Rare ancient Yemeni gold seal sold at a New York auction for a fantastic price.

Arabian Sea Newspaper - Follow-ups

Arabian Sea - Yemen - Follow-ups: Abdullah Mohsen, a researcher specializing in tracking smuggled Yemeni antiquities, revealed the sale of a rare golden archaeological seal from Yemen's antiquities in an auction in New York City on October 18, 2021, for an amount he described as "fantastic," exceeding more than 100 times its original purchase price. The exceptional seal dates back to the 4th century BC and is made of pure gold, weighing about 43 grams. It features an elongated oval design, engraved with a Musnad inscription consisting of two lines separated by two single lines, topped and surrounded from above and below by drawings of two ibexes with their heads tilted back, within a frame of dots. The seal has been vertically pierced at the base of its extended side wings, a unique local design feature that was common in ancient Yemen and also appears in stone seals. Researcher Mohsen pointed out that the International Council of Museums (ICOM) had included a similar seal in the Red List of objects at risk of looting and illicit trafficking, describing it as "an oval gold seal from Yemen - Marib, dating back to the first century BC, with dimensions of 2.8 × 1.8 cm." This incident highlights once again the continued smuggling and sale of Yemeni antiquities in international markets, in the absence of effective oversight and the ongoing conflict that has facilitated the looting of the country's cultural heritage.