Imperial Ottoman Bank

A bank, not a collector. Its Cyprus branch staff and directors in Larnaca, Limassol and Nicosia financed, dug and traded Cypriot antiquities in their private capacity: Lang (Dali, 1860s), Watkins (Idalion and Marion, 1885-86), Christian (Marion syndicate; British Museum agent 1893-99).

Kiely & Merrillees 2012

1. 1863
   The Ottoman Bank, chartered in London in 1856, was re-registered as the Imperial Ottoman Bank by Ottoman firman (ratified 4 February 1863, registered 5 March 1863). Wikipedia lists Cyprus branches at Larnaca (1862), Nicosia and Limassol (1879), Famagusta (1906).

   ConstantinopleOttoman Bank (English Wikipedia)

2. 1863
   R. H. Lang established the first Cyprus branch of the bank at Larnaca and managed it until 1872 (Kiely: director 1863-1872). The sources differ on the start: Wikipedia gives Larnaca 1862; Marangou says (with a printing slip, '1836') that Lang's firm was given the agency.

   LarnacaRobert Hamilton LangKiely 2010Kiely 2020, pp. 482-483Marangou 2000, p. 68

3. 1869
   Lang, as bank manager and acting British vice-consul, uncovered the sanctuary of Apollo-Reshef at Dali (Idalion); most finds were sold to the British Museum 1872-73. The bank itself had no part in the sale.

   DaliRobert Hamilton LangKiely 2010

4. 1874
   Edward Gilbertson appears as a director of the bank (search snippet, not opened); he is named with J. C. Bowring as intermediary for Idalion pieces reaching Exeter in 1882.

   Edward GilbertsonAccounts and Papers 1874,… 1874, p. 584Kiely 2020, pp. 483-523

5. 1884
   On 4 December 1884 Ohnefalsch-Richter wrote that he was starting 'with the banker Watkins and D. Pierides' to choose antiquities to send to Hoffmann, Paris, for auction.

   LarnacaMax Ohnefalsch-RichterCharles F. WatkinsDemetrios PieridesHenri HoffmannBuchholz 1989

6. 1885
   Charles Watkins, then manager of the bank at Larnaca, funded Ohnefalsch-Richter's excavation of the Aphrodite sanctuary at Dali from February 1885; about 500 objects were sold to the Berlin museums in 1887. Watkins also financed work at Katydata, Kutrapha and Frangissa and became plaintiff in Watkins v. Warren (Dec 1885-Jan 1886), which he lost.

   DaliCharles F. WatkinsMax Ohnefalsch-RichterFalkland WarrenRecke 2012Given 2001, p. 256

7. 1885–1886
   A syndicate including Watkins, Charles Christian (then of the bank), and J. W. Williamson, with Ohnefalsch-Richter, excavated the Polis (Marion) necropolis. The finds were auctioned in Paris in 1887; one source calls the motive 'purely commercial'. Berlin bought about 300 objects at the Paris sale.

   PolisCharles F. WatkinsCharles ChristianJohn William WilliamsonMax Ohnefalsch-RichterGoring 1983, p. 37Childs et al. 2012Recke 2012

8. 1885
   Samuel Brown, Government Engineer, married Zoë Joly, sister of Ernest T. C. Joly, then accountant at the bank in Nicosia; Kiely and Merrillees say successive bank employees (Lang, Pierides, Watkins, Christian) engaged in private excavations, and that the bank had social prestige as the main financial provider to the British authorities.

   NicosiaSamuel BrownErnest Thomas Charles JolyZoë Melita Brown (née Joly)Kiely & Merrillees 2012

9. 1893
   Charles Christian, director of the bank at Larnaca (Tatton-Brown's gloss), acted with J. W. Williamson as the British Museum's agents for the Turner Bequest excavations at Amathus, Kourion, Enkomi and later sites, arranging permits.

   Charles ChristianJohn William WilliamsonTatton-Brown 2001, p. 169Ulbrich & Kiely 2012, p. 39

• The Price of Rough MetalArticle
• The Savant of LarnacaArticle
• The Legal Export of Cypriot AntiquitiesCompendium