In 1931 Carter named Burton as an executor of his will. After Carter died in March 1939, Burton identified at least eighteen items in Carter’s antiquities collection taken from Tutankhamun’s tomb without authorisation. As this was a sensitive matter that could affect Anglo-Egyptian relations, Burton sought wider advice, finally recommending that the items be discreetly presented or sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with most eventually going either there or to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.[21] The Metropolitan Museum items were later returned to Egypt.[22]