Harry Hubbard Tries to Sell Me an "Ancient" Artifact

9/29/2014

I'm a bit pressed for time today, so instead of a lengthy blog post, I'd like to share with you the following advertisement I received last night via email from Harry Hubbard, of the Burrows Cave affair, claiming to offer for sale a genuine ancient piece of art straight from one of the alleged Greco-Egyptian caves of Illinois. Apparently I am on his mailing list and he figured I (along with an undisclosed number of other recipients of his email) might be interested in his latest attempt to profit off the alleged patrimony of Hellenistic Egypt. As you can see from the advertisement and the accompanying photograph, there is a lot of money to be made from what for all intents and purposes appears to be banking on uncritical fringe history believers, to judge by Hubbard's slipshod authentication process and the poor quality of the "art."

Dimensions

H - 8 5/8"
W - 4 7/8"
D - 1 7/16"

This piece will stand up on its own with a hard, level surface. It has been reviewed at the Forensic Lab we use in Santa Fe and clearly determined to be of ancient origin...but I didn't pay the money to have the complete paper documentation. Marble has not been 100% confirmed identity, but I am suspect it might be Carrera from Italy because of the heavy Ag inclusion on the bottom rear. This appears to be a carving of a priest of Osiris holding the Ankh and a Cobra. This piece has provenance from the Marion County Illinois Tomb going back to the collection of Thelma McClain being added to her artifact assortment in 1983. This piece has been featured in two recent video presentations as well as one recent publication.

This piece is delivered for $1650.00 shipped in double boxes and insured. HH

He did not pay the money to document the lab findings but wants $1,650 based only on his word! This lab testing managed to confirm the item is ancient but failed to determine what the object is made out of!

Whoever pays that kind of money for this object deserves to own it.

60 Comments

666

9/29/2014 07:14:29 am

They did exactly the same thing centuries ago - Turin Shroud, Arthur's Grave in Glastonbury, etc....

666

9/29/2014 07:24:29 am

Robert Munro, Archaeology and False Antiquities (Methuen, 1905; G.W. Jacobs & Co., 1908, HardPress Publishing, 2013).

9/29/2014 08:30:45 am

Glastonbury + Arthur were connected and veryreal.
Turin Shroud is a legitimate relic. Even if from the Old
World, the Burrow's Cave "artifax" are 20th Century.

666

9/29/2014 08:40:50 am

>>Turin Shroud is a legitimate relic

Even if Jesus Christ wasn't really a historical person and even if the gospels mention strips of cloth and not a whole sheet

Harry Hubbard

3/21/2019 05:06:19 pm

Jason sure loves to feel big for himself. A person wanted to sell the piece, so I sent out several emails to people and just put Jason on the list. I was never trying to sell him an artifact specifically, he just received an email notice like everyone else. What a loser. Oh, the artifact sold shortly after to a happy buyer.

Torries D Gunn

6/10/2019 06:53:15 pm

How can I contact you

Kyle nelson link

11/21/2019 05:31:19 pm

Hello harry im writing to inform u that i have made a dicovery in westrrn ky somewhat like yours maybe older but just as incredible ..but i found my information first near u then followed to western ky ...a monster civilization like you i could use some help lots of artifacts to many to keep pilling up gold inbedded in the rocks that someone has placed there but please contact me please 2702011441...names kyle

James Woodard

3/16/2020 06:31:32 pm

Regardless of your motives in sending him the e-mail specifically, his points still stand. Namely: "He did not pay the money to document the lab findings but wants $1,650 based only on his word! This lab testing managed to confirm the item is ancient but failed to determine what the object is made out of!"
And the "What a loser," comment really doesn't help to make you look like the mature one in this situation.

Shane Sullivan

9/29/2014 07:51:44 am

How many thousand non-fiction books does one have to read to fall for this?

666

9/29/2014 08:39:30 am

>>How many thousand

None
Back to psychological types
Kill the subject matter, give birth to the types of people involved that create the subject matters - explore the source for a change

Only Me

9/29/2014 01:33:27 pm

"explore the source for a change"

You believe mainstream scholarship to be wrong, therefore, your mindset makes you one of those "psychological types".

9/29/2014 08:59:03 am

Doesn't it just make you want to scream: SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!

Cathleen Anderson

9/29/2014 08:59:37 am

He has to be committing some sort of crime along with out and out fraud.

