Dear My2K Blog,
I recently found a very nice piece of old Mayan pottery in my attic. It seems my great-uncle was along on an archaeological dig back in the early 1900s and carted a bunch of stuff back to his home in New Hampshire. Long story short, his son's wife's nephew didn't want that "old worn out chipped cup" in his curio cupboard anymore. I remember saying I'd take it off his hands. Should I sell it, donate it to the local Goodwill, or let my kids play with it in the sandbox?
Sincerely,
Trouble Paying Bills In This Economy
Dear Trouble,
Your ship just came in big time! The wonderful piece above sold for $100,000 MORE than its estimate at Sotheby's in 2004. It sold for $299,200. How many of your bills could you pay with that?
It came from the Late Classic period (550 to 950 AD) and stands 3 1/2 inches high. It depicts "two scenes with the aged deity Pawahtuun, the god of writing and art, distinguished by netted scarf with a brush wedged into the ties, large square eye, and Roman nose, in animated lessons with two young disciples, on one side the aged lord leaning forward and pointing with an implement towards the folded codes, looking directly at his students as he recites the bar-and-dot numbers emanating from his mouth shown above before and before him....", according to Sotheby's catalog. (You can see the art at the website The City Review.)
But there were bargains to be had at that auction:
The piece below sold for $9,000.
These ear plugs also sold for $9,000. That was below the estimate of $10,000 to $15,000. They must have been a great bargain. They are gold and turquoise and "depict a deer with a spear in its back and are dated circa 200-500 A.D."
Do not let those kids play with it in the sandbox!
Related posts:
The current MY2K article.
4 comments:
Old and valuable. Does that apply to old folks too?
geez i def. wuldnt be lettin my kids play with that!!
I love the drawing on that small pottery vessel. It totally looks like a Mayan cartoon. I'm sure it would have a great caption if it could only be properly translated. But it really doesn't even need a caption...just the looks on the characters' faces and their body language are funny enough.
Hi, I live in Mexico and I´ve done some research and have some old pieces of mayan pottery. They´re from the region on yucatan...Uxmal to be precise. visit my blog if yoú´re interested, I have some for sale. Thnx.
mayanpottery.blogspot.com
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