Antique mummy foot offered on Ebay classifieds

Created: 09/09/2022, 16:35

By: Sofia Popovidi

The mummified foot from Egypt was taken on vacation in the 1980s.

© Police Krefeld

A real mummy foot from antiquity was offered on the Ebay classifieds sales portal.

He is said to have been smuggled out of Egypt around 40 years ago.

Krefeld – The customs in Krefeld received a bizarre call in April: an Ebay classifieds user is said to have actually offered a real mummy foot.

An anonymous caller alerted investigators to the unusual ad.

The Krefeld police were then alerted - they should investigate that the mummy foot does not come from a murder.

Krefeld: Mummy foot sold on Ebay classifieds – smuggled out of Egypt vacation?

Fortunately, that was not the case: the mummified lower leg is actually a mummy foot from antiquity, reports 24RHEIN.

Both the Krefeld police and the Egyptologist Dr.

Robert Kuhn from the Egyptian Museum Berlin was able to confirm this after investigations.

However, the exact age and origin are not known.

But how did the foot end up in NRW?

Apparently, the seller's parents brought the foot back to Germany from a holiday in Egypt in the early 1980s.

However, the man has not made himself liable to prosecution.

But: “The foot must have been smuggled out of Egypt at that time: ancient objects already had to be presented to an examination committee for an official export license at that time.

Human remains would no longer have received them, ”explained the police.

Mummy foot sold on Ebay classifieds: Police hand over relic to Egyptian ambassador

The mummy foot does not go back either: On Thursday, September 8, 2022, the Krefeld police chief Ursula Mecklenbrauck handed over the mummy foot to the Egyptian ambassador Khaled Galal Eldin Abdelhamid in Berlin.

"When it became clear that the mummified foot had not left Egypt legally," says Mecklenbrauck, "we immediately prepared the return together with the Egyptian embassy."

There are always curiosities on Ebay classifieds.

Not only mummy feet, but also a cat was given away on Ebay classifieds in July because the owners wanted to go on vacation.