The registrar's glossary — terms, codes and abbreviations.

Inventory identifier prefixes.

JE — Journal d'Entrée. The Cairo Egyptian Museum's primary entry register, in continuous use since the museum's foundation in 1858. JE numbers are sequential and identify the object's entry date into the museum's care. Most Tutankhamun-assemblage objects carry JE numbers in the 60000 to 62028 range. JE 60671 is the gold funerary mask. JE numbers are universally recognised in the Egyptological literature.

CG — Catalogue Général. The systematic museum catalogue published in volumes between 1901 and 1937, which superseded the working JE numbers for catalogued objects. Many important objects carry both a JE and a CG number; the CG number is the scholarly catalogue reference and the JE the working museum reference. CG 38008 is the Khasekhemwy seated statue.

SR — Special Register. The Grand Egyptian Museum's working inventory introduced for the 2020s transfer of objects from the Tahrir Egyptian Museum to the new institution. SR numbers run in parallel to the original JE numbers; objects retain their JE numbers in the scholarly literature.

TR — Temporary Register. Working numbers assigned to objects in the EAA's care that have not yet received a permanent catalogue number. TR numbers may be reassigned to permanent identifiers as the cataloguing process completes.

EAA-YYYY-NNN — Egyptian Antiquities Authority dispatch identifier. Assigned at the moment a dispatch is approved and used to track the loan through its entire lifecycle. EAA dispatch identifiers are the watch's primary reference for tracking individual loans, regardless of the underlying object's permanent inventory identifier.

Registrar's terminology.

Loan agreement. The contractual document between the lender (the Egyptian Antiquities Authority) and the receiving institution that authorises a specific dispatch. Standard loan agreements run to forty to sixty pages with conventional clauses covering climate control, insurance, display conditions, security, and the contractual return date.

Contractual return date. The date specified in the original loan agreement by which the object must be returned to the lender's care. The desk's dispute-watch criteria reference the contractual return date directly. Extensions to the return date are valid only if formally agreed in writing and published by the receiving institution.

Extension agreement. A separate documentary instrument extending the contractual return date by a specified period. Standard extensions are for one to three years; extensions beyond three years are unusual and typically reflect ongoing diplomatic or political negotiations.

Permanent transfer. Conversion of a loan into a permanent acquisition by the receiving institution. Permanent transfers require formal EAA consent and are rare; only two have been formally agreed since 2015 and both are documented in the watch's lender-museums list.

Condition report. Written documentation of an object's physical state at dispatch and at return, including photographs and measurements. The condition report is required at both ends of the loan cycle and any discrepancy between the dispatch and return reports triggers a re-inventory.

Re-inventory. Formal re-counting of multi-object loans at the moment of return, with the count matched against the dispatch documentation. Re-inventory discrepancies are rare but consequential; the watch documents them in the corrections log.

Climate control. Temperature and humidity specifications written into the loan agreement, typically 20 ± 2°C and 50 ± 5% relative humidity for standard organic and inorganic material. Light levels are specified separately, typically below 50 lux for light-sensitive material.

Customs codes.

HS 9705 — the Harmonised System heading for collections and collector's pieces of zoological, botanical, mineralogical, anatomical, historical, archaeological, palaeontological, ethnographic or numismatic interest. Egyptian-origin antiquities on loan dispatch clear customs under sub-codes within HS 9705 that identify them as cultural-property loans rather than commercial imports.

Cultural-property exemption code (CPE). An Egyptian customs-specific code applied to museum-loan dispatches at Port Said and Alexandria to exempt them from the standard antiquities-export prohibition. The CPE code requires a documented EAA loan agreement reference number to be issued.

Return-clearance code. The corresponding code applied at customs clearance back into Egypt, with the EAA dispatch identifier referenced. Return-clearance triggers the EAA's internal re-inventory process.

EAA register conventions.

Quarterly dispatch register. The Egyptian Antiquities Authority's quarterly published list of all cultural-property dispatches authorised in the preceding quarter, in continuous publication since 2009. The register includes the EAA-YYYY-NNN identifier, the underlying inventory identifier (JE, CG, SR), the lender museum (always Egyptian), the receiving museum, the dispatch date, the contractual return date, and the loan-agreement reference number.

Loan-agreement reference number. The internal EAA reference for the formal loan agreement, distinct from the dispatch identifier. The agreement reference is used to track the loan through the EAA's internal records and is cross-referenced against the receiving museum's own loan-agreement reference.

Extension supplement. The EAA's standard supplementary document attached to the original loan agreement when an extension is agreed. Extension supplements are appended to the quarterly register in the quarter following the agreement.

Receiving-museum terminology.

Most major receiving museums use either the incoming-loan register (UK and Continental European convention) or the loan-receipt log (North American convention) as their public record of objects currently in their care under loan terms. Both formats serve the same function and the watch's database cross-references both.

The conservation hold is a working state in which a loaned object is temporarily off public display for conservation, study, or institutional reorganisation. Conservation holds are required to be reported to the lender within thirty days; failure to report triggers the watch's location-verification criterion if the hold extends beyond ninety days.

The glossary is updated when new terminology enters the working vocabulary; the current version's revision date is June 2026. Submissions of additional terms or corrections to existing entries are welcome through the contact form. The full methodology document uses the glossary's terminology throughout.