The mysterious second Achaemenid bronze coffin and the ivory comb from Susa

No-one concerned with the characteristics of Persian funerary practices can neglect to reference the celebrated bronze coffin containing the remains of a “Persian princess” unearthed at Susa in 1901 by Jacques de Morgan. When discussing this remarkable find, several scholars have indicated that it was not the only coffin of this type discovered by Morgan; and yet no reference leads back to another example in his publications. Here the tracks of this mysterious missing second bronze coffin, and an ivory comb sometimes said to have been found in it, are followed through the academic labyrinth and into the storage rooms of the Louvre Museum where the quandary can finally be resolved.