9/29/2014 09:10:02 am

A crime against taste! :)

666

9/29/2014 09:11:26 am

>>fraud

But it's not fraud to the believer
The Turin Shroud is genuine

9/29/2014 10:01:13 am

You know, your recent anti-psychiatry rants were more amusing. I guess you ran out of new material...

666

9/29/2014 11:43:50 am

>>>You know, your recent anti-psychiatry rants were more amusing

Tell me psychology IS NOT SUBECTIVE
TELL ME THAT
TELL ME IT'S AS DEMONSTRABLE AND AS PROVABLE AS MATHEMATICS

9/29/2014 11:54:43 am

In your case, 666, it comes pretty darn close.

666

9/29/2014 11:55:27 am

In the UK a honey trap was used against a man suspected of stabbing a woman to death and the psychological profiler working for the Police was certain he was the culprit because he had a library of New Age Books and had a black room in his flat with a pentagram on the floor. This was the psychologist's reasoning.

Now, tell me it's not possible to compile a list of Lords and Duchesses in the UK who have an active interest in the Occult and Magick. Good old Aleister Crowley collected numerous disciples to accompany him in his Abbey of Thelema in Sicily during the 1920s - it was Lady Frieda Harris 1877-1962 that designed his Tarot Cards in 1944.

Scott Hamilton

9/29/2014 10:07:19 am

I live in Illinois now, I wonder where the caves are supposed be. They don't let anyone know the exact location do they? Oh well. Since moving to Chicago I've been surprised how much fringe history has a connection to the city, one way or another.

H. Gomez

9/30/2014 04:55:00 am

He said to Jason in the emai, "This piece has provenance from the Marion County Illinois Tomb."

Okay, that's the big lie, to claim provenance if the first place. Who can show this provenance? Nobody, ever, probly.

Harry Hubbard link

3/21/2019 05:02:50 pm

Boy are you stupid.

Kal

9/29/2014 10:09:11 am

The Turin shroud is a holy relic, like the 'true cross' pieces all over the ancient world. It dates from about 1300 AD. As one poster said, it would have been cloth strips, not a whole blanket, and it certainly would not have the image of a roman looking bearded man on the face. It should look Aramaic or Middle Eastern, he would have been short and had a prominent nose, more so than an Italian. Jesus was not a Roman, he was Jewish, well half Jewish, half God. Yes, Israel was occupied by Rome, but he is not from there.

Then again, hopefully you were being ironic.

666

9/29/2014 11:46:03 am

The Image on the Turin Shroud is NOT THREE DIMENSIONAL
THE IMAGE IS THAT OF A "MAN" WHO WAS AS FLAT AS A PANCAKE
IT'S AN ARTISTIC FAKE THAT WAS ORIGINALLY USED AS A HEALING DEVICE

Only Me

9/29/2014 01:27:57 pm

Just your opinion, not fact.

BillUSA

9/29/2014 10:00:23 pm

666 -

Good call. Unlike some people around here, I don't require some "expert" to tell me the Shroud of Turin is a fake depiction of Jesus Christ. Religious "experts" will insist that it is legitimate. Well, concretely, it is. But that's a medieval photoshop pic of Jesus Christ any day of the week. Besides, experts are a dime a dozen, but that isn't what I'm here to discuss.

Like you said, the depiction was made while the cloth lay flat upon a surface that was either horizontal or vertical. If the cloth had indeed been wrapped around a human form and whatever they say happened in the burial cave resulted in an image, said image would appear as though it was stretched out in all directions when placed upon a flat surface.

For instance, instead of the head appearing as it does, it would look roughly 50% wider.

It would be cool if it was real. I just don't want those types around me trying to convince me that it is really Jesus' image. They'll split hairs over semantics because while I know it's "supposed" to be Jesus, I know that it is a fakery. I have nothing against people believing that it's real. I'm tolerant that way - even if I know they are full of it.

Only Me

9/30/2014 12:17:18 pm

Actually, Bill, even Pope Francis stopped short of declaring the Shroud authentic. Whether you give the opinions of experts any credibility or not, the fact remains that they are still engaged in debate over the Shroud, so at least all voices are being heard.

As far as how it was made, there are at least nine hypotheses attempting to explain how it was done. No one has proven definitively how or what technique(s) were used. That is why 666's comment, and yours, is an opinion and not fact.

