Howard Carter Letter Blaming a Journalist for the “Curse of the Pharaohs” Sells for $16,643
A private letter from British archaeologist Howard Carter (1874–1939) offers a bracing counterpoint to one of archaeology’s most durable legends: the so-called “Curse of the Pharaohs.” Written in 1934 from Luxor, Egypt, the three-page note has sold for $16,643 at Boston-based RR Auction on March 18.
In the letter, addressed to Helen Ionides, Carter makes clear he did not credit the curse narrative that has long shadowed the 1922 discovery of the tomb of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun. Instead, he assigns responsibility for the story’s popularization to a single antagonist: Arthur Weigall, an Egyptologist who reported on the excavation for the Daily Mail.
“Carter states plainly that he believed the curse story came from Weigall and that it had no factual basis,” Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auction, said in an email. “The letter is unusually direct.”
Carter’s tone is notably unsparing. He describes Weigall as a “menace to archaeology,” and faults him for pursuing short-term “excitement and amusement at the expense of others” — a pointed reference to the press frenzy that surrounded the Valley of the Kings and, by extension, Carter’s own reputation.
Beyond the personal animus, the letter also illuminates the commercial and journalistic machinery that helped finance the excavation. Carter recounts how George Herbert, known as Lord Carnarvon, secured funding by granting The Times of London exclusive access to the discovery. The arrangement, Carter wrote, included £5,000 (roughly $600,000 today) and 75 percent of the profits generated by the Tutankhamun story.
The exclusivity succeeded in underwriting the costly work, but it also created a hostile press environment. Reporters from other outlets, cut off from Carter’s daily updates, were left to compete for attention without direct access. Weigall, Carter suggests, responded by feeding readers a more sensational narrative. In Carter’s telling, the “Tutankhamun Curse” was Weigall’s invention, born of “pique” and framed as a kind of vengeance against Carnarvon, whom Weigall had expected to receive preferential treatment.
Carter even adds a detail meant to puncture Weigall’s authority: he claims the journalist was not present at the opening of the tomb, arriving several minutes late and last among the reporters.
The curse myth gained traction in part because a number of people associated with the excavation died in the years that followed, a coincidence that proved irresistible to headline writers. The most frequently cited death was Carnarvon’s, which occurred four months after the tomb was opened. Modern scientific explanations have pointed instead to a poorly treated infection stemming from a mosquito bite.
Carter’s letter ranges beyond professional grievances. He pauses to note the “sad death” of the Duchess of Alba, a Spanish-British socialite, and offers warm praise for his friend Ruth Draper, an American actor he calls “very charming.”
The recipient, Helen Ionides, was the daughter of British art patron and collector Constantine Alexander Ionides. She later received an M.B.E. for her Red Cross work during World War II.
The letter has appeared at auction before: RR Auction sold it in 2022 for $10,000. Its latest result underscores the market’s appetite for primary documents that reveal how modern myths are manufactured — and how fiercely their subjects sometimes fought back in private.
