Tuesday 22 August 2017

One Born Every Minute...


Just GBP 38750, that is what it will cost you to buy a 'most rare precious artifact a Roman iron nail piercing bone ' from York Antiquities (Katie Borrows, York Y0265QT) on eBay. This 'most rare' item has a provenance:
A most rare and precious artifact a Roman iron nail piercing bone from Jerusalem found by my late father who was an Amateur Archaeologist in the 1950s on a small dig just outside the city while he was on leave from active service, the feel of this artifact is so very special a one off piece only know of other one in History been found from a Crucifiction. Offers welcome but please bare in mind the significance of this ancient artifact.
'Bare' in mind too what the photographic scale shows... the nail is about 4cm long. Neither does it 'pierce' the bone; a small indeterminate piece of bone is stuck to a corroded nail. No mention is made by the seller of any report by an osteologist, is the bone human or animal (crucified donkeys?). Or is this simply a coffin nail from a disturbed cemetery? No mention is made of this amateur archaeologist (a Tommy wiv a spade) having an export licence for this object, by the applicable law of 1948 antiquities are considered the property of the state (Morag M. Kersel, 'The Trade in Palestinian Antiquities' Journal of Palestine Studies 33 1980). In my opinion, the 'feel' of this object is something other than 'very special'.

But what are very special are some of her other artefact descriptions. I had many a good chuckle. This lady 'has been an eBay member since Oct 17, 2004' and in that time has sold lots of stuff to people who believed the spiel.

hat tip, Dorothy King

  



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