Michael H. Steinhardt believes there is money in antiquities. The legendary hedge-fund-manager-turned-full-time-philanthropist has quietly managed to assemble one of the largest and most important antiquities collections in the world. Now, he believes, its time has come.

"Ancient art has not appreciated much in value for a long time," says Steinhardt. "It has been under a certain cloud because there are issues of provenance, which have made headlines in the last five- to 10-years and continue to make headlines."

To be sure, shady characters and illegally obtained objects are lurking, but the antiquities market is not dominated by crooks. In fact, it is possible to build a world-class collection of legal, museum-quality pieces for a fraction of what it might cost to build a collection of similar quality in another field, such as Impressionist or contemporary art.

Still, the collection of antiquities (ancient objects from western civilizations including Italy, Greece, Turkey, Mesopotamia and Egypt) has been around nearly as long as the items themselves. Julius Caesar and Pompeii were avid collectors. Thomas Jefferson collected ancient Roman coins. Financial titans from J. Paul Getty to J.P. Morgan to William Randolph Hearst amassed large antiquities collections. Today, Steinhardt is counted among the most serious of collectors, along with Shelby White who built an impressive collection with her husband, the late financier, Leon Levy...

There is a slideshow with this article also: In Pictures: Ancient History For Collectors.

Ancient History For Sale, Carrie Coolidge, Forbes, USA, December 29, 2006.

“The original sanctuary of the god Amun in the temple of Hatshepsut in Deir-el-Bahari has been reconstructed” — says deputy head of the Polish archaeological mission in the temple — Dr Mirosław Barwik. The temple of Queen Hatshepsut from the 15th century B.C. has been under reconstruction by the Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of Warsaw University since 1961. It contains among other things the main courtyard and portico with monumental images of Queen Hatshepsut in the form of god Osiris and the sanctuary of the god Amun-Re, which belongs to the temple.

In autumn 2006 Polish archaeologists ran work on the reconstruction, Egyptological analysis and documentation of the so-called Royal Cult Complex — one of the most important complexes where work is currently being run.

“As a side effect of this work, it was possible to establish an extremely interesting thing — it turned out that it is possible to make a theoretical reconstruction of the sanctuary of Amun” — said Dr Barwik. This, most important, element of the temple is located in its main axis on the Upper Terrace...

Polish archaeologists reconstruct the Sanctuary of Amun, Anna Zdolińska, Science & Scholarship in Poland, Poland, January 03, 2007.

An Egyptian academic once took me on a tour of the British Museum, directing me around the galleries of antiquities and telling me what had been stolen from where. The histories of many of the best museum collections are filled with shameful episodes, and Stephanie Moser's fascinating study exposes to public view some very unedifying spectacles.

Wondrous Curiosities is the story of the early life of our national treasure-house and its relationship with some of its best-known exhibits. The British Museum opened its doors in 1759, and held initially just 160 items from ancient Egypt. Its early incarnation was as a vast cabinet of curiosities in which Egyptian mummies were displayed alongside other objects such as Oliver Cromwell's watch and a picture painted on a cobweb. Visitors had to apply in writing for tickets; 10 per hour were available, and only the well-connected would gain entry. There were few if any labels and visitors were hurried through by ill-informed guides. Nevertheless, the sights impressed. A 12-year-old visitor, John Coltman, wrote to his brother in 1780: "First we saw the Egyptians that had been dead 3,000 years ago. Next we saw the skull of an elephant, and the Queen of Otaheite's hat, the crown big enough to hold you, and the brim of it not much unlike the mat that lies at the bottom of our stairs."

Much of the collection was what Moser terms "serendipitous": it had been given to the museum by bequest — or conquest. Napoleon's looting of Egypt meant that the trophies of war from a British victory over the French in 1801 were unusually spectacular. Sadly, the trustees who received them seemed largely unimpressed. The museum authorities' lukewarm attitude is made clear by their dealings with one of the best-known collectors, the British consul, Henry Salt. Salt and his colourful co-collector, the Italian ex-circus strongman Belzoni, went to extraordinary lengths in recovering what are still some of the most iconic objects in the museum. The colossal bust of Rameses II was brought — badly mutilated — by Belzoni in 1818, from Thebes, where he claims to have found it with "its face upwards, and apparently smiling on me, at the thought of being taken to England"... These, and many other treasures, were offered to the museum at what Salt considered, and Moser seems to agree, was a knockdown rate. But the trustees wrangled over the costs for six years...

, Stephanie Moser, University of Chicago Press, USA, 2006, pp. 368.

Wondrous Curiosities: Ancient Egypt at the British Museum, by Stephanie Moser, Nicola Smyth, The Independent, UK, January 07, 2007.

Bahrain to host the Tutankhamun exhibition at the Bahrain national museum next March until June within cultural cooperation relations bonding the kingdom of Bahrain and Egypt. Assistant under — secretary for culture and national heritage Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa visited Egypt recently and met Egyptian culture minister Farouk Hosni and agreed that the kingdom will host this exhibition.

Bahrain to host Tutankhamun exhibition, UPI, Lebanon, January 07, 2007.

Official Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs website.

The pharaohs ruled their empire for hundreds of years, spreading culture, architecture and the arts before it collapsed into economic ruin [at the end of the Old Kingdom]. Why that happened is one of the great mysteries of history.

