In December 2001, Mr. Samuel S.M. Huang, a friend of Edmond Mansoor wrote Mr. Arnold I. Lehman, Director of The Brooklyn Museum of Art, asking him to review the Mansoor Amarna Collection affair. The reader may recall that Mr. John D. Cooney, former curator of the Department of Ancient Egyptian Art of the Brooklyn Museum, had preached the non-authenticity of the Mansoor Collection, basing his opinion on the discredited report of Mr. William J. Young of the Boston MFA.

Mr. Lehman charged Mr. Richard A. Fazzini, Chairman of the Department of Egyptian Art at the Brooklyn Museum , to answer the letter. In his surprising and curt answer, Mr. Fazzini disavows any connection with Mr. John D. Cooney. He wrote:" The opinion you have urged us to re-evaluate was the personal opinion of an individual member of Museum staff who retired long ago and is now deceased". What a shame! Mr Fazzini, didn’t even acknowledge Mr. Cooney by name. He made it sound like Mr. Cooney was a "nobody". Mr. Cooney was, after all, one of Mr. Fazzini’s predecessors and as such deserves a more courteous treatment, especially from the Brooklyn Museum.

We are not defending Mr. Cooney, given his defamatory campaign against the Mansoor Collection. He was one of the precursors of the mysterious Wildung " Egyptian art milieu". He was a specialist in Ancient Egyptian glass and Semitic Languages. He based his opinion on Mr. Young’s report. Need we say more about his knowledge of Amarna Art? No wonder they disavow him now! Such is life in some museum circles.

The Fazzini letter is one more attempt on the part of the Brooklyn Museum to close the chapter of the Mansoor Amarna Collection.

The reader may review, both Mr. Huang’s and Mr. Fazzini’s letters at http://www.mansooramarnacollection.com/docs/end_of_lit_rumor >

If you wish to write Mr. Fazzini, his email address is < bakenmut@aol.com >