It may be thought hardly possible that the makers of spurious antiquities could copy the mummies and their cases. And yet there is no doubt that this has been done. In the tale told by Dr. G. A. Reisner in the next chapter, he mentions that in a tomb which had been “faked up,” there were coffins and other objects.

Recently a gentleman became possessed with the idea of obtaining a mummy in its case. He spoke of this openly, and on several occasions was warned to be careful, or he would be imposed upon. People rarely thank one, however, for such advice, preferring to believe the smiling, plausible, ready-tongued dragoman or dealer, with whom they are in negotiation. Indeed, sometimes advice given under these circumstances tends to bring about a certain coolness, and the expert may have reason to regret, by the loss of cordial relations, that he had ever attempted to save his friend from an act of folly. The gentleman in question desired to present to his native town a mummy in its case, and, though warned, persisted in carrying on the negotiations. Eventually a handsome case, containing what appeared to be a genuine mummy, was submitted to him. The price finally agreed upon was £200. A little later, an Egyptologist saw the case, and without hesitation pronounced it to be a forgery.

The man who sold me the wooden figures seen in Plate III, told me with great glee that he had made mummy cases from bits of old mummy cases and other wood. One he sold to an American for £4, and when, later on, this American showed it to the authorities of a museum, he was at once offered £12 for it. However, he was so pleased with his bargain that he refused the offer.

Plate XIV shows a piece of new wood made up to represent a piece of genuine mummy case.

The mummy cloth of ancient times was made with the warp and woof of different thicknesses—the warp being thicker than the woof, so that it would hang and fold better. The piece of mummy cloth shown in Plate XV, No. 3 is genuine, but the painting on it has been done recently, as one may be pretty sure from several signs. The painting has been put on with a brush, instead of having the design outlined with a reed and then painted. The colour has run, and shows beyond the edge of the design; and the cloth, being dirty, shows signs of where the paint has wetted it. It may belong to the twenty-second dynasty.

In ancient days the workmanship, however bad or however hastily executed, was always done according to fixed rules, and each line had its meaning.

This year, for the first time, I have seen copies of the long beads for which Egypt is so famous. These are probably made in Venice. The colour is beautiful, and mixed with the imitations are a few really old beads. The material used is glass, and can be easily broken between the fingers. The mode of selling these spurious beads is to have them made up in a pattern, and to have genuine beads made up with them. They are manufactured in various colours, but ladies especially admire the blue beads, and the men sell six of the blue colour to one of the other. I bought three lots, made up as seen in the illustration, Plate XV, No. 2. Two were genuine, but the blue one was false. The price I paid was 3s. 6d. each, and the seller looked at me ruefully, and said, “You have got three pounds’ worth of beads there.” In the case of the forged blue beads the colour is equal all the way round. The old beads are made of a kind of composition; they are thicker, less regular, and there is usually one part upon which the colour has failed to be equal—that is the side upon which the beads were laid when fired.

No. 1 shows some glass beads supposed to be Roman, but they were made recently in Venice.

No. 4 is a string of imitation sacred cats with genuine old beads, used as a necklace.

There is a beautiful story, the humour of which would be spoilt by too searching an inquiry into its authenticity, about what is jokingly called “the predynastic mummy.”

The tale opens about the time when the predynastic graves were found in Nubia. There was a great rush on the part of museums all over the world to acquire specimens. It will probably be remembered that the bodies were placed in the graves lying upon one side, the legs drawn up, and one hand placed before the face. They were unembalmed, but the dryness of the climate had given the skin the appearance of light-coloured leather. Around the body were placed a number of jars and rough vessels. As the demand increased, prices rapidly rose. The Arabs vied with a Coptic antiquity dealer in finding and selling the graves, which were then taken whole to the museums. After a time the supply ran short, and the demand became urgent. The natives were hard put to it, but with their customary adaptability, they rose to the occasion; and it is said that they killed their business opponent, the Coptic dealer, and buried his body in the approved position. Under the peculiar climatic conditions obtaining in Nubia, a body often dries before decomposition can take place, so, some time later on, when a special request came from an important museum for a specimen of the predynastic burials, they “discovered” the grave in which they had buried their opponent, and sold the whole thing, pots and all, to the museum. But they could not keep their good fortune to themselves, and later on were heard in the village to boast that they had sold old Aboutig for £450.

The above story is almost too good to spoil, but what really happened, I believe, was that, when the supply of predynastic burials fell short, the natives took a body from a neighbouring cemetery and arranged it in one of the predynastic graves which was minus a body, and later sold the lot.