Stolen sculpture returned to Egypt

Antiquities officials in Egypt today celebrated the return of a sculpture of a pharaonic queen’s head, which was smuggled to Britain as a cheap souvenir almost a decade ago.

Egyptian officials believe the grey granite sculpture may be that of queen Nefertari, who lived between 1300BC and 1250BC. She was the principal wife of pharaoh Ramses II.

Gaballah Ali Gaballah, the director of Egypt’s Supreme Antiquities Council, returned to Cairo International Airport early Saturday morning with the boxed sculpture plus six sheets of papyrus, or ancient writing paper.

‘‘I think most of the thieves all over the world have got the message ... that Egypt doesn’t give up,’’ Gaballah told reporters.

Egyptian antiquities officials have long demanded the return of ancient artifacts smuggled out of the country.

Its Government has gone to court in Britain in attempts to retrieve the pieces.

The sculpture was stolen in 1992 from its storage place in Sakkara, a village 15 miles south of Egypt’s capital, Cairo.

In 1995, a joint British-Egyptian investigation cracked the smuggling ring and arrested 15 people, among them dealer Briton Jonathan Tokeley-Parry and a top Sakkara antiquities official.

A British court sentenced Tokeley-Parry in 1997 to six-years jail for smuggling the antiquities.

He served about half of the sentence and is now free.

An Egyptian court sentenced him in absentia to 15-years hard labour.

The sculpture has been with the Egyptian ambassador in London since 1999, but only now was Gaballah available to personally return the piece.

In its original state, the Nefertari sculpture would have had a gilded bronze feather headdress up to 3 feet high.

It was likely to have been set in an important pharaonic temple.

The head still bears remains of cement that had been used to make it seem as though it had artificially aged and was a tourist souvenir.

Gaballah said it will be taken to the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo, where Egyptologists will restore it and try to determine if it is definitely Nefertari.

No decision has been made yet if the sculpture will be displayed at a museum.

Experts say the head, with a small section of shoulders and chest, was broken off from a nearly life-size statue.

British police have said the worldwide trade in smuggled antiquities is worth $160 million a year.

Many pieces are stolen to assist in laundering money.

On July 16, a Manhattan art dealer, Frederick Schultz, was accused of peddling antiquities pillaged from Egypt, including a pharaoh bust with an asking price of $2.5m (stg£1.76m).

He has been charged with conspiring to receive and possess stolen property.

If convicted he faces up to five years in prison.

In Egypt, antiquities authorities are pushing to increase prison sentences to 25 years for people convicted of smuggling artifacts.

Limited funds to monitor vast historical sites make it hard for Egyptian officials to keep check on antiquities.