Mohamed Atwa, director of archaeology and information at the museum, found the box–which contained a wooden mast, a set of rigging, and a tiny wooden head–in a storeroom. Inside the box, the items were wrapped inside a newspaper dated March 5, 1933. According to museum records, the items were reported missing in 1973.

A similar boat was among the treasures by the Howard Carter expedition that discovered King Tut's tomb in 1922. Such boats have often been found in tombs of the royalty and nobility of Ancient Egypt, as something that they might need in the afterlife.

Atwa was among those gathering artifacts to transfer to the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is scheduled to open near the Pyramids at Giza in 2020. Workers at King Tut's tomb recently completed a decade-long restoration to repair damage done by the ravages of time and hordes of visitors.