The controversy about the bust of Nefertiti is one of the great debates of Egyptology. Was the bust found on December 6, 1912, as reported by excavator Borchardt (Barbara took some liberties with this portion of the tale—libel is unattractive), and later illegally removed by Borchardt? And how did Borchardt accomplish this removal? Did he hide the bust, disguise it with a liberal application of plaster, or put pressure on Gustave Lefebvre, the young inspector who had come to select the finds that were to remain in Cairo? If Lefebvre did not examine all the contents of the boxes, and used only the list of items that Borchardt had prepared (after all, he was a senior and very well respected scholar who had been working in Egypt for a long time), he would have merely noted that this was a bust of gypsum, as Borchardt had been economical with the truth. The bust was of limestone with its gypsum covering and paint still surviving—a rarity. By misleading Lefebvre, it was speculated, Borchardt defrauded Egypt of its rightful share of the finds at Amarna. In Berlin, the bust was displayed publicly for just one day, after which it was whisked off to the home of James Simon (appearing here as James Ridgemont), who had funded the excavation, and remained with him (but visitable by a select few) until 1920. The fact that Borchardt failed to publish news of the bust’s discovery until 1923, although details of other items from the same excavation made it into print earlier, fueled the controversy as to whether Nefertiti had been “kidnapped.” Private letters and papers in Germany, and official complaints made by the Egyptian Antiquities Service, fed into speculation about the exit of Nefertiti from Egypt. Additionally, later allegations that Hitler fell under the spell of the bust and took the original, leaving a fake in its place, only strengthened the Nefertiti mystique, making her discovery a prime candidate for a mystery that Barbara (and Joan)—and Amelia—had to tackle.