father 339.fat.002 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Dayan occasionally gave antiquities from his collection, e.g. to the king of Morocco (Dayan 1981:42; Ben Ezer 1997:286). A Chalcolithic ossuary from Azur reached the Louvre, Paris, where it was proudly marked as a donation from Dayan (Ben-Ezer 1997:219). Ruth Dayan gave, for Christmas, an ancient lamp from Dayan�s collection to a Christian father in Nazareth (Dayan R. and Dedman 1973:237). When Ron Miberg, a journalist, visited Zahala in 1977, Dayan gave him a head of a Roman pillar as a gift for Miberg�s father (Miberg 1991:20).

On special occasions Dayan gave antiquities to relatives. When Yael gave birth, he gave her a statuette of a lioness and a cub (Dayan Y 1985:193; Yael�s introduction in Ornan 1986). Sometimes Dayan could not offer love or affection, so he gave antiquities instead (Dayan Y. 1985:108; Yael�s introduction in Ornan 1986). Dayan�s grandson Saar showed interest in archaeology, and was allowed to chose three items from the collection in each visit to his grandfather.� �Well, Saar, what shall I miss from the collection this time?... Usually, he would allow me to take one [item]; during hours of special generosity, all the three� (Dayan S. 1991:20).� On his last visit, Dayan gave Saar a special holiday present of ten scarabs. According to Saar, they came from Egypt: �Grandfather knew that my interest in archaeology reached a point where I could distinguish real from fake. He lit the lamp, held close the magnifying glass...and we both looked at the scarabs like experts evaluating the merchandise� (Dayan S. 1991:20).� Indeed, the term merchandise is appropriate here.