Howard Carter’s Famous Suitcase is For Sale | Cursed or Not?

Since 1970 in a quiet north of England town has lived Howard Carter’s suitcase. Howard Carter, he who discovered Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922.
Owned and used by Howard Carter throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s and given by him to colleague and friend who worked with Carter in Egypt up to 1939 when Howard Carter left Egypt for the last time
That colleague was John ‘Tim’ Healey. John worked for the Chicago institute based in Luxor for almost 40 years from 1932, retiring in 1970. There’s a letter you’ll see in the video from the Chicago Institutes director George R Hughes thanking John for his 40 years of service
Here’s the story and provenance of Howard Carters case…a provenance we can trace back to new with Howard Carters right up to today in 2025
The interview is with John Healey’s son Derek Healey
It’s an important piece of history which I’ll soon be selling in auction. All the details are in the video
Notes: John ‘Tim’ Healey was a mechanical engineer, fixer, superintendent and archeologist working in Luxor for THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE.
John lived in an apartment in the institute at Luxor from 1932 to circa 1970 for 8 months of the year, leaving England every September. It is recorded that John knew more Egyptologist’s working in Egypt than anyone else and was by 1970 the longest serving member of staff working for the Chicago Institute.
John was a friend and colleague of Howard Carter from 1932 to 1939 when Carter left Egypt for the last time. On leaving Egypt Howard Carter gifted to John Healey his personal leather suitcase, which he’d owned from new (the case initialled for Howard Carter) John Healey then used the case himself travelling back and forth to Egypt until 1970 when he retired back to his home town of Bishop Auckland, County Durham, England. John died a few years later and the case was inherited by his son Derek Healey (interviewed in the video) The case was then stored under a bed from the mid 1970’s to 2025
If you have an item or a collection to feature here on my channel, please get in touch…thank you. David Harper [e-mail]
#howardcarter #tutankamon #antiques #egypt #history #historyfacts #historyuncovered