Marion True takes the stand

Elisabetta Povoledo ("Getty Ex-Curator Testifies in Rome Antiquities Trial", New York Times March 20,2009) has reported on the latest proceedings of the trial of Marion True in Rome.

True said:

If ever there was an indication of proof of an object coming from a certain place... we would deaccession it and return the object, regardless of the statute of limitations ... And we have shown that we would.

Certainly the series of returns to Italy from the J. Paul Getty Museum suggest that recently-surfaced antiquities had been acquired, including objects from the Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman. (See earlier comments.)

Povoledo notes:

The defense plans an object-by-object rebuttal of the prosecution’s case for each of the 35 artifacts that Ms. True approved for acquisition and that the Italians say were looted.

This can only shed further light on the network of dealers and agents handling the objects as they passed through the market on their way to their public display in California.