Sadigh Gallery

Ancient Egyptians didn’t have a word for “art,” but their unparalleled wealth of architecture, paintings, murals, statues, and other crafts surely reflected art in the most impressive form. Ancient Egyptian art is characterized by common themes of gods and pharaohs as well as everyday life and healthy human figures. Museums around the world – from Cairo to New York – contain many of these splendid artworks and collections. Here are some notable works of art from the Ancient Egyptian period. Khufu’s Statue This small yet grand ivory status of Pharaoh Khufu is the man’s only portrait discovered so far, the only physical proof of his reign for two decades. Found at the ancient necropolis of Abydos, the statue’s body was discovered ahead of its head. Today it’s housed in the Cairo museum. Image source : FactsandDetails.com    Egyptian Book of the Dead From the 16th century B.C., this scroll was entombed with different wealthy individuals. ...

Have you heard of out-of-place artifacts? Oopart, as it’s commonly called, represents dozens of prehistoric items found in different places around the world that appear to be technologically advanced, unlike the times in which they were made. Here are some interesting out-of-place artifacts, and they remain interesting whether they are fake or misinterpreted, misdated, or don’t come with any reasonable explanation. Image source: ArchyFantasies.com 500,000 year old spark plug In 1961, three individuals were searching for geodes for their gem and gift shop in California when they stumbled on what seemed to be a spark plug encased in a geode. The device was dated at 500,000 years or older. Armed with x-rays and an artist’s sketch of the artifact, critics of the claim thought it was truly a modern spark plug housed in a quick-forming concretion instead of a geode. Mysterious blue stone Could an odd kind of blue stone, discovered in 1990 by archeologist Angelo Pit...

The modern world has always been fascinated with art from the cultures of ancient societies and cultures, from Greece and Rome to Mesopotamia and China. Art from these places and people are of great historical value, mostly found in museums, and often fetch high prices among collectors. Image source: ancientartpodcast.org Some drawings and paintings are carved in the walls of caves, what most scholars call prehistoric art. Evidenced by unearthed and discovered art of the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Age, mankind has always been trying to replicate beauty and make sense of the world. The earliest Paleolithic art, for example, is epitomized in the Bhimbetka Petroglyphs, which have been found in the Auditorium cave in Central India. These date back to at least 290,000 BCE. Mesolithic and Neolithic art likewise refer to ancient art produced in the Stone Age. With the onset of the Bronze era, the best examples of ancient art are in the work found in the Mediterranean, the so...

The ancient Babylonians were an Akkadian-speaking people who lived in southern Mesopotamia around 1894 B.C. Babylon started as a small town during the age of the Akkadian Empire. It then expanded further under Hammurabi and rose to power. Babylonia was “the country of Akkad” and prospered with Hammurabi as its leader. Assyro-Babylonian culture thrived from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age and was characterized by the ethnic, linguistic, and cultural connection between Assyria and Babylonia.              Image source: pinterest.com A big part of the Babylonian culture was its arts and crafts. Due to the huge amount of clay at their disposal (and lack of stone), ancient Babylonians used mudbricks to build. Babylonian, Sumerian, and Assyrian temples built at the time were made primarily of crude bricks. The buttresses were necessary for support and drains for leading away water that could damage structures. Much of Babylon...

Ancient glass has a rich albeit intriguing history behind it. There are several ways that one can authenticate ancient glass personally before seeking professional services. Here are some of them: Surface iridescence typically forms in layers and forms skins like an onion. Thus if one tries to dislodge it, it should flake instead of crumble, although there are exceptions to the rule. The colors in the iridescence should flow akin to colors in a petrol spill in a puddle, unless it’s a modern glass covered with portions of genuine ancient iridescence. Image source : AARF.com  The right chemical reactions can pave the way for iridescence to form even in less than 100 years in natural soil conditions, so it’s not a foolproof guarantee of authenticity. But this also means that a piece devoid of iridescence isn’t necessarily fake. Glass can be cleverly restored or repaired, so do this test carefully: run a very hot pin embedded in a heat-proof handle ove...

Coin collecting is a truly fun hobby to get into, especially as you become more and more familiar with different coin types, their respective age, and how limited the production is. However, not all coins are available to the public. The rarest and most valuable ones are often just sold in high-end auctions or kept in museums (finding ones for sale is reason enough to think they might be fakes). Hereunder are some of the most collectible ones that should make the devout numismatist’s mouth water. 1913 Liberty Head nickel What makes this nickel highly sought-after is that it was pressed without the permission of the U.S. mint, which had changed the design to that of a Native American. Only five pieces became available to the market, and the most expensive piece was sold for $3.7 million (and it wasn’t even in mint condition). Image source : ngccoin.com 2007 C$1m coin This massive, 100-kg coin was specially minted by the Royal Canadian Mint. It ...

The industry of coin collecting is huge and dynamic, with an estimated net worth of $5 billion in the United States alone. While many people would like to get their hands onto as many types of coins as they want, some enthusiasts have categorized themselves as a certain type of coin collector to have a great knowledge on which clubs they should be part of and which kinds of coin dealers they should find.  Image source: coinsonline.com Type collectors are the ones who choose to collect one example of every coin, denomination, metal, or design from a certain period. These collectors may decide to collect one of each coin from his or her chosen century.  Error collectors look for coins that have minting errors. They keep an eye on coins that have been struck in parts, those that have not been struck at all, or coins that were clipped during the minting process. Many collectors and dealers focus their attention on coins with minting errors.  Novelt...