9/29/2014 10:11:47 am

Jason, I recall something about an alleged connection between Frank Joseph and the Burrows Cave. Do you know anytjing about it, or am I mixing things up?

Jason Colavito link

9/29/2014 10:23:50 am

Frank Joseph was imprisoned for child sex crimes at the prison where Burrows worked as a guard. Some believe that the two worked together in formulating the first Burrows Cave claims since Joseph worked to promote the supposed find early on after his release, when he became a fringe author.

http://www.flavinscorner.com/falling.htm

9/29/2014 10:46:10 am

Just read about 20%... Too depressing to read all at once...

Scott Hamilton

9/29/2014 10:24:32 am

I believe the connection is that the Burrows of Burrows cave fame was a guard at the prison where Frank Joseph was incarcerated. There is some speculation that they knew each other because of that, but as with a lot of things about Burrows cave it's murky.

9/29/2014 11:29:07 am

...or very very very very unscrupulous...

on Harry Hubbard...

9/29/2014 12:42:29 pm

http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/a-burrows-cave-update-disturbing-efforts-to-teach-fringe-history-to-teens

http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/more-mary-magdalene-plus-harry-hubbard-and-the-ark-of-the-covenant

http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/harry-hubbard-answers-your-questions-on-the-illinois-caves-and-america-unearthed

http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/review-of-america-unearthed-s02e05-grand-canyon-treasure

http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/america-uneartheds-zuni-elder-is-an-ancient-astronaut-theorist-believes-aliens-have-underground-base

JASON IS STILL ON HARRY HUBBARD"s EMAIL LIST?

Peter N.

9/29/2014 11:07:01 am

Wow, that's just sloppy work! It doesn't even look like it's weathered, it just looks like it was made by someone who has little to no experience carving stone. Not to mention the iconographical problems. Furthermore, it's a nice, rectangular piece of stone without any indication of what it would have been used for, unlike most ancient Egyptian art, which has a purpose, and a context.

Not that anyone needed convincing it was fake, it's just a hilariously amateurish fake. I've seen people trying to sell much more authentic fakes in Egypt, this person needs to get on his game with this. Or not, since he's provided me with more than a few good laughs from this piece.

9/29/2014 11:12:06 am

It doesn't even look like a fake! It looks like something you buy at a dollar store. (I'd never have guessed anyone tried to make it look authentic.)

DanD

9/29/2014 11:18:18 am

I like the smiley face the cobra is sporting :)

9/29/2014 11:21:07 am

@ DanD

OMG LOL!!! :)

Shane Sullivan

9/29/2014 11:36:30 am

Yeah, the little dots for eyes are my favorite part.

Not the Comte de Saint Germain

9/29/2014 03:18:54 pm

I think the line that looks like a smiley is supposed to represent the front of the cobra's head, distinct from the hood behind it. I say that as someone who doodled cobras in pencil as a kid. There are a couple of marks beneath that line that may even be little fangs, reminiscent of cartoon images of snaggle-toothed vampires. In any case, it makes for the most innocuous cobra I've ever seen, including my own deliberately silly childhood drawings.

Duke of URL

9/30/2014 03:08:00 am

Hadn't noticed that - WONDERFUL!

Mark E.

9/29/2014 02:37:55 pm

"BUCKNER, Ill. (AP) — Authorities in southern Illinois' Franklin County are trying to determine who stole two 19th-century headstones from a rural cemetery.

Sheriff Don Jones tells the (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan that the thefts from Knight Cemetery just north of Buckner are 'very upsetting.'

One stone is engraved 'Charles U. Knight, 1855-1859,' while the other one reads 'Richard Knight, 1809-1860.'

Charles Knight is believed to be the first person buried in the cemetery.

Jones urges anyone who has spotted the gravestones, or who has information about their whereabouts, to call the sheriff's department."

RLewis

9/30/2014 03:38:10 am

No context? It's obviously a land claim. The Egyptians wanted to get a piece of the profitable Great Lakes copper mines before the Templar knights grabbed it all.

Screaming Eagle

9/29/2014 01:58:25 pm

I like the bath towel in the background. It looks like the towels my wife just bought. Very soft and absorbent but there would have to be 10 bathrooms' worth for that price.

