A British family got rich by accidentally discovering Egyptian sphinxes in their yard
Sometimes things that seem like real junk are of great value. We have already written about a precious Chinese vase that has been gathering dust on the cabinet for 40 years. But the story that happened in the British county of Suffolk is even more unusual. There, the family almost gave away ancient Egyptian artifacts, which are more than one thousand years old, for a song.
One of the British families, moving into a new house, traditionally began to sell junk. Among other things, there were two peeling garden sculptures of sphinxes. The owners believed that these were copies of ancient Egyptian statues made in the 18th century. At that time there was a real boom in everything Egyptian and similar figures were made by hundreds.
That is why the statues were priced at $ 680 and $410 (48.8 and 29.4 thousand rubles). One figure was rated lower, as its chipped head was held on cement mortar. In general, the figures looked very unpresentable and their owners doubted that someone would need them.
But during the auction it turned out that the sphinxes are much older than expected. Experts have determined that these are original ancient Egyptian sculptures, which are about 5 thousand years old. Valuable sculptures were immediately purchased for 265 thousand dollars (19 million rubles) by an art gallery.
James Mander, the owner of the auction house that sold the figures, spoke about the shock of the owners of the sphinxes. He's sure. that what happened during the auction was beyond their understanding. The peeling stone idols, which were repeatedly going to be thrown away, turned out to be ancient works.
Scientists have already become interested in the find. They want to find out exactly where in Egypt these statues were created. They are also interested in how the sphinxes ended up in Britain, also in the provinces. The last owners bought them in 2016 from an unknown seller. Where this man came from and where he got the statues, no one knows.