British national charged with looting Egyptian antiquities

[DJKeefy]

British national officially charged with looting Egyptian antiquities.

Scotland Yard referred Neil Kingsbury to court after three months of investigations into suspicions that he smuggled Egyptian antiquities and tried to sell them through Christie's auction house.

"Kingsbury was charged with three counts of fraud by false representation," a Scotland Yard spokesman told Ahram Online.

Other charges include one count of possession of stolen property. The Scotland Yard's Art & Antiquities Squad (AAS) officers interrogated Kingsbury (63) late Monday.

Kingsbury is out on bail but due to appear in court on 20 August.

In May, Kingsbury was arrested when Christie's, the international arts auction house, reported that it had identified six antiquities which were almost certainly stolen from Egypt recently.

One of the stolen objects is a recent find from Amenhotep III in western Thebes.

The Egyptian red granite relief fragment depicts a Nubian prisoner facing right with short hair and wearing heavy, hooped earrings and a collar necklace (1550 - 1069 BC).

Another is an Egyptian painted limestone relief fragment depicting a male figure with his head facing left. Experts say it is very likely to have originated from a recently-rediscovered and excavated tomb, again in Thebes.

Ahram Online was told that the seller claims he had inherited the Egyptian objects from his uncle.

He told the international auctioneer that his uncle served in Egypt during WWII and stayed on for a few years before returning to the UK in the '50s.

Kingsbury's trial is expected to reveal the network that allegedly helped him steal the antiquities and smuggle it into the UK.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/78411.aspx

[Darkstar]

Tut Tut naughty boy, although to be honest about it he hasn't done anything that archaeologists haven't been doing for years. The Berlin museum stole the bust of hapshetsut by disguising it as a crude object with clay. The British museum via A.E.Wallis Budge acquired many many artifacts by skulduggery (sp?) As well as the French had their hands in the cookie jar. So in reality what is the difference between a tomb robber and an Egyptologist? Answer is....a Phd.

[LivinginLuxor]

But the early looters, Belzoni, Budge Burchardt. etc could not have operated in that way today - there was no law preventing such looting and pillaging.

[Darkstar]

There is still no law to stop the museums giving back the misappropriated artefacts, but that isn't likely to happen. Shame on them.

[Alistair1967]

I wonder, to what degree have Egyptians been complicit in 'looting' their own heritage? Takes two to tango.

EDIT:- also, it must be said that of those items on display in museums, at least their whereabouts are known, and they are being well cared for. It's possible that some might have disappeared from public view many years ago otherwise, or simply been destroyed.

[LivinginLuxor]

The economy of Qurna depended upon tomb robbing from the mid 1850s until the demolition of the hillside village!

[Darkstar]

I wonder, to what degree have Egyptians been complicit in 'looting' their own heritage? Takes two to tango.

EDIT:- also, it must be said that of those items on display in museums, at least their whereabouts are known, and they are being well cared for. It's possible that some might have disappeared from public view many years ago otherwise, or simply been destroyed.

The economy of Qurna depended upon tomb robbing from the mid 1850s until the demolition of the hillside village!

These points still don't alter the fact that what was STOLEN should be returned, let right be done. Much as I don't often agree with Zahi Hawass, I commend his drive to get Egypt's cultural heritage home where it belongs, rather than gathering dust in the back room of some museum.