Newsline: Egyptian embassy tries to prevent auction of 2300-year-old coffin in UK

September 13, 2014 at 3:37 pm · Filed under Egypt, UK and tagged: Egypt, UK

An ancient Egyptian coffin lid being sold at auction in Cambridgeshire should be withdrawn from sale and repatriated to Egypt, embassy officials in London have said. They are furious at the refusal of Willingham Auctions to withdraw the partial sarcophagus, which dates back thousands of years. It was discovered by auctioneer Stephen Drake during a clearance of a house in Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, last month. The property was the home of the big game hunter and journalist Captain “Tiger” Sarll, who is thought to have found the coffin lid in Africa and had it shipped back to Britain. He died in 1977, and his widow continued to live there until her death in 2005. The two-metre artifact is an ancient Egyptian Ptolemaic coffin top made for “Hor, son of Wenennefer” and dating back to around 330 years BC, according to an initial assessment by Egyptologists at Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. An Egyptian embassy official told The Independent that sellers or owners of Egyptian antiquities “should have proper provenance and an export licence”. The Ministry of Antiquity in Cairo has instructed them to try to prevent the sale from going ahead, they added. “We tried to encourage the auction house to convince the family that we are keen to repatriate it to its country of origin. We wanted them to give it up voluntarily but unfortunately they refused.” Earlier this week, the Egyptian Embassy, London, reported the proposed sale to Scotland Yard, but it is understood that the police are powerless to act since it is a civil matter, not a criminal one. Auctioneer Stephen Drake was unrepentant: “Legally we are allowed to sell it; the vendor wants us to sell it for them, we are acting on their behalf.” He added: “While being sympathetic to the Egyptian embassy, it’s not our decision to put it into sale. The Egyptian government are welcome to bid for it.” But the Egyptian Embassy official ruled out such a move, as that would simply be “encouraging more people to loot items and put them on sale”.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/egyptian-embassy-tries-to-prevent-auction-of-2300yearold-coffin-lid-in-cambridgeshire-9730073.html

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