The fragment reached the John Rylands Library as part of a purchase of papyri from the Egyptian antiquities market in the early twentieth century, most likely acquired by the papyrologist Bernard Grenfell no later than 1920. No excavation record, findspot, or acquisition documentation naming the seller or the circumstances of discovery survives or was ever published, which is typical for papyri bought on the market rather than professionally excavated.
What would resolve this Surviving acquisition correspondence or dealer records from the Rylands Library's early twentieth century papyrus purchases, if any exist and can be located, naming the seller and the material's reported findspot in Egypt.
OpenPapyrology, library archival historyC. H. Roberts, An Unpublished Fragment of the Fourth Gospel in the John Rylands Library