Last week, as Bonhams in London was preparing to auction a lot of second millennium B.C. Egyptian antiquities consigned by the St. Louis Society of the Archaeological Institute of America, the Metropolitan Museum of Art* stepped in. Bonhams withdrew the lot, estimated at £80,000 – 120,000 (US$ 130,000 – 190,000), and the Met purchased the Treasure of Harageh items (one pictured at left).
There’s no word on what the Met paid.
I tell the whole tale, tipped off by an item by the Associated Press, in an item on Art-Antiques-Design. That’s a website based in the U.K. for which I began writing twice-monthly items back in July.
Among the topics covered on that site, in addition to the Met rescue, are dealer opportunities at the Crystal Bridges State of the Art exhibition, a new auction site called Bidquare and deaccessioning ethics for dealers.
I don’t plan to call your attention to everything I write for AAD, though, so I hope you will go there on your own from time to time.
Meanwhile, the site Looting Matters has published an item on another item withdrawn from Bonhams Oct. 2 sale–a Roman marble herm whose collecting history seems amiss.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Bonhams
*I consult to a Foundation that supports the Met.