In a few days, Apollo Auctions will place an ancient artifact up for bidding. The vessel, known as The Guennol Grasshopper, is more than 3,000 years old and dates back to late in the 18th Dynasty. (If you’re familiar with King Tutankhamun, you’re also familiar with this period in Egyptian history.) The grasshopper-shaped vessel is a stunning piece of craftsmanship, magnified even more so by the fact that it’s endured for so long.
But as it heads to auction, there’s also a significant question hanging over the proceedings. Writing at The New York Times, Alex Marshall reports that some experts have argued that Howard Carter — the man who explored Tutankhamun’s tomb — made off with the grasshopper unethically. Several experts who spoke with the Times said they believed the grasshopper was another of the artifacts that Carter stole. A letter that came to light in 2022, written by one of the archaeologists Carter worked with in the 1920s, confirmed that Carter stole some artifacts in the course of his explorations.
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He did so with the help of some very old yeastFor their part, Apollo Art Auctions believes the grasshopper was obtained legitimately. The auction house notes on its website that, after Carter’s death, “the vessel passed into the hands of major 20th-century collectors, including New York’s Joseph Brummer and the fabled Guennol Collection before being acquired by the Merrin Gallery in 2007, accompanied by its original invoice.”
They estimate it will sell for between £300,000 and £500,000 (or $400,000 and $667,000 at the current exchange rate) when it goes on sale as part of a larger program of ancient art. This particular grasshopper isn’t the first artifact to have its appropriate home up for debate, and it’s also unlikely to be the last.
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