The Ancient Egyptian Treasures of a German Sailor Who May Not Have Existed

The report details mounting doubts about the provenance of antiquities attributed to a purported collector named Behrens, including a high-value funerary mask purchased by Jean-Claude Gandur, a goat-headed table leg at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, and Byzantine-era fragments that the Met returned to Egypt after questions about ownership documentation. It underscores expert calls for a more transparent, regulated market for antiquities, noting gaps in anti-money laundering protections and the difficulty of establishing good title compared to other high-value assets.