American Museum Under Fire from Egypt, Cyprus for Selling Antiquities

The sale of nearly 70 antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Italy, and Cyprus brought in some $1.2 million for the Toledo Museum of Art’s new acquisitions fund last week. The items were sold Tuesday at Christie’s in New York, and both Egyptian and Cypriot had sought to postpone the auction.

The museum, in Toledo, Ohio, USA, auctioned off items that “had not appeared in museum literature or been studied by scholars, were not up to collection standards, or were duplicates of other piece sin the collection,” according to the Toledo Blade. Cyprus was hoping to convince the museum to keep its Cypriot pieces and display them.

“What we like about the pieces being at the museum is that they are accessible to so many people,” CNS News quoted Ambassador Leonidas Pantelides as saying. “We prefer these artifacts be in Cyprus, but if not, we would like them to be in museums when many people can see them and learn about our history.”

Egypt, on the other hand, wanted its antiquities returned. Former Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass went so far as to say Egypt would seek sanctions against the museum for selling the items and that he would send letters to Toledo area schools, asking them not to send students to the museum for educational purposes. The museum responded to criticism in an open letter posted on its website.

WE SAID THIS: What do you think about the museum’s choice to auction off certain items to be able to buy others?