Somewhere along the way of collecting ancient biblical coins I was led on a detour into the world of ancient Holy Land oil lamps. Predictably, subsequent expansion occurred. Although coins are my main hobby, artifacts complement many of my coins -- and have become my secondary hobby. Posting and describing each artifact here would be cumbersome for me and for all you CoinTalk ancient coin enthusiasts. So, I made this video of my display cabinet which allows the individual artifacts to be seen in context of the whole: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ntmHTX6VVMk The top 3 shelves are in chronological order, left-to-right then top-downward. Below the 3rd shelf the arrangement shifts to a different system. The photo at the top is (left most) my wife and I, and (right most) the late Ken Baumheckel and his wife. In addition to Ken having been an extensive collector of ancient coins, he was also by far the most passionate ancient Holy Land oil lamp collector imaginable! Some lamps in my collection were acquired from his collection. Here is a link to a wonderful webpage kindly hosted by the Ancient Coin Club of Los Angeles that he authored: https://www.accla.org/actaaccla/oillamps2010.html
I love it! I especially love all your artifacts. I only have a small replica oil lamp. Because I am away from home, I only have a small part of my fossil/rock collection with me. Some of the rocks are not necessarily special, but my 5-year-old son likes to give me rocks that he finds interesting.
Thank you so much for posting this, making the video, and providing the link to such an amazing collection. I had already seen a little of your display cabinet when you posted a picture of some of your oil lamps, a while back. Just wanted to say, thanks, my friend. I'm going to be looking at a video, then a link I've already saved to my home screen. Blessings, I love it!
Update: In the original video posted above (O.P.) there were 6 artifacts without a little description card. This morning I made those 6 missing cards, placed them in the cabinet, and shot a new video:
If I was the kind of guy that got jealous, I guess that I would be. But, I'm not, so I'm so glad for you. I'm to blessed to want what someone else has been blessed with. Now, I might see something that you have and try to get one for myself, but only because I like it that much. Thank you for posting, Kenneth
Nice display, the wood and glass display case makes it look a bit Victorian. The density too. Of course it's a personal collection, but museums used to be like that. Interesting collection ! I suppose you acquired most of these artefacts in Israel and Palestinian territories. I remember how it works over there : selling and exporting archaeological material is legal and there are, in Jerusalem for example, specialized shops accessible for tourists. Maybe the law has changed those last years, I'm not sure. I remember in the late 70s in Jericho a shop called "Jericho Excavations" or something like that. My girlfriend I was traveling with bought me there a bronze triangular dagger (Bronze Age). She had to show her passport and the shopkeeper wrote down her name, her address and passport number in a big register in front of the sold artefact's entry. I should do like you did. I have some ancient artefacts, too, from the Mediterranean, Middle-East, Egypt or central Africa, acquired many years ago by my parents or my humble self during travels, or even in Paris' flea market. There is no specialization : Greek and Roman clay figurines, ancient pottery from North Africa, Iran, central Africa, clay lamps, etc. These artefacts are not displayed together in my home - in fact most aren't displayed at all and, when I see your photo and video, I think you're right, I should do it. I have not decided yey which is the best for me : display most of my collection in a large display case like yours, or select just a small number of objects that would be displayed together with contemporary high-tech objects, for my wife inherited from her dad a small collection of turbine wheels and blades. I visited in Rome the Montemartini Museum and I appreciated the combination, the rapprochement of ancient objects with 20th century industrial equipment...
