Lord Carnarvon, whose grandfather was the patron of the expedition that discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamen in Egypt's Valley of the Kings in 1922, thought he had taken a complete inventory of belongings in his family's Highclere Castle last July. Then a 75-year-old family butler helping him interjected, "Except for the Egyptian stuff, my lord." Thereupon he began revealing more than 300 ancient objects that had been hidden in secret cupboards and unused rooms of the castle for more than 70 years. Among the trove was a 3,200-year-old carved wooden face of Amenophis III.
Last week Lord Carnarvon announced that...