April 5, 1994

Christine Mansoor
P.O. Box 280511
Northridge, CA 91328

Dear Christine,

Thank you for sending me the copy of the manuscript of your book, "The Scandal of the Century: The Mansoor Amarna Exposé."

First of all, please accept my appology for being so long in responding to you.

Let me congratulate you on a splendid work well conceived and well written and presented. The history of the collection in the early part of the book and the beginning, development and spread of the controversy are well documented, balanced and presented with great fairness. Your gathering of detailed evidence for the authenticity of the collection is well established within your work. The historical reports and especially the great effort which the family has made over so many years to have the individual sculptures examined by as many national and international experts as possible is one of the remarkable contributions of your work. The world of experts in art history and in archaeology must recognize this generous offer that is, and has consistently been made, by the family to all of them to examine and investigate in person the artifacts of the collection.

Beginning with Young's "examination" under the ultraviolet light, you presented very convincing evidence of the way the controversy started and proceeded to grow out of control.

In my opinion, your criticism of the negative reports on the authenticity of the collection is fair and balanced. Your arguments are well supported by the evidence presented in the variety of reports and correspondence from internationally known scholars and experts in the field of Egyptology. Some reviewers may object to the personal tone injected into your criticism, but that makes the writing and the reading of your work more interesting and lively. It also puts much more emphasis on the negative nature of the criticism of those convinced that the collection is not authentic. I believe there may well have been a conspiracy after I read your report of the Detroit visit and the visits to other museums. You have created a good mix of the personal and the scientific evidence.

I also found very interesting your creation of the "Clever Forger." It is a very convincing argument in favor of the authenticity of the Collection.

I was also very pleased with your presentation of Andreina Becker Colonna's and Fred Stross' defense of the Collection. It will be very helpful and instructive for our students here at San Franciso State, especially for those in the Museum Studies program. Your work will give them a clear idea of the humanistic and scientific process in both the field of art and of archaeology. Unless you need back a copy of the manuscript you sent to me, I would like to put it in the reference section of our library which is housed in the Colonna Gallery.

Thank you again for allowing me to read your splendid work. I hope it will soon be published. My best wishes to you and to your family.

Sincerely,

Richard Trapp(signed)
Professor of Classics, Emeritus, San Francisco State University