Category Archives: Antiquities Dealers and Collectors

Update on Hobby Lobby vs. Obbink Case

Posted on December 3, 2021 by Brent Nongbri

A number of people have notified me in recent days that attorneys for Hobby Lobby have requested a certificate of default in their case against Dirk Obbink, who has apparently not responded the summons served in September. A couple days … Continue reading →

Posted in Dirk Obbink, Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 2 Comments

Update: Hobby Lobby vs. Dirk Obbink

Posted on September 22, 2021 by Brent Nongbri

An anonymous commenter links to the resource below, which appears to show some developments in the civil case against Professor Obbink. I have not accessed the documents in the linked here, as they are behind a paywall: https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/40480193/Hobby_Lobby_Stores_Inc_v_Obbink

Posted in Dirk Obbink, Green Collection | 4 Comments

Dead Sea Scrolls at the Vatican

Posted on August 21, 2021 by Brent Nongbri

A visit to the Vatican Museums almost always yields something new. You can never know which rooms will be open, so occasionally there is the pleasant surprise of getting to see material that is usually hidden away. There are also … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Archaeological context, Dead Sea Scrolls | 7 Comments

The Fate of the Van Kampen Collection

Posted on August 11, 2021 by Brent Nongbri

I’ve written before on a few occasions about the Van Kampen Collection of ancient manuscripts, a kind of predecessor of the Green Collection. In fact, it was Scott Carroll, the main architect of the Green Collection, who was also the … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Scott Carroll, Van Kampen Collection | Leave a comment

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 | 10 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 | 13 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