Norbert Schimmel as the model collector

News that Turkey has requested the return of part of the Norbert Schimmel collection is likely to have repercussions. I note Shelby White's comment: "Norbert Schimmel set a high standard for us as beginning collectors, not only for the quality of his collection but for his belief that it was to be shared with others" (Shelby White, "Building American museums: the role of the private collector." In Who owns the past? Cultural policy, cultural property, and the law, edited by K. Fitz Gibbon: 165-77. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press / American Council for Cultural Policy, 2005: p. 171).

An eye of Amenhotep III from the Norbert Schimmel collection has now been returned to Egypt. Norbert Schimmel's name was linked to the Apulian dinos that was returned to Italy from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Norbert Schimmel helped to fund the Met's purchase of the Morgantina hoard that has now been returned to Italy.

It looks as if there are precedents for the return of material from the Norbert Schimmel collection.