In The Guardian today, Charlotte Higgins has a follow-up to her longer story on Professor Dirk Obbink. Apparently Professor Obbink bought an important 15th century manuscript at auction in 2014 and then sold it to “an overseas buyer” (at a loss) in an auction in 2019. Now, the British government has put an export bar on the item in order to give “UK buyers the chance to fundraise to purchase the item. A UK buyer would have to raise £168,750 by 13 April to save it for the nation.” The government views the manuscript as a heritage item, so ideally it would reside in a public museum or library, but this move by the government could, as the article notes, “lead to the unusual scenario of a civic institution raising funds from the public to acquire an item from a person who is suspected of wrongdoing.” Read the full story here.
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© Brent Nongbri, 2017-2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without written permission from this site’s author is prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
He got rid of this document and his castle in Texas. I wonder what else he was liquidating when he knew he was getting caught.
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