GUETS: It's an Egyptian hawk
mummy, and I bought it in 1996
at the Knights of Columbus

Hall in Middletown, Rhode
Island. There was an auction
of the contents of a house from

an old professor in Maine.
And I saw in the newspaper the
day before that there was an

Egyptian mummy in the auction,
so I thought, "I need to get

down there and buy that mummy."

APPRAISER: Of course.

GUEST: (chuckling) Yes,
so I did, and that's
really about all. There
were some Egyptologists

holding on the line to bid
on it, but I outbid them.

APPRAISER: Well, mummified
animals and birds are found in
many Egyptian tombs, and they're

there as offerings. This one
is to the god Horus, the god
of light. He's also the lord

of the sky, so he's really,
really important. Horus is a
falcon, and he's also considered

the savior of Egypt
from the scorpions.
So he's really, really
important. These are found

really from about 650 BC to
about 250 A.D. in Egypt. Have
you any idea what it's worth?

GUEST: No, none whatsoever.

APPRAISER: And what
did you pay for it?

GUEST: I paid-- well, my top
bid was going to be $1,000.

APPRAISER: Uh-huh.

GUEST: But I went
to $2,500, so...

APPRAISER: All right. I think
a retail market for this would
be between $3,500 and about

$5,000.

GUEST: Wow. That's amazing,
I would never sell it.