Gary

9/29/2014 11:35:32 pm

Assuming that it came with that towel, I believe that it must have been dropped by an interstellar hitchhiker. I interpret the hieroglyphic of a man calmly holding a cobra as meaning "Don't Panic."

DanD

9/30/2014 01:38:34 pm

The artifact is sold with the towel so you have something to wipe away the tears after dropping $1.6K for this nonsense.

Duke of URL

9/30/2014 03:03:38 am

He definitely "am suspect"

Pacal

9/30/2014 08:34:56 am

What a risible piece of trash. It is just so obviously a very bad fake. But they are charging 1,650.00 for it.!!! As a piece of art it doesn't rate in my opinion 10 bucks much less 1,650.00. It reminds me of a bad doodle by a 6 year old.

It is supposed to be a seated Pharaoh wearing what I suspect is a very bad drawing of the white crown of Upper Egypt. There are other iconographic problems like the cobra sceptre is wrong. So not only is bad art it is also truly bad as a fake Egyptian artifact. Not remotely convincing.

But amazingly there are people who will buy this crap.

TopGunn

9/30/2014 02:11:44 pm

Even this blogging by Jason an' even after some of the quips
and comments here, most likely Harry Hubbard will not take
Jason's email address from the list he has because he will again want to sell him something. Its almost classic hard sell.
Scientology is known for sending leaflets out for years after
one does a shory visit in hopes of a free E*Meter reading...

Snarkey

9/30/2014 02:26:40 pm

It is obviously an Egyptian taking a dump who grabbed a cobra before it could bite him on the ass.

9/30/2014 03:04:24 pm

Don't you just hate when that happens? :)

Only Me

9/30/2014 05:42:04 pm

Hey, a cobra in the hand is worth more than one on the tush!

9/30/2014 06:24:37 pm

Better rolld for anal circumference just to be sure! :D

Mark E.

9/30/2014 04:20:19 pm

If you go back and watch the Grand Canyon Episode of AU about Egyptian treasure in America Scott Wolter identified that these types of artifacts were created from 19th tombstones.

Odd that the Franklin County Sheriff appears to be trying to track down tombstone robbers about the same time.

10/1/2014 05:57:50 am

Sigh... Again... I have *known* Harry Hubbard for 25 years as both friend and professional associate...

He most certainly is NOT a fundamentally dishonest person...

Only Me

10/1/2014 06:03:32 am

Okay, I'm confused! Do we take a drink per CHV's rules or not? :)

10/1/2014 06:06:37 am

It's too early in the day (assuming you're in North America). If you're seriously confused about whether you should take a drink, you need to seriously reexamine your life :)

David

12/12/2014 02:11:01 am

I find this post disturbing. I think Harry Hubbards work is amazing and frankly I think the poster is a fraud. Harry originated the "Ancient Aliens" thing that is now all the crazy in his videos years ago. He even called it "Ancient Aliens". I suspect the poster of this blog is probably working for someone trying to avoid a law suit by trying to discredit Harry,

12/13/2014 05:39:17 pm

"Harry originated the "Ancient Aliens" thing"

Hey David! Did you know that I originated music. If you've ever listened to music, that'll be $1650.00!

goatstaog

10/18/2015 11:36:42 pm

I guess you've never heard of "in search of" with Lenoard Nimoy.

;) And before that ..chariots of the gods... and before that...

goatstaog

10/18/2015 11:35:30 pm

I was watching a few of his presentations and 3/4 the way into "cobras of columbus" he starts showing this mish mash of obviously fake 'artifacts'. One thing I notice he set's up a situation for the viewer to unlink him with a forgery as he states several times with other proven artifacts, that even though they are crude, that he couldn't possibly even draw it with a pencil. When he started to present the cobras, he shows the piece that this blogger was privy to in sale. He says I paraphrase, "here is xyz - it's in marble - it's for sale" And it's the worst representation of a melding of iconic styles you could imagine. So either he did them or some associate did them. Probably both . Saying you have verified shit yet you cannot define the stone it's carved in is an obvious red flag, aside from how shitty it looks. Shame on you Harry. As a bonus shaming, you can watch on Harry's youtube channel him 'showing off' his audio / video recording studio. He knows some technical terms, but he puts the Mixing board (a type of yamaha board with automated mixing) and he throws it in DEMO mode and pretends he's mixing !!!! It's fucking classic. Is he a liar, or a nutcase? Or BOTH???

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