Egyptian X-Files : Tut’s Grasshopper, the Qatari Prince and Apollo "‘Updated"

It won’t be the first time, nor will it be the last—but raising awareness is still worthwhile.

On 27 July at 1 PM GMT, the Apollo Art Auctions showroom in Central London will host the second day of a unique and highly controversial auction, both in person and online.

The sale features ancient artefacts from a private collection long associated with the shadowy world of the underground antiquities market.

The first day of the auction, held on 26 July at 1 PM GMT, showcased artefacts from Medieval, Asian, South American, and Western Asiatic cultures. But the second day is the real centerpiece.

On both days, a total of 953 lots to be auctioned. Day 1 included 434 lots while Day 2 included 519 lots.

Out of the total 894 lots, 297 lots are from ancient Egypt, making it the largest representation among all civilizations and cultures covered in the auction. The overall average starting price of Ancient Egyptian artefacts is £4,00.

This is a controversial auction by all accounts, focusing on a selection of ancient artefacts from the Prince Collection—described in Apollo’s catalogue as “a private collection assembled over many years, with attention to historical context, craftsmanship, and provenance.”

The auction brochure emphasizes that the second day’s lots represent a “thoughtfully selected” group of antiquities from the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman worlds, with particular focus on “the lasting cultural impact of ancient Egypt.”

The crown jewel of the auctioned Prince Collection is Lot 112—listed as Lot 462 in the Apollo Art Auction.

According to the auction’s brochure, lot 462 is “Egyptian Ivory and Wood Cosmetic Vessel in the Form of a Grasshopper, believed to be (among the known and potential strays from the tomb of Tutankhamun), and once part of the collection of the late Howard Carter.”

The alleged King Tut's grasshopper 

You read it right, an artefact from King Tut’s tomb. It was the reason why the official name of the auction is ‘Fine Ancient Art – The Prince Collection – The Legend of Tutankhamun’ auction.

Updated : the grasshopper was sold for £340,000 ( LE 22,507,884.40) on Sunday.

This artefact is actually a cosmetic container intricately carved in the shape of a grasshopper, featuring a segmented body and upper wings made of painted ivory.

The alleged King Tut's grasshopper 

The head is detailed with inset black eyes, while the lower wings are crafted from wood. Designed with both beauty and function in mind, the wings swing outward to reveal a small oval cavity hollowed into the body—intended to hold kohl or perfume.

The upper wings are adorned with a subtle checkerboard pattern, enhancing the piece’s decorative charm. It is so beautiful, as you can see 

The grasshopper vessel is the most expensive lot in the collection, with a starting price of £100,000.

This piece is described as a “known and potential stray” from Tutankhamun’s tomb, and allegedly part of Howard Carter’s private collection.

What is Howard Carter's Private Collection?

Howard Carter's private collection primarily consisted of personal archives, correspondence, artwork, and select antiquities, distinct from the official finds from Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Howard Carter’s letters, diaries, maps, drawings, and watercolours (created between 1899–1939) comprise his personal archive. These were bequeathed to his niece, Phyllis Walker, after his death and later donated to the Griffith Institute at Oxford in stages (beginning in 1945). Today, they can be accessed through the Institute online.

Now to the Egyptian antiquities section: Howard Carter and his patron, Lord Carnarvon, amassed a significant collection of Egyptian artefacts—some legally acquired through excavation agreements, others acquired under more controversial circumstances.

Their collection included items excavated in valleys licensed to Carnarvon, as well as objects later identified as originating from Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Upon Carter’s death in 1939, his niece, Phyllis Walker, returned many undocumented items to Egypt. While Carter was widely celebrated as the discoverer of Tutankhamun’s tomb, later revelations—such as a 1934 letter from Sir Alan Gardiner—suggest he may have removed items without official sanction.

These pieces were quietly dispersed and surfaced over time in private and institutional collections, fueling ongoing debates about antiquities ethics and provenance.

Some remaining artefacts ended up in the Carnarvon estate, a portion of which was sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) in New York during the 1920s and ’30s for approximately $216,000.

This group includes jewellery, beads, amulets, pottery, and other objects, many of which are now on display in the Met’s Gallery 114. Some of these items were originally excavated by Carter and Carnarvon and later transferred to the museum through Lady Carnarvon.

In recent decades, the Met has agreed to repatriate 18–19 artefacts confirmed to have originated from Tutankhamun’s tomb, following claims by Egypt asserting rightful ownership.

The artefact's provenance traces it to the Prince Collection, where it remained from the 1990s until 2014.

It had been acquired on the U.S. art market in 2007 from the Merrin Gallery, with the original invoice included in the purchase.

Before entering the Prince Collection, the piece passed through several distinguished hands, including Howard Carter in London, Joseph Brummer in New York, the Guennol Collection in New York, and a private collection in the United States.

The artefact eventually became known as the Guennol Grasshopper.

The Guennol Collection is a celebrated private collection of ancient art, primarily assembled by Alastair Bradley Martin and his wife Edith Martin, prominent American art patrons of the mid-20th century.

The name "Guennol" is derived from the Welsh word for "martin," serving as a poetic nod to their surname.

