Return of the mummy: New York Metropolitan gives stolen Egyptian coffin back

Nedjemankh was stolen from Egypt by art traffickers in 2011. Photo / AP

The United States have returned a remarkable golden sarcophagus, two years after it was obtained by the New York Metropolitan Museum.

You might never have heard of the Nedjemankh, but the coffin of this 2100-year-old priest tells you he was someone of high standing. The gold coloured coffin with white, staring eyes was featured at the centre of an exhibition in New York, celebrating ancient Egypt.

However, it is now known that the antique was stolen. It was sold to the museum by traffickers, on fraudulent documents.

Nedjemankh was smuggled out of Egypt in 2011.

"Thus far our investigation has determined that this coffin is just one of hundreds of antiquities stolen by the same multinational trafficking ring," the Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance said at a repatriation ceremony, attended by media.

Vance said there could be more seizures as the museum examines its collection.

Send off: A repatriation ceremony was held for the priest in New York. Photo / AP

Dating back to the first century BC, the coffin was bought by the museum for US$4m ($6.3m) in France.

It arrived in America back eight years ago on forged 1971 Egyptian export licences.

How it fell into the hands of traffickers is unknown, but once it was discovered the documents were false the museum decided to return the ancient Egyptian to home soil.

Nedjemankh had been buried in the Minya region, undisturbed for two millennia before being stolen in 2011.

The left bank on the Upper Nile is full of tombs from the Middle Kingdom and archaeological sites such as Beni Hasan that draw equal numbers of Egyptologists and tourists.

Once he returns Nedjemankh and his ornate coffin will be put on display in the newly built Grand Egyptian museum in Cairo, next year.

"This is not only for Egyptians but this is for our common human heritage," Egyptian minister of foreign affairs Sameh Hassan Shoukry welcomed the news of the ancient priest's return.