Posted on 09/22/2025 11:00:23 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Why, I can’t see them making any more of them?
I read a few days ago of a solid silver statue of Lincoln stolen and melted down.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/thieves-steal-and-destroy-solid-silver-statue-of-abraham-lincoln-created-by-mount-rushmore-sculptor-gutzon-borglum-180987371/
I remember decades ago of Mayan gold statues being melted down for bullion in Central America.
Some people only see the value of the metal.
Yeah. They’ll send out that slow walking mummy with the bad wrapping job.
Yeah, it’s not gonna end well, unless they’ve got a brown bag full of cash to bribe their way out of trouble, then pay off the fine that will be the public penalty.
Generally speaking, and going back centuries, Egyptian antiquities thieves don’t diversify their income sources.
The cache of New Kingdom pharaohs’ mummies was first discovered by thieves who got caught in the act of going back for more, which was a huge break for Egyptologists.
Since items that were most likely from Nefertiti’s burial started showing up in the markets in Cairo around the late 1890s, it’s probable that there was also a cache of New Kingdom posh women’s mummies that was found and raided, and the raiders never caught, nor was the site found by the authorities.
The first known tomb robbery AFAIK was of Khufu’s mom’s — that is, the builder of the Great Pyramid’s own mother was graverobbed, and this was on the Giza plateau, while an enormous workforce was around 24/7, pulling stones up ramps and whatnot, plus the town that was set up to produce their meals.
/bingo
I have read decades ago, from a publication in Time-Life books that the Ancient Egyptians actually and an office for looters to sell their looted gold back to the government.
😊
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