Many pieces from the Guennol Collection were placed on long-term loan to major institutions, especially the Brooklyn Museum, for public exhibition and scholarly research. This particular piece was exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1969 and featured in the Brooklyn Museum Bulletin (Vol. X, No. 1, 1948).

Notably, it was originally sold for $1.2 million, with the original invoice still accompanying the item.

According to news reports, the piece was previously rejected by top-tier auction houses such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s.

While both houses have a history of selling artefacts that may have left Egypt under questionable circumstances, this time the grasshopper vessel is drawing particular scrutiny—largely due to its most recent owner, the so-called Prince.

Who is the Prince in the Prince’s collection?

The "Prince" behind the Prince Collection is Qatari Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed Al-Thani, Qatar’s former Minister of Culture and a member of the ruling Al-Thani royal family, who passed away in 2014.

He was known for his sharp eye for rare and striking antiquities—and for a willingness to overlook murky or questionable provenances.

Sheikh Saud was one of the most aggressive art buyers of the early 2000s, amassing vast collections in Islamic, modern, natural history, and ancient art.

The Prince or Sheikh Saud bin Muhammed Al-Thani 

However, his approach often sidestepped ethical standards and lacked transparency. He was also one of the prominent clients of Robin Symes, the disgraced antiquities dealer implicated in trafficking looted artefacts from Egypt, Greece, Italy, and the Near East.

In 2005, Sheikh Saud was arrested in Qatar for allegedly misusing state funds.

Critics claim his acquisitions blurred the line between public cultural investments and private hoarding, with reports suggesting he spent nearly one billion dollars on what amounted to a personal collection.

Though briefly detained, Sheikh Saud did not remain in custody for long. He relocated to London, where he lived in what appeared to be self-imposed exile until he died in 2014.

Since then, it seems that much of his extensive collection never made it into Qatar’s national museums.

Instead, his heirs have been quietly liquidating parts of the estate—particularly his antiquities collection, which has proven problematic and difficult to sell through major auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s due to its questionable provenance.

It seems only the newly established Apollo Galleries and Auctions House had no qualms about handling the Prince Collection and its artefacts.

Following in Apollo’s footsteps

Unlike Sotheby’s and Christie’s, Apollo Galleries and Auctions House is a relative newcomer in the world of high-profile auction houses.

The founder and director of Apollo Galleries and Auctions House is  1990-born Dr. Ivan Bonchev, a London-based antiquities dealer, numismatist, a private antiquities business known for dealing in ancient art, coins, and artefacts from Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the Near East.

Originally established in 2015 as Pax Romana, the gallery was rebranded in 2021 as Apollo and expanded into live auctions by 2024.

Interestingly and according to the online brochures, he began to feature the Prince’s Collection in his auctions in December 2024 with endless amounts of ancient Egyptian artefacts.

Bonchev holds a DPhil in Classical Archaeology and Numismatics from the University of Oxford and began collecting coins as a child, reportedly buying and selling on eBay by age 13.

Despite claims of utilizing scientific authentication methods (such as XRF and TL testing), Ivan Bonchev's auction operation has drawn widespread and serious skepticism from many collectors and scholars who allege serious issues with the provenance and authenticity of numerous lots.

Bypassing the traditional pedigree of seasoned specialists from established houses like Sotheby’s or Christie’s, Bonchev’s direct rise into the high-end antiquities trade—coupled with vague references to sourcing from elite or royal collections—has raised questions about transparency in the broader market.

While these concerns have primarily circulated within online forums and niche trade groups, rather than resulting in formal legal charges, they represent substantial questions that add a layer of controversy to Bonchev’s rapid ascent in a historically opaque industry

Where is Egypt from all that?

With a grasshopper figurine allegedly removed from King Tutankhamun’s tomb—its authenticity still unverified—and over 200 ancient Egyptian artifacts going under the hammer in a single day, including Lot 538, an Ancient Egyptian Pre-Dynastic (ca. 4000–3100 BC) relief depicting a rural scene with a starting price of £3,000, one must ask: Where is the Egyptian government in all of this?

Lot 538 from predynastic Egypt 

Egypt now has ample basis to request an investigation or file an objection through UNESCO and Interpol if evidence links the lots to the Tutankhamun cache or any other registered finds.

Unfortunately, for days and despite renowned Egyptian archaeologists like Dr Monica Hanna raising the matter online, we have not heard anything from the Egyptian government.

Thus, I felt it was important to raise the matter online. 

Updated :

 So Apollo Auctions followed the news coverage in websites like New York Times as well as other news websites now it downplays the grasshopper relation to King Tut's tomb because it knows the legal implications saying that it made sure to mention in the catalogue that it is "believed" but in quotes to NYTimes the auction house said " there was no documented evidence that the vessel came from the pharoah’s tomb." and that “The item does not appear on any official excavation inventories,”

Either ways , the whole Howard Carter's collection left Egypt illegally.

The Egyptian authorities should have examined it because it won't be the most expensive item in the auction just because "it is believed" and it would not be exhibited in Brokolyn Museum just because "it is believed". 

It would not be sold for GBP 340,000 or rather LE 222,507,884.40 just because "it is believed"