Category Archives: Antiquities Dealers and Collectors

Hobby Lobby Inc. vs Dirk Obbink

Posted on June 4, 2021 by Brent Nongbri

A couple days ago, the news broke that Hobby Lobby has sued Professor Dirk Obbink for over $7 million USD. The 10-page complaint (which can be seen here) does not paint a nice picture of Prof. Obbink, but that’s generally … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Dirk Obbink, Green Collection, Green Collection Romans, Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 6 Comments

A New Article on the (ex-)Green Collection Sappho Papyri

Posted on April 9, 2021 by Brent Nongbri

Thanks to Mike Holmes for notifying me that the latest issue of Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik contains an article by Museum of the Bible curator Brian Hyland that reports what is now known about the purchase of the Green … Continue reading →

Posted in Dirk Obbink, Green Collection 1 Samuel, Green Collection Sappho, P.Sapph. Obbink | 12 Comments

The Retraction of Dirk Obbink’s Sappho Chapter and the Question of Authenticity

Posted on March 30, 2021 by Brent Nongbri

Last week, the news broke that Brill had retracted a chapter by Prof. Dirk Obbink that presented false information about the provenance of the Sappho papyri. A statement from the volume’s editors explains the reasoning for the retraction. Just as … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Dirk Obbink, Green Collection, Green Collection Sappho, P.Sapph. Obbink | 20 Comments

Further Thoughts on the Tchacos-Ferrini Exodus

Posted on March 18, 2021 by Brent Nongbri

A couple years ago, I wrote a short web article on the dispersal of a papyrus codex of Exodus that was allegedly found with three other papyrus codices: one containing a mathematical text in Greek, one containing the letters of … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Bruce Ferrini, Frieda Tchacos, Schøyen Collection, Tchacos-Ferrini Exodus Codex | 4 Comments

A Dead Sea Scrolls Photo Shoot from the 1950s

Posted on March 8, 2021 by Brent Nongbri

Among the PAM negatives of the Dead Sea Scrolls, there is a short sequence of photos that puzzled me when I encountered them last year. The photos occur in a sequence taken in June 1956, PAM 42.139-141. They are described … Continue reading →

Posted in Dead Sea Scrolls, Khalil Eskander Shahin (Kando) | 12 Comments

A New Item in the P.Sapph.Obbink Timeline

Posted on February 27, 2021 by Brent Nongbri

Following up on yesterday’s news about the recovery of more papyri stolen from the Egypt Exploration Society, I learn from an anonymous commenter on an earlier post that there is a neglected (by me, at at least) item on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Dirk Obbink, Green Collection Sappho, P.Sapph. Obbink | 5 Comments

More Stolen Papyri to be Returned to the Egypt Exploration Society

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Brent Nongbri

Earlier today, the Egypt Exploration Society (EES) announced the discovery that more papyri “had been removed from the EES collection without authorisation.” This follows other related announcements over the last several months. The first announcement by the EES (25 June … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Dirk Obbink, Green Collection, Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 2 Comments

Further Revelations from Sampson’s Article: The Sappho Papyrus and the German Officer

Posted on November 9, 2020 by Brent Nongbri

In a previous post on C. Michael Sampson’s article in the most recent issue of the Bulletin of the American Association of Papyrologists, I mentioned that Sampson’s essay contained a number of interesting but somewhat complicated revelations about questions surrounding … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Dirk Obbink, Find Stories, Mummy cartonnage, P.Sapph. Obbink | 3 Comments

More on Dirk Obbink and the Provenance of the Sappho Papyrus

Posted on October 30, 2020 by Brent Nongbri

The latest issue of the Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists was just published. It contains an article by C. Michael Sampson, “Deconstructing the Provenances of P.Sapph.Obbink.” The article brings a load of new evidence to bear on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Dirk Obbink, Green Collection, Green Collection Sappho, P.Sapph. Obbink, Passages Speakers Series, Scott Carroll | 5 Comments

Ariel Sabar’s Veritas: Some First Reactions

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Brent Nongbri

Thanks to Doubleday for sending along an advanced copy of Ariel Sabar’s new book, Veritas. I really didn’t know what to expect with this book. Sabar’s detailed article on the so-called “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife” in The Atlantic in 2016 … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Fakes and Forgeries | 11 Comments