The Ivory Pomegranate is a thumb-sized decorative acquired by the Israel Museum. It is not made of genuine ivory, but rather made of Hippopotamus bone, bearing an inscription Holy (Sacred) to the Priest of the House of God (YHWH). At the time of its discovery, it was thought to be adorned on the High Priest sceptre within the Holy of Holies. The bone was once considered a genuine artifact proving the existence of Solomon's Temple but has been challenged as a forgery due to the Hebraic inscription allegedly being made after it was cracked into 1/3 of its original size.
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The Ivory Pomegranate is a small ornamental bone object engraved with a short inscription in paleo-Hebrew. The inscription is inscribed in circular fashion along the shoulders of the pomegranate which is the shape of the fruit in blossom stage. A significant part of the body of the pomegranate is broken including two additional breaks to the long petals of the fruit. There is a vertical break on the body that cuts through the inscription, creating three fragmentary letters and nine complete letters of the inscription. Two areas of this fracture are lighter shades and considered to be new breaks on top of the ancient break. While it is still priceless as a Semitic artifact from 13th Century B.C., its connection to the Holy of Holies have been greatly disputed by Israeli and Roman archeologists as forgery.
The pomegranate was popular as a cultic object and was not unique to the worship of Yahweh. Archeaologist Aharon Kempinski has argued that, even if the inscription is authentic, the chances of it belonging to Solomon’s Temple is extremely low as it's origin is unknown and there were many "houses of Yahweh" outside Jerusalem, many of which "have not yet been excavated but are constantly ransacked by [illegal] treasure seekers". Baruch Halpern has suggested another interpretation of the inscription. The word "house" can also mean, literally, a house where a family lived. The missing letters could read "[hyja]H" (Ahijah). At least three of the Biblical Ahijahs were priests and the inscription may be a reference to a priestly family rather than a deity. Halpern also notes that the unusual syntax of the inscription makes this interpretaion philologically possible.[1]
The thumb-sized ivory pomegranate measuring 44 millimetres (1.7 in) in height, bears an ancient Hebrew inscription that reads, depending on the point chosen as the beginning in the circular inscription, "Belonging to the Temple [literally 'house'] of ---h, holy to the priests" or "Sacred donation for the priests of [or 'in'] the Temple [literally 'house'] of ---h". It was once believed by some scholars to have adorned a sceptre used by the high priest in Solomon's Temple. Its origin is unknown as it appeared on the antiquities market anonymously in 1979 and was smuggled out of Israel and sold to an anonymous collector in France. Based on authentication by Nahman Avigad, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem purchased it from the collector for the sum of $550,000 in 1988. It was considered the most important item of biblical antiquities in the Israel Museum’s collection.[2]
In 2004, some experts alleged it was a part of an antiquities fraud as the original Jewish owner who originally sold the artifact has since been involved in several other archaeological forgeries. Along with the Jehoash Inscription which belonged to the same owner, both artifacts have been widely condemned as authentic artifacts with forged engravings. These events have followed a current trend within the Israeli black market in engraving antiques with religious connotations in order to increase their selling value to collectors and museums. The original owner has claimed that he obtained both artifacts (Ivory Pomegranate and Jehoash Inscription) from a Muslim seller who owns an Antique Shop in East Jerusalem.
While it is true that the artifact dates back to the 14th or 13th century B.C. the Investigative Committee of Israel has officially accepted that the inscription is a modern forgery with its apologies, and even Professor Aaron Demski admits there is an 80 percent certainty that the inscription is a forgery.[3][4][5][6]