The collector (Borg De Balzan) from whom the museum acquired the item, died in Florence in 1896 (Emanuela Rossi found his obituary in the journal, founded in 1871 by Paolo Mantegazza, called l'Archivio per l'Antropologia e l'Etnologia, [n.26, 1896, p.369] ). The collector's name is listed in the item's MNAEF record.

Item was acquired by the MNAEF from Borg De Balzan. His obituary states that De Balzan was from Malta, worked as a representative of the French government in New York. He was an art collector who opened his private gallery to the public. He donated his rich collection of objects to the MNAEF, which is described in the obituary as the first building block of the Museum's holdings. [l'Archivio per l'Antropologia e l'Etnologia, [n.26, 1896, p.369].

This record was created as part of a research project, funded by a Faculty Research Grant from the Canadian Embassy in Italy in August 2007, Emanuela Rossi.

Stacey Loyer helped with the translation for this record.