I’m a bit confused. The National Treasures website, set up by the Israel Antiquities Authority, provides a gallery and info: “This on-line site offers a selection of published artifacts from the collections of the National Treasures and is available for researchers, curators, students and the general public in Israel and abroad. This site is updated continuously, and new artifacts are added on a regular basis.” So far so good. However, when you dig down to an actual artifact page, this is what jumps out:

There are two links for “Purchase”? Fortunately, when I clicked these, nothing happened, the page stayed the same. Still, is the IAA in the antique dealing business now?

Correction: As Mark and Catherine were kind enough to point out, the entry page of National treasures actually does state: “The artifact’s information card presents detailed archaeological data about the selected artifact, including provenance, type, dimensions, material, site where discovered, dating and bibliography. In addition, hi-resolution images of on-line artifacts may be purchased on-line from the photographic archives of the Israel Antiquities Authority.” I am sorry for any confusion I may have caused. Just goes to show that it isn’t always a good idea to write blog posts (very) late at night…