David Johnson

PS. Nice coin, beautifully depicted gazelle

My Middle Bronze Age askos in the form of a Bezoar goat (originally there would have been a tail spout standing off higher, now snapped off. Also a small spout in the goat's mouth.

On second thought a goat but not Bezoar, the horns are too short. Is it possible to delete a post on this website? I would have just re-written the last post.

The deer or antelope might be a Bezoar Goat with swept back curved horns (a type of antelope) widely depicted on Bronze Age Cypriot vessels. Or perhaps the horns are too short?

One thing that might help would be if countries such as the UK enacted laws requiring antiquities to be registered. The register, minus the identity of the owner could be public available for researchers, and the owners' identities only available to the police. Owners could download their own pieces onto the register. A photo would be necessary, downloaded by the owner. After a certain grace period to allow people to do it it would be hard for newly looted items to be added, and buyers would expect to find the item in question on the register. I am not envisaging raids on houses to find unregistered antiquities: the police don't have the capacity! This would have to go with an amnesty, or people might be afraid to register. But what is more important - punishing past misdeeds or stopping new ones. Two dealers I have put the idea to said they would sign up to it. They also thought dealers should be registered.

Donna, I am in awe of the thoroughness of your write-ups.

Antwerpen2306, yes of course prices of antiquities go up as time passes and fewer come on the market. Cypriot things steadily go up. Also dealers almost always charge much more than buying at auction. Of course a flood of fakes or looted items might affect prices too. It is notable how much a good provenance increases the price now. Unfortunately you still get the regular phenomenon of "From private collection of English gentleman" which is meaningless and one has to suspect conceals a recently looted piece.

If it were genuine you would have expected the Tell Halaf figure to have cost several thousand pounds (the last on Christies was $5,400 and another had a start price of $6,400)

Really the reverse should be turned 90º clockwise to make the syllabary the right way up.

Donna, ah yes, I had thought you were showing all your coins (I tend to lump antiquities and coins together in my thought). My few coins so far are all Late 6th, early 5th century Cypriot, to go with my other pieces. The earliest coins came from the Kingdom of Salamis, King Evelthon (525 BC approx) and the next from the Kingdom of Paphos. This is the Earliest Paphos design (my most recent coin purchase): Obverse: man headed bull, to right, looking back (probably the river god Bokaros). Reverse: astragalos) 21.5mm 11.18g. However not the same lettering as usual ("pa-si-re-wo-se" in Cypriot syllabary, the pa being the start of the word for king and thought to refer to king Siromos). Instead this says ku-ti and possibly si and may be for a different king.

Surely that was a rather cheap cost price for a genuine one.

Oxford Authentication lab charge £180 + vat

oops not following last coin. I don't know how to delete

Cypriot coin - of the earliest Type from Paphos but not a known king ("ku-ti" and possibly "si" in Cypriot syllabary may refer to the king....or not) bull has human head. Next another animal/human hybrid

First two were Early/Middle Bronze Age (around 2000BC), the third was Middle Bronze Age (Around 1800BC), the fourth is Late Bronze Age II, (1500-1200BC) and here is an Archaic head (around 500BC)