St. Louis museum refuses to return Egyptian mask
The museum won't meet a Monday deadline set by Egyptian antiquities authorities to return the mask, museum director Brent Benjamin said Friday. He noted that the Supreme Council of Antiquities never officially gave the museum a deadline.
Zahi Hawass, secretary general for the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt, said that the mummy mask was probably stolen before it was obtained by the art museum in 1998.
"Nothing that we have seen to this date supports his claim," Benjamin said.
Hawass gave the museum some documentation, including a register that recorded the burial mask of Ka Nefer Nefer being sent to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt, in 1959.
Hawass has been critical of the museum for not returning the mask and has threatened to turn the dispute over to authorities. He also has threatened to tarnish the museum's reputation.
"Either provide us with the documentation," Benjamin said, or end the attacks on the museum.
The museum bought the mask from an art dealer in the United States in 1998 for about $500,000, only after checking with authorities and the international Art Loss Register to see if the item was stolen. The museum also approved the purchase with the Egyptian Museum, Benjamin said.
The museum has a money-back guarantee with the dealer, if the mask has to be returned to Egypt.
The burial cover made of wood and plaster with glass eyes for the Egyptian woman was excavated from a pyramid in 1952 in Saqqara, Egypt. Hawass said because of poor record-keeping practices, it was documented only once, in 1959.
Hawass said under no circumstances could the mask have reached the United States legally because it belonged to the Egyptian Museum and there is no indication that the museum ever sold it.
Hawass said the mask could have been stolen in the 1980s when an Egyptian Museum storage room was looted in Cairo.
Comments
- 'Drop Dead Diva' is frothy fun 6:14 p.m.
- Vail's mountain cross inspiring 6:14 p.m.
- Bishop on a mission 6:14 p.m.
- Look for face of God in others 6:14 p.m.
- Religion briefs 6:14 p.m.
- Teachings on adultery after Sanford 6:14 p.m.
- Church camps closing doors 6:14 p.m.
- Religion around the world 6:14 p.m.
- Did daughter not pay for car? 6:13 p.m.
- Ra Ra Riot brings groove to S.L. 6:13 p.m.
- LDS seminary principal arrested
- Jazz talking Boozer trade?
- Reactions on Boozer speculation
- Stadium of Fire flag burning was fake
- Jazz in back of line for free agents
- A primer for the 6th Potter film
- Okur signs two-year extension
- Jazz won't meet Lopez on Europe trip
- Restaurant destroyed by fire
- Mall owner seeks to retain zoning
- Bronco collecting a galaxy of recruits
141 - Letters: Palin mistreated
141 - Teachers struggle with district cuts
137 - LDS seminary principal arrested
135 - Jazz talking Boozer trade?
134 - Blazers may offer Millsap a contract
123 - Stadium of Fire flag burning was fake
91 - Moon landing: Let's hear from you
83 - Fairness of BCS debated
81 - Chaffetz eyes challenging Bennett
74
By now you've probably read about the investigation that showed just how...
The recent Poly camp in Bountiful opened the eyes of recruiters to at...
Brown is ANOTHER teams property, the jazz can't sign him.
Actually it was Mr. Rush Limbaugh who invented the Internet. Rush knows...
Boozer you deserve a team like Sac, we will take Nocioni and their first...
Hear Hear! Excellent letter from a man with a most excellent name. (Yes,...
What a great organization! Good luck in helping children, families, and...
I think you are ALL missing the obvious. Just skip the middleman portland...
Its a good thing YBU has Heaps, Apo, and Stout to use as recruiting power...
Assuming the charges are truthful, he has done a lot of damage to the...
The jazz need to let sap go for sure. 8+change is just too much, especially...
The letter is oversimplified. But then so is the assertion that CO2 can...



You can be the first to comment on this story.