A post shared on Reddit's r/Damnthatsinteresting community sparked renewed discussion about an unusual connection between Kim Kardashian's 2018 Met Gala look and the recovery of the ancient Egyptian coffin of Nedjemankh.
u/Familiar-While9796 claimed in the post that a photo of Kardashian attending the 2018 Met Gala helped Egyptian authorities locate the stolen sarcophagus of Nedjemankh, which is an artifact more than 2,100 years old.
The image attached by the poster u/Familiar-While9796 in the thread shows Kardashian attending the 2018 Met Gala in a custom gold Versace gown. The metallic, floor-length dress has a sleek silhouette and spaghetti straps. But right beside her in the Metropolitan Museum of Art stood the gilded coffin of Nedjemankh. It is an elaborately decorated sarcophagus from Egypt's Late Ptolemaic Period, dating to roughly 150–50 B.C.
Nedjemankh was a high-ranking priest of the ram-god Heryshaf; his coffin was made of cartonnage with gold and silver detailing.
According to court records and the Metropolitan Museum of Art's own public statements, the coffin had been looted from Egypt and sold to the museum using forged documents. According to one comment, the coffin was displayed "right next to Kim in her gold Versace dress," and investigators later uncovered the alleged fraud.
The artifact was returned to Egypt in 2019.
Another user summarized, "Her viral photos with the artifact prompted one of the original looters—who was angry about being double-crossed—to tip off investigators." However, some disagreed that Kardashian's photo was the only catalyst for the investigation. One wrote, "The investigation wasn't triggered by this photo, despite what Reddit [claims]."
That user also cited an archived Atlantic article that said Manhattan District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos (who leads the Antiquities Trafficking Unit) had already begun investigating the case after he was informed by someone who had previously been offered the artifact for sale.
Another Redditor spoke of journalist Ben Lewis' podcast, Art Bust: Scandalous Stories of the Art World. According to them, Bogdanos already had a jury investigation when an anonymous informant from the Middle East later sent Kardashian's Met Gala photo after getting it from members of the looting gang itself. The informant was reportedly frustrated after not being paid for helping excavate the coffin years earlier.
