Protestors gather outside Christie's as ancient head of Tutankhamen sells for £4.7m
Title: Protestors gather outside Christie's as ancient head of Tutankhamen sells for £4.7m
Author: Anna Brady with additional reporting by Kabir Jhala
Media Outlet: The Art Newspaper
Publish Date: July 4, 2019
(…) Around 15 protestors from a “community-based organisation” called Egyptian House gathered outside Christie’s this evening as the sale took place, chanting: “Egyptian history is not for sale. Stop trading illegal antiquities. Unesco please save our heritage.” One volunteer named Mustafa tells The Art Newspaper: “The primary reason we are protesting is because this is a private sale. I don’t mind seeing artefacts from Egypt in other museums. I don’t even mind most Egyptian artefacts that are in British museums as long as they are able to be viewed by everyone."
(…) Geerling adds: “It should be remembered that the Egyptian government licensed the sale of antiquities through dealers and benefited from the income for more than 150 years. More than 100 licensed dealers were active in Egypt, including a saleroom in the Cairo museum, and they shipped out antiquities under licence by the crate-load. This trade was legal under Egyptian law right up until 1983.”