An inscribed Neo-Babylonian terracotta foundation cylinder dating from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, how did it reach the auction room? Before the sale on June 4th, can Christie's produce the register of the dealer's old stock which gives it the "secure" collecting history they claim? Will a copy of it, apparently giving the contents a firm alibi, be made available to the buyers to pass on to their heirs or future owners of the high-end object? And that "crumbling" packing material which gives the "collecting history" story that extra air of verisimilitude, where is it?
And the eleven foundation cones from Isil offered also by Christie's as part of the same "collection",
Lot 107: 'Six Old Babylonian clay foundation cones, reign of king Lipit-Ishtar'When was the portion of this "storeroom, pleasing(?) to the gods Enlil and Ninlil, in Isin, my royal capital, at the palace gate" excavated and by whom? In what way may the offered objects be connected with those examples excavated on the site in the late 1980s (George 2011 'Other Second-Millennium Royal and Commemorative Inscriptions' p. 92). How and when did these particular objects reach the USA to end up in "crumbling packing material" in a store?
Lot 110: 'Five Old Babylonian clay foundation cones, reign of king Lipit-Ishtar'
UPDATE 4th June 2015
While it was sitting in that crumbling packing material, this cunie was gaining in value it seems, it sold for $941,000.
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