CNG 93, Lot: 1954. Estimate $750. Sold for $1200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

New Kingdom. 18th Dynasty. Tuthmosis III (circa 1504-1450 BC). Steatite scaraboid (15x9mm). Base is engraved with the name of Tuthmosis III, rendered with three khepers. Intact but for a small chip at mouth of piercing, pleasant light blue glaze, pierced for mounting. A beautiful piece with the name neatly carved and clear.

From the David Hendin Collection.

This is the first of a fairly long run of Tuhmosis III scarabs. He reigned nearly fifty-four years (including circa twenty as co-regent with his mother Hathsepsut). Through seventeen military campaigns he expanded the lands under Egyptian dominion to create the largest empire Egypt had ever seen, conquering much of the Near East up to the Euphrates to the east and Nubia to the south. Due to this hectic expansionistic activity the American archeologist J. H. breasted called him the “Napoleon of Egypt”.