At Christie's International, an ancient bronze head went on the block last month, catalogued as a 5th-century Greek Apollo. Buyers in London voted with their wallets against the description.

Christie's, whose auctions exceeded $3 billion in 2005, valued the so-called Stanford Place Apollo at as much as 1.2 million pounds ($2.1 million). An unidentified woman in the room paid a hammer price of 650,000 pounds, or 13 percent below the low estimate of 750,000 pounds.

``If it really was a classical head, it might have sold for $3 million,'' said Ali Aboutaam of Phoenix Ancient Art SA of New York and Geneva, a view shared by other dealers and collectors at the April 26 sale. ``The price shows it's a Roman version of a Greek head, probably 1st century B.C. It's classicizing, not classical.''

The sale showed how buyers may resist auction experts' dating or valuing. Among other objects catalogued as 5th-century Greek, a goddess's head went below estimate and a male torso failed to sell. A statue described as 3rd to 2nd millennium B.C. also didn't sell, even though it was well known after being loaned to New York's Metropolitan Museum.

``The Romans were mirroring and copying Greek originals, and sometimes there's a desire by experts -- and dealers -- to make things Greek,'' said Michael Padgett, Princeton University Art Museum's curator of ancient art.

Stanford Place

The bronze head was the top-priced item in a 71-lot sale entitled, ``The Stanford Place Collection of Antiquities,'' formerly housed in Oxfordshire, England. Christie's won't name the seller, though dealers and scholars said the pieces belonged to Claude Hankes-Drielsma, adviser to Iraq, critic of the Oil for Food program, British Museum patron and longtime collector.

The auction totaled 2.2 million pounds, including Christie's commission. The presale estimate was 2 million pounds to 3 million pounds.

The Stanford Place estate -- four reception rooms, 12 bedrooms, cellars, stables, ponds and woodland -- is also for sale, according to an advertisement in Christie's catalog. The asking price is 5 million pounds, agent Savills said.

Catherine Pillonel, an assistant at his Stanford Place office, asked Bloomberg to e-mail questions to Hankes-Drielsma, then, after receiving them, said that he was traveling and might not be reachable for three months.

Treasure Disputes

In the world of art and antiquities, millions of dollars are at stake for museums and private buyers, depending on the date or ownership of an object. Disputes are increasingly common, and sometimes escalate.

Christie's, the world's largest auctioneer, lost a 2004 court fight with billionaire Kenneth Thomson's daughter about the age of porphyry urns she'd bought, then won on appeal last year. In April, Christie's withdrew from auction five beams from a Cordoba mosque after the Spanish government and a Cordoba church claimed ownership in a sign that more countries are reclaiming treasures as museums agree to ship objects back to Italy and Greece.

This week, J. Paul Getty Museum Director Michael Brand said he'd recommend the return of some Greek antiquities following talks with officials in Athens.

Sarah Hornsby, Christie's specialist for the Stanford Place sale, said she was confident the Apollo (7 7/8 inches high, or 20 centimeters, with curled, cabled hair and hollow eyes), goddess and other objects were correctly catalogued. ``We used comprehensive research and our own expertise as well as drawing on the knowledge of established scholars and academics from around the world,'' she said in an e-mailed response to Bloomberg's questions.

Soft Face

Reviewing the catalog, Princeton's Padgett said on the telephone from New Jersey and by e-mail, ``I am comfortable with the late 5th-century date assigned to the goddess. The style is right, and there's a softness to the face and the modeling of the hair. I am less certain about the bronze Apollo, but I think a 5th-century date is defensible. There are a lot of cynics in auction rooms.''

Greek and Roman sculptures can be hard to date and value. Wealthy Romans decorated their houses with Greek statues, so Roman artists made a lot of good copies of Greek sculptures as well as original works in the Greek style.

``Style alone can be an imprecise rule of thumb,'' said Padgett. ``Technical analysis of the materials may help but it is frequently inconclusive, especially in the case of marbles used by both Greeks and Romans.''

Apollo in Cleveland

Phoenix, among the largest antiquities dealers, sold a life-sized bronze Apollo to the Cleveland Museum in 2004. The museum said it was probably by the Greek sculptor Praxiteles. Some scholars said it might be Roman, and shouldn't have been bought -- for an estimated $5 million -- because of gaps in its ownership history, reported the Cleveland Plain Dealer at the time.

``We sold it as Greek or Roman,'' Aboutaam said.

London-based Christie's, owned by French billionaire Francois Pinault, sold $23 million of antiquities in 2005, at four auctions in New York and London.

Key Lots

Here are the key Stanford Place lots, with Christie's comments in quotation marks.

Lot 29. The catalog likened the Stanford Place Apollo to a Greek head in London's British Museum. Dealers said it resembled a Roman portrait of a real person rather than a god. Greek faces are more idealized, they said. Fifth century B.C. heads of that size are mostly in museums and rarely come to the market, they said. British Museum curator Dyfri Williams declined to comment.

``The Stanford Place Apollo was exhibited in Basel with a label dating the piece to 460 B.C.,'' Hornsby wrote. ``This date was also used in the catalogue guide. We considered the opinion of the museum as well as drawing on our own knowledge in cataloguing this date. (It is very unusual for a museum to publish an item which is on loan).''

Lot 46. Catalogued as a Greek marble head of a goddess, last quarter of 5th century B.C. The hammer price was 15,000 pounds, 50 percent below the 30,000 pound top estimate and 25 percent below the low valuation. It may be Greek, though overpriced because it was damaged, said a London dealer who declined to be named. Other dealers said the buyer valued it as a Roman copy. One said a Greek head sold in New York for about $80,000 around 1990.

`Extreme Wear'

``This lot was subject to extreme wear, with virtual obliteration to the face,'' Hornsby said. ``The poor condition of the piece was the reason behind the estimate and price. Over the last 15 years, the antiquities market has seen condition hold an ever increasing influence over the value of Greek, Hellenistic and Roman sculptures.''

Lot 27. Catalogued as a Greek marble male torso, perhaps an athlete, mid-5th century B.C. The estimate was 100,000 pounds to 200,000 pounds. It didn't sell. Again, some dealers said it may be Roman, worth 50,000 pounds. Greek torsos of this size (28 inches of modeled muscles) would fetch much more than Christie's top estimate, they said.

``Once again, the condition of this sculpture was poor, as reflected in the estimate,'' Hornsby said.

Lot 62. Described as a copper-alloy heroic figure from the late 3rd to 2nd millennium. It was valued at 200,000 pounds to 300,000 pounds and didn't sell. There were few or no bids, and one dealer said it may date from later than catalogued.

``We are very confident with the cataloguing of this lot -- we concurred with the view of scholars at the Metropolitan Museum that the date of this piece was as catalogued,'' Hornsby wrote.