I lived at the Baha'i World Centre in Haifa during the latter part of the construction of the Seat of the Universal House of Justice building, having arrived in Israel in 1981.
The building was completed in 1982, and I was fortunate enough to work on some parts of the gardens for this Ark project. Towards the end of the project I was gifted with a few pieces of marble left over from both the interior concourse and marble exterior of the building.
The posting you see here today on eBay is a single rare piece of white Italian marble from the original construction of this unique building.
The marble is Pentelico Greco marble. This is the same type of marble which was used for the Parthenon in Athens. The marble was cut and chiseled by the Italian company Margraf. They also provided the marble for the International Baha’i Archives building, the terraces in the Baha’i Gardens in Haifa, and the Continental Baha’i Houses of Worship in India and Samoa.
The marble piece I'm selling is a 3 cm x 1.5 cm x 1 cm (width x length x height) block weighing 12.9 grams.
Based on my understanding of marble, it can easily be carved into a piece of jewelry, engraved with a symbol, or perhaps polished and mounted in a frame, ring or worn as a necklace/brooch.
The reason the asking price is so high is that I'm currently unemployed and am trying to raise money from this auction in order to realize my educational goals.
Also, to my knowledge, there are very few pieces of memorabilia left over from the Seat's construction that are openly available for purchase.
If you have a fair and decent offer, I'm definitely willing to negotiate. Please check the "Best Offer" button if interested.
Thanks for looking.
Jake