How the Past of Cyprus was Sold to the Highest Bidder: The 1928 MET Sales

"Rather than continue to hold these objects in storage where they perform no useful service, the Trustees have determined to dispose of them by auction sale in March and April so that other museums and private collectors can obtain them and enjoy their possession." - Robert DeForest

These were the words written in a letter by the then President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert DeForest. In the modern day Museums are seen as institutions that preserve and protect the past, many do not remember or know of the vast amounts of sales (or deaccessioning) that was so pervasive just a hundred years ago.

The Lots sold at Auction

Over the course of two days, Friday 30th and Saturday 31st of March 1928, the first 654 lots would be sold. Note that many lots had two, three or more pieces, this sale comprised many more than 654 items sold.

The lots included are detailed below.

Limestone:

• Limestone ornaments, utensils, architectural fragments, etc. 1-21
• Limestone carvings of votaries, temple boys, animals, etc. 22-40, 83-99, 135-142, 214-230, 285-315, 323-346, 352-387, 482-532, 553-630

Terracotta and Pottery:

• Ancient Cypriote and other pottery, from the Early Bronze Age to the Roman Period 41-76, 100-117, 143-152, 205-213, 273-277, 432-450, 553-630
• Canosa and Hadra vases; Etruscan terracotta antefixes 118-124
• Graeco-Roman, Gallo-Roman, and Roman pottery 200-204
• Ancient Greek and Hadra pottery 262-272, 278-284, 316-322, 347-351, 388-398, 399-410
• Terra cotta statuettes, heads, and ornaments 231-241
• Ancient Hellenistic terra cotta and Greek pottery 316-322
• Terra cotta and carved limestone objects, etc. 414-431
• Cypriote, Roman, and Etruscan pottery 553-630
• Ancient pottery 631-654

Glass:

• Ancient iridescent blown glass from Cyprus 153-182
• Ancient Roman blown glass from Cyprus and collections of glass fragments 242-250, 451-473
• Collections of ancient glass fragments 411-413
• Ancient hand-molded glass from the Julien Greau Collection 533-552
• Ancient glass 631-654

Marble:

• Graeco-Roman and Roman marble sculptures 125-134
• Limestone and marble carvings; Cypriote pottery 482-532

Other:

• Architectural and animal carvings 77-82
• Ancient alabaster objects of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages 251-261
• Bronze shovel and ancient Greek pottery 388-398
• Cypriote, Roman, and Etruscan bronze objects 474-481

The second sale had a similar amount of lots.

John Ringling

This auction made John Ringling the owner of the largest collection of Cypriot antiquities in the southern United States. He had seemingly purchased 2,300 items during the March auction, which comprised most of what was being sold, for $56,000 (around $1,400,000 in todays money).

Items Still For Sale

To this day items from the 1928 auctions show up for sale in various auctions and sales. One such example is the large 34.2cm tall limestone head which was lot 336 in the March 2028 auction and most recently sold in 2019 at Christie's for $68,750 to a private buyer.

There are still hundreds of items from this auction that are likely in private hands and pop up every year. Many have lost their 1928 provenance but some still have the name of Cesnola attached to them.

Other Auctions & Sales

The 1928 sale wasn't the only sale of antiquities by the MET, nor by other institutions. The MET continued to sell, or as they call it deaccession, artefacts well into the 1970s.

Other museums have sold items as recently as the late 2010s, particularly in the United States.

All the Lots with Images

For your convenience, we have compiled all the lots with images in this article. Any image not listed above is listed here below. The lots will refer to either the march or april sales book.