Egypt denies selling 17 artefacts in US auctions

Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities yesterday denied reports that it had sold 17 Egyptian archaeological artefacts in an auction that was held at Christie’s auction house in the US.

The general supervisor of the ministry’s department of recovered antiquities, Shaaban Abdel Jawad, told local media that he was comparing the relics sold in the American auction with his department’s list of lost monuments to ensure that they were not “missing”.

“Once we received the news about the US auction, we have been working around the clock to follow all auctions on the Global Information Network,” Abdel Jawad said, stressing that there was “no match between the antiquities that were exhibited at the auction and the artefacts we had in the department’s lost items list.”

The department, Abdel Jawad pointed out, had been in contact with the ministry’s antiquities and museums department to “double check their inventories and figure out whether the items exhibited in the auction were among their lost items.”

READ: 91 ancient artefacts to be sent to Egypt from Israel