Antiquities

Heres what I have already, posted to FORVMs antiquites forum. If anyone has any clues here id love to hear.

I am no expert either, but I have seen many ushabti funerary figurines in books and museums.
From what I can see, the writing appears to be real Egyptian hieroglyphics, not gibberish on a modern repro.
The quality of the figurines looks better than most Ptolemaic-era ushabti, so they may be earlier.
Once upon a time, these were found in huge quantity at burial sites, and before Egypt protected her past, they were sold or otherwise found their way into museums.
These figurines were meant to do work for the deceased in the afterlife. Ushabti inscriptions often contain the 6th chapter of the Book of the Dead, translated as:

"Illumine the Osiris NN, whose word is truth. Hail, Shabti Figure! If the Osiris [name of deceased] be decreed to do any of the work which is to be done in Khert-Neter, let everything which standeth in the way be removed from him- whether it be to plough the fields, or to fill the channels with water, or to carry sand from the East to the West. The Shabti Figure replieth: "I will do it, verily I am here when thou callest". "

That's a nice little figure of Bastet too--it looks very old as well. Is it bronze or ceramic? They all look ancient to me, and you're very lucky to have these artifacts. Nowadays it's no longer possible to get these from Egypt, which may explain the rising values. As for sellers of antiquities for spear heads and the like, I've seen them sold by Lodge Antiquities and Denant, both based in the UK. I've bought from both and trust their reputations.

I never had an interest in anything dealing with ancient Egyptian history or artifacts. They were obsessed with death and magic that to be honest I felt that any artifact was unlucky. Those piece that you have while interesting are not anything that I would want in my collection.

I wrote off to the British Museum and they responded:
'Thank you for your e-mail. It is always difficult to determine the exact nature of an object from a photograph; however the shabti figures shown in your pictures appear to be genuine. Based upon their iconography, the larger shabti would date not earlier than the 26th dynasty while the smaller one is not earlier than the Persian period, though both could be later. It is not possible to decipher the inscriptions from the photos. Often shabtis have spell 6 from the Book of the Dead inscribed on them which causes them to do work for the deceased in the realm of the dead.

The bronze cat also appears to be genuine. Many of these were manufactured during the Late Period; however, they are also frequently reproduced for the tourist market. '

They also offered me the chance to visit and they can look at them in hand and see if anything else can be said about them. I think I'm going to take them up on that offer!

Wish I had access to something like the British Museum. The local museum in my city does have Roman artefacts but they are not on display nor is there an expert on staff. They are mainly just Roman lamps and glass. Although they do have a gorgeous Trajan denarius.

I could e-mail a couple of the professors at the university I work at but I don't really know each individuals stance on collecting. I know a couple are very against it but can't point out specific ones.

As a former Museum Assistant in the Department of Coins at the British Museum, just a note to say that the identification of objects brought in by the public is considered to be an important aspect of its work. They do not provide valuations or grading but can often advise on an object's authenticity or not.

They also used to provide opinions on objects sent in provided the sender sent an addressed prepaid registered envelope but I don't know if they still do that.