Trove of ancient artifacts stolen by ‘tomb raiders’ sent home to Italy from USBy Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
August 12, 2023
A treasure trove of ancient artifacts that were pilfered by tomb raiders and sold through shady auctions and art deals have been shipped back to Italy from the United States.
The 266 relics, which are worth millions of dollars, include items seized from a New York storage unit once owned by disgraced British antiquities dealer Robin Symes and artifacts returned by red-faced collectors who were duped into buying the ill-gotten goods.
About 65 of the items had been offered for sale to Houston’s Menil Collection but were turned down.
“The Menil Collection declined these works from the collector and they have never been part of the museum’s collection,” Tommy Napier, a spokesman for Menil, told the Associated Press in a statement.
The looted artifacts — many of them seized by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in the Big Apple earlier this year — include an Apulian krater, or vase, that dates back to 335 BC.
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/08/12/us-sends-trove-of-ancient-artifacts-stolen-by-tomb-raiders-back-to-italy/
