Pitt-Rivers purchased many archaeological artefacts from the Cesnola collections for both his first (founding) collection and his second. Most came from auction houses like Sotheby's. Almost all the artefacts were thought to have been found in Cyprus.

The following web links give access to details about some of the sales from which Pitt-Rivers acquired Cesnola objects between 1883 and 1892, to find out more about all the sales from which Pitt-Rivers purchased items see here:

1. Front covers of Lawrence-Cesnola auction sales catalogues for 1-4 June 1883, 15-17 May 1884, 12-14 March 1888 and 25-27 April 1892

2. Introductions written by Lawrence to the Cesnola sales 1883, 1884, 1888 and 1892

3. Cesnola-Lawrence sales at Sotheby's auction rooms 1-4 June 1883
What was for sale on 1 June 1883 and who were successful bidders?
What Pitt-Rivers bought on 1 June 1883
Summary of all the bids on 1 June 1883
Pitt-Rivers' successful bids 1-4 June 1883
Summary of all bids on sales of Lawrence-Cesnola collection 1-4 June 1883 at Sotheby's

4. Pitt-Rivers' purchases at Cesnola sales 15-16 May 1884 and list of all the successful bidders

5. Pitt-Rivers' purchases at Cesnola sales at Sotheby's 12-14 March 1888
What Pitt-Rivers bought on 12 March 1888
What Pitt-Rivers bought on 13 March 1888
What Pitt-Rivers bought on 14 March 1888
Summary including successful bidders 12-14 March 1888

5. Pitt-Rivers' purchases at Cesnola sales 1892 ; Summary for 1892 sale

6. Summary of the four sales from Pitt-Rivers' perspective:

The following table shows Pitt-Rivers purchases from these four Cesnola-Lawrence sales against the overall sales and how much he spent on each occasion

Two shillings in 1884 were worth at least £8.13p in 2010 according to http://www.measuringworth.com/

£31.10.0 in 1892 were worth at least £2,670 in 2010 according to same site. This was by far the most he spent on one item, a Tympanum which later was sold to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Summary of all the successful bidders at 1883, 1884, 1888 and 1892 sales with known details or suggested identities for them.

AP March - May 2012.

The author is very grateful to Thomas Kiely, Cyprus Curator, Department of Greece and Rome, British Museum for providing copies of the annotated auctioneers' sale catalogues which have been used to compile the above information.