[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Because of how the original Dead Sea Scrolls were acquired by archaeologists in the 40s and 50s, unfortunately, there is no way to know how many blank pieces of parchment there are still out there. We scholars have certainly set our own value on uninscribed portions of manuscripts for research purposes, but the real problem here is that the market does not care. Collectors want biblical TEXTS. So long as they do, looters and forgers will continue to profit exponentially from these. The solution may be to shut down the private antiquities market altogether

There are some things that really shouldn’t be in the hands of private collectors. Authentic texts are rare and delicate. If we want these texts to last for the next 2000 years, they need to be in the hands of experts, not private citizens.