LOS ANGELES, CA.- At the turn of the 20th Century, before the discovery of Tutankhamun, an adventurous American husband and wife team took frequent excursions throughout Egypt, acquiring fine examples of ancient jewelry and artifacts. What resulted from these trips was one of the largest privately owned collections to be exhibited in major U.S. museums. Many of these pieces will be sold at auction and will tell the story of Mr. & Mrs. Goddard Dubois' collection.

Goddard & Josephine Dubois developed a passion for ancient artifacts during their time in Egypt and became experts at assessing ancient Egyptian art. In Josephine's letters, she mentions that they routinely took their finds to the well known Egyptologists of the day for their added approval. Josephine was particularly proud of her collection of necklaces: some were original arrangements, others she created to match similar examples at the Cairo Museum and some were arranged "with the purpose of producing the most harmonious & effective combinations of form and color with pleasing results" as explained in the 1920 Metropolitan Museum Bulletin of loans commemorating the 50th Anniversary Exhibition.

The Metropolitan Museum in New York exhibited the Dubois' necklaces in 1920 for the opening of their Jewel Room as well as other artifacts and jewelry including Egyptian amulets and Greco-Roman gold. In 1945-1960, the Dubois' necklaces were loaned and exhibited at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and in 1968, the Dubois’ entire antiquities collection became a blockbuster event at the Museum of Man in California. Some pieces were bequeathed or purchased by the museums while the rest were returned to the family.

On March 15, 2014, Midnight Sun Antique Auction Co. will present Dubois' ancient jewelry and artifacts for public auction. The auction features an ancient Egyptian red jasper head inlay: these were sometimes found on tomb walls representing a royal figure and are very rare and according to museum records could be an 18th Dynasty king. Jewelry to appreciate includes a carnelian amulet necklace which is over 2000 years old with an original arrangement of moon gods and amulets relating to the waning and waxing of the moon representing regeneration for the ancient Egyptians, an amethyst scarab necklace possibly dating back to the 12th Dynasty as well as Amarna necklaces from the time when Pharaoh Akhenaten ruled Egypt and some charming Greco-Roman gold earrings and beads and a Ptolemaic gold cross exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum Unique artifacts include an inscribed glazed composition 'menat' also exhibited at Metropolitan Museum from 1921 and 'faience' seated lion-headed goddess amulets. In the last decade, museums have given the greatest importance to provenance for acquisitions of ancient art.

The auction provides the public with a singular opportunity to acquire a unique piece of antiquity with exemplary provenance and paperwork. Egyptian and ancient artifacts are becoming harder to find with this type of history which makes them all the more valuable to own. Winning bidders will receive copied paperwork related to provenance and museum exhibits. For more information contact Midnight Sun auctions at info@midnightsunauction.com or go to their website at www.midnightsunauction.com.