Greek Royal Artifacts Sell for $18.4M

LONDON -- Heirlooms once owned by the former Greek royal family sold for $18.4 million, Christie's said Thursday at the end of a two-day auction.

The sale took place despite protests from the Greek government in Athens, which at the last minute urged the London-based auction house not to sell the artifacts _ more than 850 items that originally belonged to King George I of Greece _ saying they may have been illegally exported.

However, Christie's said it saw no reason for the sale not to go ahead.

The most expensive item of the auction was a pair of massive silver Victorian pilgrim flasks, which sold Wednesday for $1.1 million, Christie's said in a statement. A gold Faberge egg sold for $546,680.

Christie's said much of the collection came from the former royal estate at Tatoi, on the northern outskirts of Athens, but declined to identify the seller.

Greece's last monarch, King Constantine II, now 66, was deposed in 1967. In 1991, the Greek government allowed Constantine to remove hundreds of items from Tatoi, which were sold at an auction later that year.

King George I ruled from 1863 until he was assassinated by an anarchist in 1913.