Now a team of scientists from Scotland and Wales believe the answer lies beneath the waters of Lake Tana, high in the Ethiopian Highlands, and the source of the all-important Blue Nile.

Samples taken over the past two years from sediments beneath Tana, which supplies the water which makes the lower Nile valley so fertile, reveal the lake may have almost dried up during the critical period around 4,200 years ago due to climate change.

According to the team's theory, the flow of water on which the farm-based ancient Egyptian economy thrived would have slowed to a trickle, causing a devastating famine that lasted for 200 years.

That would have been enough to destroy the Old Kingdom and its people, leaving only the pyramids and the Sphinx at Giza as their legacy to history...

Climate key to Sphinx's riddle, Jeremy Watson, Scotland on Sunday, Scotland, UK, January 07, 2007.

Dr Mike Marshall, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences at Aberystwyth.

Dr Richard Bates, St Andrews' School of Geography and Geosciences.

We are standing under a concrete awning in the Great Western Desert of Egypt. The temperature is 104 degrees in the shade. Out on the road in the sun our Brunton compass reads 119 degrees.

It is 11 a.m. We both feel strong, and would like to bicycle another two hours before our mid-day break when the sun is the fiercest. The problem is shade. We need to find shade again by 1 p.m. Actually 12:30 p.m. would be better.

My wife, Tass Thacker, and I are on a three-month bicycling trip through Egypt, Jordan, Greece and Turkey. We are starting in early May with a two-week, 500-mile [800-kilometre] loop from Cairo through four oases in the Great Western Desert down to the Nile Valley near Luxor.

As far as we can see the landscape is flat and sandy. Only two or three vehicles pass by each hour. We think there should be a communication tower in 15 or 20 kilometres [9 - 12 miles], which might have a small building that we can lay beside for shade. There might also be a police checkpoint ahead, a welcome sight as they always make us tea and give us water. And, the long shot; there could be a hill or rock formation somewhere up ahead that might make shade beside the road...

I've changed the title slightly. In British English there is no such term as 'bicyclers', we are cyclists which is an abbreviation of bicyclist (rarely used). There is also a slight confusion in usage as in the UK a cyclist is one who rides a bicycle and a motorcyclist rides a motorcycle. Whereas in the US the term cyclist can apply to either.

Bruce Junek and Tass Thacker have written and photographed a previous bicycle journey through Central and South America: , Bruce Junek and Tass Thacker, Images of World, USA, 1999, pp. 376.

‘Mummies & Mosques’: Local pair of bicyclers experience Muslim hospitality in Egyptian desert, Bruce Junek, Rapid City Journal, South Dakota, USA, January 08, 2007.

Of all the cities I have visited before, I think Cairo has the most number of interesting historical landmarks of varying eras and dynasties.

Cairo, the capital of the Arab Republic of Egypt, began 5,000 years ago when the pharaohs of old built the pyramids. Over the centuries, the land was conquered by Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Turks, leaving behind vestiges of culture procuring more tends. Besides ancient Egyptian attractions like the Sphinx, there are also monuments of a later date but in no way inferior to the earlier ones...

Of course, every tourist wants to see the mummified body of Rameses the Great, Egypt's most celebrated pharaoh, builder of mighty fortresses and monuments throughout Egypt for 66 years. To see it, I made my way through the congested Egyptian Museum of Cairo. Thousands of visitors go there each day to see the "King of Kings" as well as 26 other royal mummies.

Unfortunately, the bodies of Rameses and King Tutankhamen were not on display at the time of my visit, perhaps for security reasons. Nevertheless, the museum also contains the most valuable collection of Egyptian antiquates in existence together with some priceless articles found in the tombs of their ancient leaders...

Tutankhamun's mummy is in his sarcophagus in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings (KV-62) so wouldn't be seen in Cairo. As far as I know Rameses II is on display in Cairo museum but it should be noted that there are now two mummy rooms in the Cairo museum and the one ticket gets you into both.

The wonders of Cairo, Manny Baldemor, ABS CBN News, Philippines, January 08, 2007.

Egyptian archaeologists have begun restoring the world's oldest wall made of mud bricks, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said Friday.

The 5,000-year-old wall is based in the southern Egyptian governorate of Sohag.

Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Antiquities Zahi Hawass said the restoration is carried out in cooperation with the Fine Arts Institute in New York and the University of Pennsylvania.

Egypt restores world's oldest wall made of mud bricks, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, January 06, 2007.

The latest issue of the French language magazine “Toutankhamon” is out now.

Actualités :
Les trésors engloutis d'Alexandrie, interview de Franck Goddio

Dossier
NÉFERTITI, l'égérie amarnienne

Découvertes:
La Belle Maison d'Abydos 2e partie

Egyptologie
Le chaoubti meunier
Le pilier Djed

Aventurier
Sur les traces de Champollion

Voyager SPÉCIAL SOUDAN
Découvrir le Soudan

Which approximately says...

Current events:
Egyptian treasures of Alexandria, interview with Franck Goddio

File
NEFERTITI, the Amarnian muse

Discovered
The Beautiful House of Abydos 2nd left

Egyptology
The Meunier shabti
The Djed pillar

Adventurer
On the trail of Champollion

Travel - Sudan Special
Discover the Sudan

Toutankhamon Magazine, Editions Neptune Diffusion, France, Issue 30, December / January 2007.