A suitcase that belonged to the renowned British Egyptologist Howard Carter who, in 1922, discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun, has been found under a bed in northern England. History buffs will be excited to learn that the travel bag is being offered for sale later this week, on February 27, by the local auction house Elstob. It has a presale estimate of £1,000–£1,500 ($1,260–$1,900).

The sale comes shortly after ancient Egypt was back in the news last week when it was announced that the first royal tomb to be discovered in over a century, since King Tut's, was recently unearthed. The last missing tomb of a king from Ancient Egypt's Eighteenth Dynasty, King Thutmose II's final resting place was found by an English-Egyptian archaeological mission.

Will Carter's suitcase arouse much interest from collectors? Local antiques expert David Harper, who assisted in identifying the curiosity, believes it will. "The connection to Howard Carter, Tutankhamun, the glamour, the glory, the intrigue behind it all," he listed as reasons for the case's appeal. "Plus, the fact its provenance is rock solid. It's got Carter's initials on the case."

Speaking to BBC radio, Harper, who has made regular appearances on BBC TV programs like Antiques Road Trip and Bargain Hunt, said that Carter's suitcase was used to transport his latest research and recent discoveries between the Valley of the Kings and England.

"These cases carried important documents including artifacts from Tutankhamun's tomb," he said. "We know this. There are rumors galore about where a lot of these artifacts went to but that's another story."

an old fashioned dustry suitcase lying on a table

Howard Carter's suitcase, recently discovered under a bed in northern England, is heading to auction with a high estimate of around $2,000. Photo: David Harper.

Harper first heard about the case when its current owner contacted him online, claiming he had inherited the case from his father who was given it as a gift by Carter.

Inevitably, Harper had some initial doubts. "My instinct is, is this real?" he recalled, stating that he told the owner he would need "cast iron provenance" before assessing the object. To his amazement, the owner was able to deliver.

Not only does the case bear Carter's monogram, but documents show that the famous archaeologist ordered it new in the 1920s. He used it on back-and-forth journeys between England and Egypt until his death in 1939.

On these trips, Carter met John Healey, who worked for the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute as a mechanic, fixer, and part-time archaeologist between 1932 and 1970. According to Harper, who has spoken with Healey's son, the two men became good friends and even spent evenings together in the bars of Luxor.

"You can imagine some of the tales and the stories that this character had heard," said Harper.

When Carter left Egypt for the last time in 1939, he gave his friend the suitcase. Healey continued to use it on back-and-forth trips between England and Egypt until he retired in 1970. Harper said this account is backed up by a surviving letter sent that year from the Chicago institute to Healey, thanking him for being their longest-serving employee and noting how he had befriended many archaeologists during his time working in Luxor.

Healey retired to the town of Bishop Auckland in County Durham, northern England and, after he died, his son inherited the suitcase. It has remained under his bed for five decades, since the mid-1970s until the start of this year.

When Harper traveled to see the suitcase in person, he prayed the owners hadn't attempted to smarten it up. "I was delighted when I got to the house in Bishop Auckland that they hadn't polished it," he recalled. Instead, he was relieved to find that the historical artifact was "sandy," making it feel almost like a time machine.

"You can literally feel the minutest grain of sand, you can see it in the leather just rubbed in naturally over almost 100 years," he enthused. "If you want to go back in time, the closest thing you can do is handle and hold that case."