EGYPTIAN POTTERY OSTRACON WITH COPTIC TEXT Start Price USD 469.00 Current Price USD 469.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Friday, October 31, 2008 End Time Friday, November 28, 2008 Location Rio de Janeiro See more about 'EGYPTIAN POTTERY OSTRACON WITH COPTIC TEXT ' Description   Item # 69 Name of the Item EGYPTIAN  POTTERY  OSTRACON  WITH  COPTIC  TEXT Provenance Egypt. Certainly Antinoe. Materials Fragment of pottery jar, black ink Description An ostracon (Greek: όστρακον ostrakon, plural όστρακα ostraka) is a piece of pottery or stone, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel, or even a fragment of stone. In archaeology, ostraca may contain scratched-in words or other forms of writing which may give clues as to the time when the piece was in use. The word is derived from Greek ostrakon, meaning a shell or a shard of pottery used as a voting ballot. It is a common error for the plural form ostraca to be used as the singular for ostracon. In Ancient Greece, the voting public would write or scratch the name of a person in the shard of pottery. When the decision at hand was to banish or exile a certain member of society, citizen peers would cast their vote by writing the name of the person on the piece of pottery; the vote was counted and if unfavorable the person was put out of the city, thus giving rise to the term ostracism.   In Egypt (in all times), anything with a smooth surface could be used as a writing surface. Generally discarded material, ostraca were cheap, readily available and therefore frequently used for writings of an ephemeral nature such as messages, receipts, students exercises and notes: pottery shards, limestone flakes, thin fragments of other stone types, etc., but limestone sherds, being flaky and of a lighter color, were most common. The importance of ostraca for History is immense. The combination of their physical nature and the Egyptian climate have preserved texts which in other cultures were lost, texts of a mundane nature, which are often better witnesses of everyday life than literary treatises preserved in libraries and in privates collections worldwide. Highlights Nice Coptic scripture well preserved. Condition As it is and shown in picture. We would say: good and stable condition but partially eroded in some parts of surface and borders naturally fragmented Measures H:  6   inches ( 16 cm) W:  4 inches (10 cm) Reverse As shown in picture 3. Date (or estimated) Not  completely sure, but possibly V Century AD Origin of the item Private Collection in RJ. Acquired in Antinoe  in 1975.   Business Information History/background Every item offered by MAT-AC (Mouseîon Antiques Trading) is unconditionally guaranteed to be Genuine and Authentic. We are located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where we have a small shop. From 1996 we started to work as Antique Dealers and we have travelled many times to places related to History and Archaeology, looking for interesting items to sell and pieces for our own collection. From 2002 we work with Archaeological Tours. Also, we collect archaeological artifacts and art works for more than 25 years and part of this collection will be displayed in the Mankind Museum in Rio de Janeiro, which will be inaugurated soon. Payment policy We accept payments through PayPal, Mail order or Bank transfer for Citibank account. All payments are required until 5 days after the end of auction. After that an unpaid item report will be issued to eBay. Shipping information   Shipping WORLDWIDE => Buyer pays shipping costs depending on buyer's requests. Some expensive items can be sent free. Combined Shipping => Multiple items can be combined for a single low shipping cost. Insurance => Optional insurance. Registered Mail => If you would like registered Mail, please let me know as soon as you win the item. Not registered Mail is sent with buyer's risk. Note => For countries like China, Turkey, all Eastern Europe & Central and South America we recommend to send all items with registered Mail for your security. Note 2 => Parcels and Orders to Italy are subject to a high insurance always. Insurance We strongly recommend doing Insurance for all items sent abroad. For some expensive and rare items, we offer insurance as a COURTESY, even if the Buyer opts for not doing it. Otherwise, it is at buyer’s risk and we have no responsibility for damaging or losing the items. Return policy All illustrations are of the actual item offered here. The authenticity of all pieces is fully guaranteed and comes with our gallery Certificate of Authenticity. If the object does not fit the description; just let us know within 07 days after receiving the object. You send the item back in the same conditions and we will return the price you paid (shipping excluded).We don’t accept damaged items back. We will answer your questions as soon as possible. Please write to us: pradodemello@hotmail.com Travels to places of Archaeological significance Also, we organize special tours to places of archaeological and historical significance in travels designed as Courses of Archaeology in loco. With pleasure, we help people to purchase items in places as Damascus, Bucharest, Cusco and other odd places. Then, not only you can visit the place, but you can be assisted to buy good and interesting items.   New Items and Special Collections We are listing items several times a week. We have a big collection of AFRICAN & OCEANIC ART - under our responsibility - and we are available to give information upon request. If someone is interest, we can offer the item on eBay. We have a good list of customers and sellers in Brazil and abroad. If you have a special thing in mind, don’t hesitate in asking to us. Please write to: pradodemello@hotmail.com Place a Bid!