President Jimmy Carter shaking hands with Sadat. (Warren K. Leffler United States Library of Congress)
Renowned local collectibles dealer, Heritage Auctions, is the topic of a national news story, as authorities investigate the sale of an Egyptian presidential passport belonging to late Anwar Sadat.
Sadat was president of Egypt from 1970 until his assassination in 1981. His diplomatic passport sold on February 22 for $47,500 by the Dallas-based agency, according to its website.
Sadat’s family has expressed outrage, stating publicly that the travel document is part of the nation’s heritage.
Grandson Karim Sadat, who is also a member of parliament, said the passport sale is “an insult that we, as a family and as representatives of the Egyptian people who love the late president, will not accept,” reported the state-owned Ahram newspaper. He also discussed the situation on an Egyptian talk show, saying he expects the foreign ministry to investigate.
“Many have wondered how the passport made its way to the auction house,” noted CNN’s Nadeen Ebrahim.
Heritage, whose communications director is Robert Wilonsky, a Dallas Morning News editorial board member and Sparkman Club Estates resident featured in the Preston Hollow Advocate, issued a statement to CNN, which read, “the consignor represented they had clear title to offer the passport at auction. And according to news stories out of the Middle East, this is not the first time the passport has been offered for sale.”
For many Egyptians, Sadat is a symbol of their country’s fight for independence, according to CNN’s report. He led Egypt through the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, but made peace with Israel in 1978, signing the U.S.-brokered Camp David Accords. That year he shared the Nobel Prize for Peace with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
