forgery;this suspicion was fully confirmed by the results of the thermoluminescence analysis.