For those who read The Aramaic Blog, do you remember the medical manuscript that I mentioned earlier? Well, a single page of the text came up on eBay just the other day from the same seller, and it seemed very fishy to me. So I emailed them:
To Whom It May Concern,
May I ask why this individual leaf has been sold separately from the rest of this manuscript as listed earlier this month?
Has there been any attempt to preserve the entirety of the text? Have any scholars had time to discern any historical significance from the relic in its original state before these pieces have been separated?
Thank you for your time,
—
Steve Caruso
Aramaic Designs, & The Aramaic Blog
To my dismay, I received the following reply (emphasis mine):
Dear [Steve Caruso],
We have not found a buyer for the entire text, which is why we are auctioning it off 1 page at a time. We are offering the book, which has 27 pages left, and the cover, for $23,000.
– goldrelics
For those of you who know my opinions about manuscript conservation, this has greatly disheartened me.
Below is the contact information for “goldrelics.” I encourage and implore everyone who has similar sentiment about the preservation of ancient texts to contact them and express your displeasure in the strongest terms possible, and pass this information on to others:
Email: ebay@goldrelics.com
eBayStore Listing: http://myworld.ebay.com/goldrelics/
Where I find I lack the finances to preserve this manuscript myself, I am contemplating putting together a fund to salvage what is left of the document. People who would be willing to donate towards this cause please contact me through Information@AramaicDesigns.com. If there is enough interest, I’ll set up an account to handle any funds contributed in a responsible, transparent fashion. If not.. well, I can at least say that I tried.
Peace,
-Steve
Steve, that’s quite simple, however not less cynical: they buy manuscript for some value then sell each page for small one. E.g. there are some Ge’ez manuscripts passes on eBay for $300, then they sell each page for $10-$20 that means they get $200-$700 for 50-page book.
It’s senseless to talk to goldrelics: they sell for $185 per page (that means they intend to get about $5,000 for manuscript), but propose you for $23,000. The only way is to try to stop seller contacting eBay – seller seems to be from the United States.