Archaeology & History

Controversial King Tut statue sells for $6M

By T.K. Randall
July 5, 2019

Image: King Tut Burial Mask
Credit: Mark Fischer / CC BY-SA 2.0 (adapted) According to reports, both the buyer and seller of the controversial artifact chose to remain anonymous as the statue was auctioned off for a whopping $5,971,285 at Christie's in London on July 4th.

Egyptian officials, including former minister of antiquities Zahi Hawass, have expressed reservations about the sale because they believe that the sculpture was looted from Karnak back in the 1970s.

Christie's maintains that the statue was owned by Prince Wilhelm von Thurn und Taxis during that time, however doubts have been raised over whether or not this was actually the case."This is a black day in the history of archaeology," said Hawass.

The Egyptian embassy to the UK has lodged a formal objection and it is also likely that Egypt will lodge an official complaint with UNESCO in an attempt to have the statue returned.

Whether the buyer will ultimately get to keep their acquisition remains unclear.

Source: Live Science

Tags: Statue, Egypt