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| Babylonian clay tablet. White line tracing © James Fraser and Chris Cobb for The First Ghosts, by Irving Finkel. Photograph: The British Museum |
" Its outlines are faint, only discernible at an angle, but the world’s oldest drawing of a ghost has been discovered in the darkened vaults of the British Museum. A lonely bearded spirit being led into the afterlife and eternal bliss by a lover has been identified on an ancient Babylonian clay tablet created about 3,500 years ago. It is part of an exorcist’s guide to getting rid of unwanted ghosts [...] the tablet had been incorrectly deciphered previously. The drawing had been missed as the ghost only comes to life when viewed from above and under a light. Forgotten since its acquisition by the museum in the 19th century, the tablet has never even been exhibited."Note the provenance "British Museum vault", no site mentioned, nor how long it's been there before being properly (?) examined and published... or mention made of the two deep gouges, presumably made when it was "excavated"... what is the collection history of this item?
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7 comments:
Hi Paul,
Straying a little off subject, but 'A Ghost' has re appeared on Timeline Auctions. GILMOUR RIDES AGAIN!!! After disappearing for sometime with no more of the lots Timeline offered for sale being hacked up in Gilmour's 'Tests' he is back once more, although now described as 'An Oxford Expert.' In their November 2021 catalogue, He has cut large chunks out of some 'OBJECTS' described as early swords. However, in these I can find no objection at all in their being hacked and ruined by Gilmour. They are still listing large numbers of other 'Iron Objects' described as Viking Axes etc, now though the patinas do vary, some laughably so. The Family Collections Of The South East London Collector so too seem to be now exhausted. But he has been replaced by an equally imaginative vendor.
Best, Jamie Corrigan.
Hi, Jamie. Yes, there's some odd stuff there.
Yes Paul,
Funny thing, yesterday evening going thru Ebay I came across a seller in the Ukraine who has listed many of the Same Type of 'Iron Objects' listed by Timeline as 'Property of East Sussex UK Teacher, Formally From Devon Collected 1990s'. The 'Likenesses' are remarkable ! Ebay item 384451968007 Large Hooked Viking Axe, sold 91 dollars plus postage. 384453898615 Bearded Viking Axe 61 dollars when last I looked. 384455328682 another Bearded Viking Axe. There are Very Many More on this listing, All Plainly Modern although some priced at much more money. You have to wonder if 'The East Sussex UK Teacher' was taken in by some such Scalawags ? Perhaps in other future Timeline Auctions he will seek to unload these, if he has A Lot ? I wonder if The Makers do discounts for Bulk Buys of these 'Iron Objects'?
Or Perhaps it Is All Just Some Strange Coincidence, well these iron objects were not been made in the 1990s when the vendor says he formed his large collection of 'Iron Objects'. ?
Jamie Corrigan.
I cannot find the Ukrainian seller that you mentioned. But do they have induced pit-corrosion in any way?
Ah, I should have said that they are listed on ebay.com which is American ebay. If you go on there and do a search for 384453898615 or 384455328682 they should come up, the other number won't because it is sold. The seller is antikvarvm. Corrosion is very standard for these things, although 'some' look to have been treated with acid.
Jamie.
That's interesting. The modern products are actually very good pieces of forging, not all however replicate real ancient forms, there's some fantasy stuff there... also some of pretty poor workmanship. There are fake items from several sources (you can see several ideas about 'how to do patina'). To my eye, there are also some real dugups here mixed in. One to watch.
Yes, I have found it is normally the case to find a mix of ancient spear heads, knives etc mixed in with the modern stuff. There must be quite an industry in Eastern Europe churning these out to feed the European and American markets. There are some other sellers I have found too. But They Do Sell Well, re 'The Family Collections Of The South East London Collector' dozens and dozens of these 'Iron Objects' thru Timeline running into tens of thousands of pounds.Yet now 'The East Sussex Teacher Formally From Devon' has stepped in with his no doubt HUGE collection of 'Viking Axe Heads'. Lot 1439 ''Viking Danish Broad Axe'' is remarkable, it looks to have been worked over with the ball of a hammer to try to replicate pitting ??? They have even done the cutting edge too. Say what you like about Timeline but it sure is an Education.
Jamie.
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