The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1885-02-06
A Valuable Collection.

A very valuable collection, made
fifty years ago by Col. Mendez L.
Cohen, has lately found permanent
resting-place in the Johns Hopkins
university, writes a Baltimore CORE
spondent to The New York Tribune.
That the archaeological value of this
collection has not been more generally
known is due to the fact that since
1856 it has remained in a private
cabinet in Baltimore, and the story of
its accumulation is inseparable from
the collection itself.
Col. Mendez, born in Richmond,
Va, in 1876, of family who made an
honorable record in the Revolutionary
war, and aided to defend Fort Nc
Henry, went into the banking business
about 1916, and until 1929 conducted
the New York branch of the Baltimore
firm of j. 1. Cohen & Brothers. He
then retired. and his thoughts turned
to travel. Sailing for Europe, he fin
ally landed at Beyrout in January,
1882. st. Jean d'Acre was beseiged
by Ibramin Pasha. son of the rebellion,
viceroy of Egypt. A happy accident |
enabled him to become acquainted
with the Egyptian leaders, and he
spent week as their guest. To this
his subsequent antiquarian successes
are largely due. Early in April, 1882,
he left Damietta in his own kangea, or
and assembled to Wady Halls,
in Nubia, displaying ''the first Ameri-
ian flag ever seen on the river" and
having his boatman salute it, and !
wear to "defend it against all en- !,
mies." The French naval officers .
we're at this time at work at Luxor,
'emoving the obelisk now in the Place .
le la COncorde, and Col. Mendez WIS.,
ted them there.
Without making expensive excava-
ions, he was enabled to purchase OBJ :
ects from first hands,,h letters from ..
1ehemet Ali being OF great service. =
1t Ihebes, Memphis, Luxor, and d.
Their points he gathered the mass of .
is collection, which was reinforced in :,
1886 by purchases from Consul Gener- +
i Galt's great collection. In every =
Instance the locality and circumstances "
+ the find are noted. The $50 objects !.
n the collection consist of statuettes II
4 bronze OF deities and animals; anu a
Its in enamel, porcelain, and stone; "
mphorB IN great variety; vases of
labaster, terra Gotta, and basalt; rings
f cornelian. bronze, and gold; scara-
sci, some with, some without hierog- Of
rphics, and few with cartouches: e.
ecklaces of jasper, amethyst, lapis D'
lzuli, and other substances; figures of m
i'll stone, porcelain, and Of
God, some with papyri receptacles; m m
nbalmed dogs, cats, ibises, and croc- I'd
lilies; sets of canopi, and objects of al
)mestic use. There were two num- al
les in perfect preservation, but one
as opened many years ago at the g
University of Maryland. This collec- IN
IN was used in 1845 to illustrate as
uple of lectures on archaeology de- m
cred in Baltimore by Mr.. George "a
Gliddon, American consul at Cairo. 10
Col. Mendez, after six years spent in co
rope, Egypt, and the Levant, re- w
ned to his home in Baltimore and pc
ed quiet life until his death, in De
.. His nephews, to whom he be- Z. al
oathed his collection, have trans tn
red it to Johns Hopkins university, so
the exact price set upon it is not Uni
ted. IL.