Ancient Egyptian object discovered in Yeovil - in a cigar box!

A LITTLE over a month ago an ancient Egyptian statuette was discovered in one of the South Somerset Community Access Centre museum stores at Lufton in Yeovil - found in an inconspicuous cigar box.

The cigar box contained a note which revealed that it was a genuine Egyptian artefact as the owner had it confirmed from the curator of antiquities at the CairoMuseum, from whom he obtained the artefact in 1913.

This startling discovery was further compounded by the mystery of how it came to the museum. There was no documentary evidence for the artefact except that it was acquired in 1913, then found in our stores in 2013. The rest is a real mystery.

South Somerset District Council leader, Cllr Ric Pallister, said that the tiny statuette dated back to before 1,000 BC.

PHOTO: The ancient Egyptian statuette - known as a Shabti.

Origins aside it was decided that the object was obtained by an illegal and unfair transaction, as well as being considerably outside of our collecting area of South Somerset, that it should be offered back to Egypt, who very warmly accepted our offer. In fact they were so pleased by the offer that they requested a meeting to receive the statuette and extend their thanks.

So on June 13, Clare Robinson and Benedict Sayers of CHAC attended the Egyptian Consulate in London to meet with the Egyptian Ambassador and to repatriate the Shabti which now resides with its rightful owners.

The council’s leisure and culture spokesman, Cllr Sylvia Seal, said: “Our CHAC team were amazed to discover such a fascinating object amongst their collection in the stores and took a great deal of time and care to investigate the Shabti.

“The Egyptian Consulate was very grateful for the return of the Shabti. Clare and Benedict were honoured to be invited to formally hand the item over and we are pleased that it now is in the hands of its rightful owners.”

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