An Off Tablet: 'Very Early Form Off Writing' Offered by Dirty-handed Seller

  eBay-Artikelnummer:

264193525475

Here's an odd-looking thing (capitalisation as original):

EXTREMELY RARE ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN CLAY TABLET,VERY EARLY FORM OFF (sic) SCRIPT WRITING, C2000 BC. PRIVATE c1970s Collection. 12 x 6 cms diam (sic) 2.75 cms deep, NO DAMAGE. WILL SHIP THIS ITEM WORKD (sic) WIDE THANK YOU.

Ace-Antiques/ Britanicus store (Simon Wicks, Hailsham East Sussex, 93% positive feedback on eBay) wants £500,00 / EUR 586 for this.

So this is said to be an ancient Near Eastern clay tablet that left somewhere in the region of Iraq/Syria "circe 1970s". That last bit is problematic, in any area where objects like this could be dug up, partage had stopped by "circa 1970" and there were laws against export of such items. Being from a "1970s" collection makes nothing like this any the more legally obtained. And anyway, can the seller document that collecting history in any way?

  eBay-Artikelnummer:

264193525475

Secondly, though, what on earth is this object? 2000BC would place it at the end of Akkadian and at the beginning of Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian. Yet it looks nothing like the general run of clay tablets of those periods. Nothing. The way the characters are placed on the edge of the tablet (as though they were the title on the spine of a codex) is pretty anomalous. As far as I am aware, authentic cuneiform tablets of this period do not have a border round them like this, and generally the script is much closer packed on them. This looks more as if it is trying hard to be a stone tablet (like this one here in a "1970s" private collection and of unknown authenticity). I'd refer readers to a previous text of mine about things like this.

 A quite remarkable feature of the photos of this object is the hand supporting the item. It's amazing how much antiquities like this dirty the hands.

Remember, the dealer says:

EVERYTHING I SELL IS AS THE LISTING AND PICTURES PROVIDED AND 100% ACCURATE (sic). IF THE BUYER CHANGES HIS MIND YOU CAN ONLY RETURN THE GOODS IF THEY DO NOT MATCH THERE (sic) DESCRIPTION OR IF THE ITEM/GOODS ARE DAMAGED IN ANY WAY. BUYESRS CAN CONTACT VIA EMAIL ANY QUESTIONS THEY MIGHT HAVE REGUARDING (sic) ITEMS BEING SOLD ..THANK YOU.

The seller has 244 items on eBay at the moment. Most of them have the same sort of issues as this one. I have a lot of questions about them. Let the emptor cave-jolly-well-at.