CAIRO, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian authorities contacted their British counterparts to stop the sale of ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamun's bust scheduled on an auction of Christie's auction house in London on July 4, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.
The Egyptian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Antiquities asked Christie's auction house and the UNESCO to stop the sale of the ancient Egyptian boy king's bust.
"The Egyptian Embassy in London also contacted the British Foreign Office and the auction house to halt the sale and reserve the bust, demanding its return to Egypt," said the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
The 3,000-year-old bust of the most famous Egyptian pharaoh, known worldwide as King Tut, was expected to be sold at 4 million British pounds (more than 5 million U.S. dollars), according to Christie's auction house.
The Egyptian move came over concerns that the bust might have been stolen from the Karnak Temple in Upper Egypt's Luxor.
The statement added that the Egyptian embassy asked the British authorities to stop the sale of all other Egyptian artifacts intended to be sold on July 3-4 in the auction house in London.
