Posted on 05/01/2023 1:15:02 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
* The head was brought home by a British soldier who fought in Egypt during WWI
* Remained in soldier's family for a century and is now being sold by a descendant
A rare 2,800-year-old mummified Egyptian head brought to the UK by a British soldier during the First World War has gone on sale.
The artefact, which was stuffed away in a cupboard for decades because 'it is not everyone's cup of tea', has an eye-watering price tag of £20,000.
It has been carbon dated to between 800 BC and 750 BC.
The head remained in the unnamed soldier's family for a century. He put it under a glass dome to preserve it, but as some visitors did not like looking at it, the skull ended up being tucked away in a cupboard.
It is now being sold by one of the soldier's descendants, who has chosen to remain anonymous.
'It's just been kept in a cupboard as it is not everyone's cup of tea,' said the anonymous Oxfordshire vendor.
‘It would be ideal if it could go somewhere where it can be studied and appreciated.
'I'm hoping that a museum will pick up on the carbon dating and historical importance.
'If it doesn't sell, I will probably loan it to a museum where it can be on display anyway.'
The head is going under the hammer at Swan Fine Art auctions, which is based in Tetsworth.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
A rare 2,800-year-old mummified Egyptian head which was brought back to the UK by a British soldier during the First World War
i wonder which of the 57 genders it is?
More intelligent than Xao Bi-Dung!
Scareion luggage ping.
Just think. 2,000 years from now, someone may dig up our heads and keep them in a cabinet as a nick-nack. I don’t think mine would fetch UK20,000 though.
The price of getting head has really gone up!
Looks like pah-pee-ay mah-shay, as the British would pronounce it.
This dude never could have imagined where his head would be in 2,800 years. Should have tipped his preparers extra before hand. They did a crack-up job.
Now it’s time for a proper burial, in wet English soil. Let nature do its work. Maybe future archeologists will use him as proof that pharaohs invaded the Celts.
Makes me wonder how many other errant Egyptian heads were lost in the Blitz.
Do they even proofread in England anymore? The head is “going under the hammer” per the article. Poor choice of words, I’d say. 🤣
I see the genesis of a movie…….
And the English wonder why they have a ghost problem
RBG?
If it's mummified, how do the eyes water?!?
Cue the 1961 Bobby Darin hit, “Mummification”.
LOL! And we have a winner!
Most soldiers bring home weapons as war booty....................
Someone cut the head off, so, it counts.
In past decades, a bunch of tourists and whatnot (whonot?) got waylaid by creepy locals selling bits of mummies they’d plundered. The Grand Rapids museum has a mummy head bought from an Egyptian guy who followed a Grand Rapidian (if memory serves, it was Kendall) around all day demanding money for it.
A previously unwrapped, identified mummy was conserved back in the 1990s, thanks to donations, and while that was being done, the anonymous head was also conserved. Both were CAT-scanned and reproduced forensically, ironically preserving them in an identifiable way.
https://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grand-rapids/2015/02/grand_rapids_public_museum_egy.html
In Boston, another example of a severed mummy head is found, but a tentative ID was at least available:
The only 'mummy' I can identify................
RBG … yeah, she’s been mummified since the late 20th century!
Seeing him portray one of the aliens was a bright spot in the unintentionally hilarious multi-season fiasco Babylon 5.
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