Ancient Roman, Egyptian Artifacts From Museum Collection Set for Auction

Since we’ve already offered you the chance to buy actual dinosaur bones, RealClearLife thought you might be interested in building out your collection in the Metropolitan Museum of [Insert Your Name Here].

This time around, Christie’s is the middleman between you and Ohio’s Toledo Museum of Art, which is set to auction off a number of ancient Greek, Roman, Near Eastern, and Egyptian artifacts in two separate sales. (The artifacts are being sold to benefit the museum’s acquisitions fund; its loss is your gain.) 43 pieces will hit the online auction block between Oct. 19-26, with lower price-tags to entice amateur antiquities collectors (some pieces start as low as $1,000).

A separate standalone live auction, booked for Oct. 25, will include 164 ancient items, including pottery, statues, sculptures, and heads (made out of stone, of course) from a number of private collections, as well as the Toledo Museum of Art. Obviously, this one’s for the expert antiquarians—and the prices reflect this.

Take a look at some of the featured items below, along with their pre-auction estimates. To view the Oct. 25 haul, click here. For the online-only items, click here.

An Egyptian painted alabaster canopic jar lid in the form of baboon-headed god, Hapi – New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty 1295–1186 B.C. – $15,000–$20,000 (Courtesy of Christie’s)

An Egyptian bronze cat from the Ptolemaic period, 332–30 B.C. – $30,000–$50,000 (Courtesy of Christie’s)

A Cypriot limestone head of a male votary – circa 500–450 B.C. – $20,000–$30,000 (Courtesy of Christie’s)

A Corinthian black-figured olpe (wine jug) – Late Proto-Corinthian, circa 640 B.C. – $15,000–$20,000 (Courtesy of Christie’s)