Treasure by Shirley Read-Jahn
He sat on an upturned crate with three other British officers, playing cards. The night was still young, but the stars already out, dotted like diamonds across the endless black heavens. A pyramid loomed behind the four players. Camels, their forelegs tied together at their fetlocks for the night, snorted, grunted, moaned and groaned, occasionally giving a bellow, or a roaring growl whenever a camel-boy tested the rope’s knot at the animals’ knees, to ensure they couldn’t roam away while the military men slept. The camel calves nuzzled their mothers, bleating and humming softly in affection.
Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC, DL*, stood next to the card-players, leaning nonchalantly against an oasis palm tree. Brigadier George William Sutton, DSO, CBE, TD (my maternal great uncle), glanced up at Monty.
“Want to play cards with us, your lordship? We’re playing for the treasure, you know.”
“No thanks, Sutton, not my thing, you know; but I hope you win!” Monty said, with a crooked grin under the thin, white moustache above his top lip. He straightened the floppy black beret with its medals on one side, saluted the four officers, saying,
“I’m turning in for now, chaps. Advise you not to stay up late. Big day again on the morrow.”
In the Second World War, General Montgomery had brought his Eighth Army in August of 1942 to the Egyptian El Alamein Desert and spent the following months preparing his forces for the decisive offensive against the Axis.
It was now early 1943, not long after the Allied victory at the Second Battle of Alamein in late 1942, when Monty had given Rommel a right kick in the pants. The early months of 1943 were to be filled with pursuing the German forces across North Africa culminating in the final decisive victory in Tunisia in May 1943. This stopped the Axis from advancing into Egypt and marked the first major victory for British Commonwealth forces against the German Army in the war.
Smoking and drinking, the four card-players laid bets on who would win the treasure, which had been brought to them by a turbaned Egyptian who claimed he’d got it from an antiquities-dealer in Cairo. It comprised several Egyptian Ushabti dolls. These so-called dolls, or figurines, were carved out of wood, stone or pottery. The oldest Ushabtis came from the Middle Kingdom of 2040-1782 BC. They were placed in tombs inside special boxes or even hidden between a mummy’s funereal wrappings and were to do the work for a pharaoh in his afterlife.
Great Uncle George was a particularly adept player at cards thus it was no surprise that he won the treasure that night. Many years later in England, at his death, the treasure was found under his bed. It was ensconced in a green and white piece of cotton material and inside that, each small Ushabti statue had been carefully wrapped in white cotton wool. Interestingly, aside from the several Ushabti statues, there was a small oil-burning lamp still bearing the marks of burnt oil. All these ancient items had been offered to the British Museum, which had dated each piece and noted that the oil-burning lamp came from the time of Jesus Christ. One of the Ushabti dolls had been carrying the Book of the Dead. This doll carried a rather sinister vibe to it that some people noted when peeking at it in its viewing case. The document from the British Museum attesting to the authenticity of each piece and its dates remains with the treasure. The British Museum declined taking any of these ancient items, saying their basement was filled with such artifacts robbed from the tombs of the pharaohs.
The Egyptian treasure sits in a safe place in its viewing case, along with several small finger bones of German soldiers, bones I found in the sand on the floor of ancient Roman burial tombs in the village of Matala in Crete, caves where I had lived in 1967. The Cretan villagers told me that during World War II in the invasion of Crete, their parents had tossed the bodies of German snipers they’d shot out of trees into some of those very caves.
Several ancient Greek coins also rest in the case beside the tiny finger bones of those hapless German soldiers. Before sailing over to the island of Crete, I found the coins in and around the Parthenon and the old Plaka area leading up to the great Athenian cultural monument.
Besides these ancient items, I have newer treasures. In the summer of 2016, I was in California and visited Prince Andrew Romanoff, the grandnephew of Russia's last tsar, Nicholas II, who was murdered with his family in 1918. Andrew was in line to become the next tsar—if the people or government had wished it. Knowing I had been a hippy in the caves of Matala in Crete—and incorrectly assuming I enjoyed smoking marijuana—Prince Andrew gave me a roach-clip he had created in his youth out of a bullet! As another memento of our visit, he also kindly presented me with a book called The Boy who Would be Tsar. The book is filled with pictures of magical moments of his life—such as growing up on the grounds of Windsor Castle after the 1917 Revolution, meetings with the Queen, eating a chocolate Easter egg taller than himself and meant for the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret— all told through Shrinky Dink art, a medium he excelled in. This genre of art is made by drawing and painting on plastic sheets that shrink by one to two thirds when cooked in an oven. He then transferred the plastic onto tiles. From these, he created pictures for the book. These reveal his life experiences, first through the emotional lens of a child, followed by a humble adult wittily describing the experiences of a special man who experienced much more in life than most.
This whole collection of treasures is, I posit, one of the most unusual variety of antiquities and more modern items to be found anywhere in Australia.
* KG: Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.
GCB: Knight/Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. The Order of the Bath is one of the highest British orders of chivalry, awarded to senior military officials and civil servants.
DSO: Companion of the Distinguished Service Order. This is a military order of bravery.
PC: Privy Councillor. A Privy Councillor is a member of the monarch’s Privy Council, a body that advises the Sovereign.
DL: Deputy Lieutenant. A Deputy Lieutenant is a person appointed by a Lord-Lieutenant to assist them in their duties in a county.
TD: Territorial Distinction.
CBE: Commander of the British Empire.
GCB: Knight/Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. The Order of the Bath is one of the highest British orders of chivalry, awarded to senior military officials and civil servants.
DSO: Companion of the Distinguished Service Order. This is a military order of bravery.
PC: Privy Councillor. A Privy Councillor is a member of the monarch’s Privy Council, a body that advises the Sovereign.
DL: Deputy Lieutenant. A Deputy Lieutenant is a person appointed by a Lord-Lieutenant to assist them in their duties in a county.
TD: Territorial Distinction.
CBE: Commander of the British Empire.
Great uncle Brigadier George Pocklington Sutton in Egypt
Oil lamp from the time of Jesus Christ, per the British Museum's documentation
Ushabti dolls who do the work for a pharaoh in the afterlife
From the Egyptian Middle Kingdom of 2040-1782 BC
From the Egyptian Middle Kingdom of 2040-1782 BC
10 May 2016 - Prince Andrew Romanoff in his Inverness,
California studio with his shrinky dink artwork
California studio with his shrinky dink artwork
Shrinky Dink tile by Prince Andrew Romanoff entitled
"Queen Mary says you can call me Auntie Mary"
"Queen Mary says you can call me Auntie Mary"
