The Egypt Exploration Society has just released a statement regarding manuscripts owned by the EES but sold to Hobby Lobby. So, 13 such manuscripts have been identified. 11 of these 13 manuscripts are said to have been sold by Professor Dirk Obbink. The Museum of the Bible has agreed to return the items. The list is here:
Read the full EES statement here. More to come. Thanks to Mike Holmes for the tip.
The Early History of the Codex
Thoughts on History, Religion, Archaeology, Papyrology, etc. by Brent Nongbri
Everyday Stories from the Ancient Past
Patristics, Apocrypha, Coptic Literature and Manuscripts
Pedagogical Approaches to Palaeography and Codicology
Thoughts on History, Religion, Archaeology, Papyrology, etc. by Brent Nongbri
Thoughts on History, Religion, Archaeology, Papyrology, etc. by Brent Nongbri
Thoughts on History, Religion, Archaeology, Papyrology, etc. by Brent Nongbri
Variant Readings 
Uh-oh.
Indeed.
Yes, uh-oh spaghettios
Well…well….well…
As if needed, another caution about buying mss without credible and legal provenance and ownership.
Curious that #9 is noted as “one part”. Did the rest of it not come from Oxyrhyncus then? 🙂
Stay tuned for more on that.
Seems to have implications for that other collection out in California.
Yes. I’m writing up a reminder about that right now.
If Obbink sold 11 of the 13 manuscripts to the Hobby Lobby, then who sold the other 2 manuscripts? Or did Obbink sell them to a third-party, and then this third-party sold/donated them to MOTB? And if so, who is this third-party?
David,
Your first question basically one of the FAQ’s that will accompany the MOTB statement when it is available (soon, I expect), so I will quote both the FAQ and the reply here:
“The EES statement identifies Prof. Obbink as the seller of eleven of the 13 items returned. Who sold the other two items to Hobby Lobby?” (reply:) “Khader M. Baidun & Sons/Art-Levant Antiquities of Israel. The exact circumstances of how those two items moved from Oxford to Israel are unknown to” MOTB.
Mike Holmes
Thanks, Mike. I think at the very least this suggests the possibility of a link between Baidun and Prof. Obbink, and would make all other sales from Baidun potential sources of Oxyrhynchus materials, no?
Mike,
I appreciate your response. Thanks for the information.
Brent,
In the comment section of your June 25, 2019 post, I make a connection between Baidun & Sons and some items in the Carroll’s Belarus & the Bible exhibit, including a sheet from an Armenian Gospel of John. It seems possible (and at this point maybe plausible) that the non-Green fragments of P129 and P131 may have been sold by Obbink to Baidun and then sold to their current collection. It then raises several questions:
1. Were other items on display in Belarus also from Oxyrhynchus, such as the papyrus of Exodus and the one of Aesop.
2. What other unknown items are in this collection?
Brent,
It certainly is a positive step on the part of the MOTB to return these items without a legal fight.
Tim
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Whilst being aware of the irony value of trying to understand cataloguing systems of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, I do find this part very curious: “The MOTB has informed the EES that 11 of these pieces came into its care after being sold to Hobby Lobby Stores by Professor Obbink, most of them in two batches in 2010.”
Looking at the MOTB catalogue numbers, there’s a group of three:
PAP.000120 (three fragments)
PAP.000121
PAP.000122
And then a pair:
PAP.000377
PAP.000378
If the parchment went with those, then that would be “most of” 11 – i.e. six. (2010 must have been quite a busy year for them to get from 122 to 377 though.)
The rest look almost scattered (and presumably include the two items that went via that dealer in Israel), but I would be interested to know what PAP.000426 is, as it looks like there may be a third batch going on there:
PAP.000388
PAP.000395
PAP.000425 (one part)
PAP.000427
PAP.000446
PAP.000463
PAP.000467
It would be so helpful if the MOTB had an online catalogue…
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