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German guile won Queen Nefertiti

Newly published documents show how a German archaeologist used trickery to smuggle home a fabulous sculpture of the Egyptian queen, Nefertiti.

The archaeologist, Ludwig Borchardt, listed the bust of Queen Nefertiti among his finds in Egypt in 1913.

But he described it as a worthless piece of gypsum and hid it in a box.

It is now regarded as a supreme artefact of the Pharaonic era and attracts half a million visitors per year to Berlin's Egyptian Museum.

Read entire article at BBC