
Egypt outraged at planned auction of Tutankhamun bust

Egyptian authorities have stepped up their efforts to stop an auction scheduled later this week in London to sell a 3,000-year-old bust believed to depict the famed Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
Egypt believes the bust was smuggled out of the country. Leaders not only demand that Christie’s auction house halts Thursday’s auction but that the UK restore and return the artefact.
“If it is proven that any artefact had been smuggled out of Egypt, all legal measures would be taken with the Interpol and in coordination with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry to stop its sale and guarantee its repatriation,” said Shaaban Abdul Jawad, who works with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities.
“It seems that this sculpture was looted from [Luxor’s] Karnak Temple,” Zahi Hawass, the country’s former antiquities chief, alleged.
The statue is being sold by The Resandro Collection, described by Christie’s as “one of the world’s most renowned private collections of Egyptian art”.
Christie’s said it did not have concerns over the statue’s ownership.
The auction house expects the bust could sell for as high as $5.1 million.