King Tut bust that Egypt claims was 'stolen' sells for $6 million

A controversial 3,000-year-old stone sculpture of boy pharaoh King Tutankhamun has been sold for nearly $6 million at auction in the U.K., despite protests from the Egyptian government.

The brown quartzite head depicting King Tut sold for more than 4.7 million pounds ($5.94 million) in London Thursday evening.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry had demanded that the auction house Christie’s provide documents proving the statue's ownership and said Egypt holds rights to the piece based on its current and previous laws.

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But Christie's defended the sale process. The auction house says it carried out "extensive due diligence" to verify the provenance of the statue and had "gone beyond what is required to assure legal title."

The 3,000-year-old stone sculpture of Tutankhamun sold for nearly $6 million at auction. (Christie's)

In a statement released Thursday, Christie’s described the sculpture as “a rare, beautiful and important work.”

“We recognize that historic objects can raise complex discussions about the past; yet our role today is to work to continue to provide a transparent, legitimate marketplace upholding the highest standards for the transfer of objects,” the auction house added. “There is an honorable market for ancient art and we believe it is in the public interest that works come out into the open with the opportunity for them to be researched, as well as seen and enjoyed by global audiences.”

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King Tut represented in art and artifacts is one of the most prominent symbols of ancient Egypt's glory.

This image released by Christie's on Tuesday, June 11, 2019, shows a 3,000-year-old stone sculpture of the famed boy pharaoh Tutankhamun at Christie's in London. (Christie's via AP)

The pharaoh’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings, which was full of spectacular artifacts, was discovered by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922.

Mostafa Waziri, chief of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, recently told that Associated Press that he believes that the head belongs to King Tut, but it was not found in the tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

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"This head is not one of the 5,398 pieces that were found inside the tomb," he said.

According to a 1983 law regulating the ownership of antiquities, any ancient artifacts found in the country are considered state property, "with the exception of antiquities whose ownership or possession was already established at the time this law came into effect."

King Tutankhamun continues to fascinate historians. Last year, archaeologists harnessed sophisticated radar scanning technology to disprove the contentious theory that secret rooms are hidden inside King Tutankhamun's burial chamber.

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The possibility of previously undiscovered chambers in the boy king’s tomb had generated massive interest around the world.

Stunning research has also claimed that Tutankhamun may have been a boy soldier, challenging the theory that the King was a weak and sickly youth before his mysterious death at around 18 years of age.

In 2014, a BBC documentary used state-of-the-art technology to perform a ‘virtual autopsy’ on King Tutankhamun’s 3,000-year-old remains. By using 2,000 Computerized Tomography (CT) scans of the pharaoh’s mummified body, scientists created a full-size computer-generated image of Tutankhamun. The virtual autopsy indicated that the boy king suffered from a genetic bone-wasting disease and a club foot, making him unable to walk unaided.

KING TUT TOMB MYSTERY: EXPERTS EXPLAIN STRANGE SPOTS ON BURIAL CHAMBER'S WALLS

Another theory suggests that Tutankhamun died in a chariot crash.

In 2012, scientists confirmed that a dagger found among the treasures in King Tut’s tomb was made with iron from a meteorite.

In a separate project, experts recently explained the strange spots on the walls of King Tut’s burial chamber.

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Fox News’ Chris Ciaccia and The Associated Press contributed to this article. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

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