the ancient city of brass

Lots 566- 578
Twelve brass jugs sealed with lead found by a local fishing community off the coast of Algeria; the seals stamped in the lead have been confirmed as Solomonic by our scholars in Jerusalem and in Cairo. The seals are identical to those with confirmed provenance as prison jugs for ifrit; known for their hostility to humanity. The bidding starts ladies and gentlemen at £100,000 Sterling per jug.

The sheikh who purchased them seeks to fund an expedition to find the city where they had been cast. This expedition will yield a fascinating opportunity for explorers and scholars of antiquity, even if local guides mutter that the journey will take the expedition into the most inhospitable and ill-omened parts of the Rub al-Khali. Yet there's always those guides for whom money forgives almost any peril.

What treasures and perils await such explorers and their followers? Stories of great tombs that warn of the futility of wealth and tell of wars between jinn and humanity, mechanical horsemen, half-petrified jinn and of course the fabled city itself, said to hold temptations and death in equal measure. Of course others seek the prizes of the City of Brass - as not least the fabled libaries and the seas beyond where Solomon imprisoned hundreds of ifrit in brass jars...