YEREVAN. – Someone from the United States has auctioned off three Armenian manuscripts on Liveauctioneers.com, Zhoghovurd daily reports.

“Judging from the photos posted on the web, all three of them are intact and fairly well preserved; they date back to the 1500s-1600s.

“The starting price for two of the manuscripts is USD 4,000 and that of the other is USD 5,000. The auction will take place on [Thursday,] October 17.

“The Zhoghovurd reporter tried to inquire from Matenadaran [i.e., the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts in Armenia’s capital city Yerevan] whether they are aware of these manuscripts, and if so, is Matenadaran going to buy them.

“But there was no answer. They told our reporter from Matenadaran that Director Hrachya Tamrazyan had returned from France yesterday [i.e., Tuesday], [and] promised to turn the phone over to him later.

“But when our reporter telephoned Tamrazyan at the agreed time, he did not answer the phone calls,” Zhoghovurd writes.