I was reading a story the other day about how some big museum here was trafficking in stolen art treasures that would rightfully belong to a country--antiquities, I guess. How do such old items like these heads come to be offered at an auction? And how do they know for sure they are this old?
According to the catalog, which I linked to under the code number, it says they were deaccessioned from a collection of the University of California. Probably they were bequeathed to the University by a wealthy donor, or maybe were the personal collection, willed to the University by a deceased faculty member. Presumably the donors knew whether these items were real or not. Maybe they were acquired in-situ by UC archaelolgical excavations in Greece back in the 19th/early 20th centuries. Things were pretty freewheeling back then... or more recently plundered - like during the World Wars.
I think that items supposed to be 2400 years old with probably very slight provenance, would be impossible to authenticate, except if documented as recovered from some modern excavations during the last hundred years. Before that, it was all treasure hunting and grave robbing: theft.
I suppose with terracotta, carbon dating is possible, as well as determination of the chemical content of the clay which could be matched to local clay deposits or other specimens in other collections that had been so tested. Styistically, they looked very convincing to me. They are very vivid and wonderful little sculptures, and even if they are fakes, even at the high estimate, they would only cost about $30. each. At the low estimate, only $15 each. I think they were worth it just as beautiful objects, antiquities or not. Of course, they are worth what the highest bidder is willing to pay.
I will revisit this entry when the results of the auctions are posted. We'll see how high they go. It says there are already 15 bids; this lot goes on the block until Saturday mid-morning. I think they will excede the high estimate, but, we'll see.
Oh. I get it... these are all "heady" portraits of you and your variable and fanciful personality traits. I must say Blinkie, you're a classic - like Aphrodite, but more so.
The 33 little Greek heads sold for $11,000. With the auction house commission on the sale (19%) and sales tax, Lot #229A cost this lucky bidder about $14,080, and that would be about $427. for each tiny sculpture. That must have been exciting! The whole tray of them was smaller than my laptop keyboard. They were each about the size of your thumb down to the first joint, or smaller - well, maybe averaging in size between your thumbs or mine.
I could sure think of other things I'd rather have than little heads like that. I thought they were larger.
Why the pic of Gitmo? I think if you are going to take someone prisoner that he should get due process of law, and this would not include torture or being held without being charged and brought to trial. On the other hand, I do not believe that America understands the Arab mind or Islamic tendencies. They will pay dearly for this in the future--moreso than they have already.
I think the same way you do about the prisoners at Gitmo. I saw that picture of all the little portraits of the prisoners and it reminded me of the little Greek heads, and that it was an ironic comparison of how we value the skill of artists from ancient history to show distinct and individualized features, yet we lump distinct and individual human beings into a series of hated mug shots. The irony is that Ancient Greece is one manifestation of democracy, while Gitmo/USA (with the largest per capita incarceration rate in the world) is supposedly another. Bookends of the same idea of freedom?
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(no subject)
Date: 2013-02-16 06:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-02-16 06:44 am (UTC)I think that items supposed to be 2400 years old with probably very slight provenance, would be impossible to authenticate, except if documented as recovered from some modern excavations during the last hundred years. Before that, it was all treasure hunting and grave robbing: theft.
I suppose with terracotta, carbon dating is possible, as well as determination of the chemical content of the clay which could be matched to local clay deposits or other specimens in other collections that had been so tested. Styistically, they looked very convincing to me. They are very vivid and wonderful little sculptures, and even if they are fakes, even at the high estimate, they would only cost about $30. each. At the low estimate, only $15 each. I think they were worth it just as beautiful objects, antiquities or not. Of course, they are worth what the highest bidder is willing to pay.
I will revisit this entry when the results of the auctions are posted. We'll see how high they go. It says there are already 15 bids; this lot goes on the block until Saturday mid-morning. I think they will excede the high estimate, but, we'll see.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-02-16 10:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-02-16 04:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-02-17 02:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-02-17 04:19 am (UTC)Why the pic of Gitmo? I think if you are going to take someone prisoner that he should get due process of law, and this would not include torture or being held without being charged and brought to trial. On the other hand, I do not believe that America understands the Arab mind or Islamic tendencies. They will pay dearly for this in the future--moreso than they have already.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-02-17 03:25 pm (UTC)I saw that picture of all the little portraits of the prisoners and it reminded me of the little Greek heads, and that it was an ironic comparison of how we value the skill of artists from ancient history to show distinct and individualized features, yet we lump distinct and individual human beings into a series of hated mug shots. The irony is that Ancient Greece is one manifestation of democracy, while Gitmo/USA (with the largest per capita incarceration rate in the world) is supposedly another. Bookends of the same idea of freedom?