A rare limestone Egyptian antiquity sold for a record price of almost three million dollars at an auction held in New York on Friday at the venerable auction house Christie's. The limestone group statue of Ka-nefer and his family, dating back to the Old Kingdom, Dynasty V, 2465-2323 BC, sold on the auction bloc for $2.8 million , Christie's said, adding that the sale "set a new world auction record for an Egyptian antiquity."

The statue was purchased for the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, from a private U.S. collection. It easily exceeded its presale estimate of $1 million to $1.5 million.

The valuable antiquity represents Ka-nefer seated on a high bench with a hieroglyphic inscription by his feet reading "Overseer of the Craftsmen, Priest of Ptah, Ka-Nefer..."

Egyptian antiquities sell for record prices at New York auction, AFP via The Daily Star, Lebanon, December 12, 2005.

It's difficult to imagine Tutankhamun as the child he was during his short but heady reign. Born during the Golden Age of Egypt, crowned in the ancient city of Amarna, Tut commanded the army of a 200-year-old superpower and restored his realm to its traditional worship of many gods. But Tutankhamun ascended to the throne at 9 years old, with a boy's taste for board games and bows and arrows. He liked to hunt ducks. He preferred fruit juice to beer, and picnicked with his queen in papyrus marshes.

Some of this is couched in a modest-sized "perhaps" because Tut and his court lived more than 3,000 years ago. Yet since the discovery of his tomb in 1922, scholars have pieced together the details of the Egyptian king's nine-year reign, and on Thursday some of what they've literally unearthed arrives at Fort Lauderdale's Museum of Art.

Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs is the second stop on a four-city, 27-month U.S. tour that began at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in June. It tallied 900,000 visitors in its five months there, but the critical reaction was mixed. David Pagel, writing in the Los Angeles Times, compared it to "a high-end theme park..."

Tutankhamun show is fit for, well, a king, Orlando Sentinel, Florida, USA, December 11, 2005.

December 7th, 2005 was the official opening of the tomb of Petamenophis (Padiamenope, Xry.y-Hb Hrj-tp) (TT33) by Dr Sabry Abd El Aziz, the deputy of Dr Zahi Hawass. It is located next to the tomb of Harwa (TT39). The tomb is hugely significant, being, well huge. At this point, it is the largest tomb in Egypt and yet we really do not know why the owner of it was so blessed, but perhaps future work may reveal this secret.

Indeed, he was a high official, describing himself as "Sealbearer and Sole Beloved Friend, Lector and Scribe of the Records in the Sight of the King". In this inscription the king is not named, but there is an inscription in the northern part of the great outer courtyard, discovered by Lepsius, with a cartouche containing the name of a King Haremhab (Horemheb?), next to the name of Petamenophis. However, stylistically, many scholars believe that Pteamenophis' tomb could not be dated as early as the 18th or early 19th dynasty. In this regard, the tomb appears to date no earlier than the Ethiopian Period (when Nubians ruled Egypt)...

Opening the Tomb of Petamenophis in Luxor. A First Look, Jane Akshar, Tour Egypt, Texas, USA, December 07, 2005.