Israel returns recovered artifacts to Egypt

Antiquities Authority seized 90 items from a Jerusalem auction house and has reportedly agreed to track down 20 more

By Spencer Ho 10 November 2013, 10:32 pm

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Damaged pharaonic objects in the Malawi Antiquities Museum after it was ransacked and looted in Malawi, in August 2013, south of Minya, Egypt. (photo credit: AP/Roger Anis, el-Shorouk newspaper)

Israel has returned 90 stolen ancient artifacts to Egypt, the Egyptian minister of antiquities announced Sunday.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry alerted Israel to the illicit auction of 110 items by a Jerusalem auction house, and the Israel Antiquities Authority halted the sale on September 25 after the auction house could not produce proper ownership documents for the relics, according to the Egyptian State Information Services.

Twenty of the items could not be recovered — they had already been sold and shipped — but the Ministry of Antiquities said that Israel had agreed to open an investigation with the auction house to locate the artifacts and return them to Egypt.

It wasn’t the first time smuggled Egyptian artifacts have ended up in Israel.

In August 2012, Israel agreed to return two ancient Egyptian coffin covers the IAA discovered in Jerusalem. The two pieces, made of palm wood and plaster, with elaborate painting, were cut in half to facilitate fitting into a regular suitcase, an act that caused “irreparable damage,” said the IAA.

Egypt has struggled to combat looting and theft of its national artifacts due to a lack of security and disorganized management of the Ministry of Antiquities following the revolution in 2011.