The Minoan Larnax and the Michael C. Carlos Museum

Minoan larnax from the Becchina archive and in the Michael C. Carlos Museum

I was recently asked to comment on the acquisition of recently surfaced antiquities in Greece as part of an interview. One of the examples I gave was the Minoan larnax that was acquired by the Michael C. Carlos Museum. Although this piece has been discussed in the Greek press, the museum has not yet responded to the apparent identification in the Becchina archive.

Is the time now right for the Michael C. Carlos Museum or the wider authorities at Emory University to negotiate the return of this impressive piece so that it can be placed on display in a museum in Greece?

New York dealer returns sarcophagus to Greece

Source: Becchina Archive

Back in January I reported that a sarcophagus identified by Dr Christos Tsirogiannis from the Becchina archive had been seized from a gallery in New York.

Today there has been a ceremony in New York with the Hellenic Consul General. The sarcophagus was spotted in the Royal-Athena Galleries.

Further details in the Greek press.

Items from deceased New York collector returned to Italy

Source: MiBAC

Perhaps one of the most telling sections in the Italian Ministry of Culture's statement was this: "quaranta reperti archeologici frammentati, in restituzione dal Metropolitan Museum di New York, riconducibili alla collezione privata di un cittadino americano, deceduto".

Italian journalist Fabio Isman reported in Il Messaggero on Saturday: "Ma 40 frammenti li ha spediti anche il Metropolitan di New York: parte dell’eredità che gli ha lasciato uno studioso dei più celebri, Dietrich von Bothmer".

There is no statement on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's press website.

Humana returns Fortuna

Source: MiBAC

The Italian Ministry of Culture has announced that two marble statues, one of Fortuna, have been returned from the North American healthcare company, Humana. Their New York source has not been declared.

However it has now been disclosed that the Fortuna was stolen in Rome on 4 October 1986. The second statue was identified from photographs seized from Giacomo Medici.

The Humana Fortuna and its New York Source

© MiBAC

The news that Humana will be returning two Roman statues to Italy have started to raise other questions. Humana's twitter feed suggests that there is no information on the New York gallery "at the present time". What does this mean? Does the company have no record of where it purchased the sculptures? Or is the New York gallery still active and would not appreciate unwelcome and adverse publicity?

Perhaps there will be a disclosure in the near future to demonstrate the "good faith" of the return.

Fortuna returns to Italy

Fortuna © MiBAC

The Italian Ministry of Culture has announced today that the North American healthcare company, Humana, based in Louisville, Kentucky, will be returning two Roman marble statues to Italy (press release, in Italian; "US company sends Italian statues home", AP December 14, 2011).

It appears that Humana had acquired the two statues "in buona fede" from an unspecified New York gallery back in 1984. The company then contacted the Italian authorities when it was informed that the statues had been removed from Italy illegally (“illecitamente sottratti”). The Italian Minister of Culture praised Humana for taking the initiative to co-operate with the Italian authorities.

This appears to be in marked contrast to the behaviour of a New York gallery and a New York auction-house when objects that they were due to sell were identified from seized photographic archives.

It will be interesting to learn which New York gallery supplied Fortuna and the other Roman statue to Humana. And how were the statues identified? Which photographic archive was used? Who supplied the New York gallery?

Holyland Numismatics: Uncleaned Coins

Rick St Hilaire has an important discussion of the investigation into the Khouli case. In particular details of emails relating to Salem Alshdaifat of Holyland Numismatics (and ACCG [suspended] member). They include an exchange in January 2009 relating to "uncleaned" coins from a hoard in Egypt:

“[T]he hoard came from Egypt and [is] now in Dubai[.] I asked my partner to ship directly from Dubai to you. [T]his hoard came from Banha, I think we bought coins that we sold you befor[e] from Banha, it is very big Roman city. [Y]ou can wire the funds to my bank account.”

The dealer in Dubai was Nafertiti Eastern Sculptures Trading.

St Hilaire also discusses information about Byzantine coins from Syria.

"Pot hunting" and absentee archaeologists?

I was interested to read the Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial on the "pot hunting" episode in the Four Corners region (June 21, 2009).

No one is endorsing wanton vandalism of such sites or artifacts. But it would be useful and realistic if a cooperative, rather than an adversarial, approach allowed quick surveys of such sites, with the most archaeologically promising being set aside for near-future professional digs, with residents told "Harvest the rest if you can."

How do all such artifacts -- even those unknown and undiscovered -- automatically become the property of absentee archaeologists who may never even show up?

The piece then points to two voices for the collecting lobby: Kate Fitz Gibbon and Peter Tompa (see my comments here).

Praise to "Doug" for leaving his thoughts on the Editorial:

The first false assumption is that the looted items "belong" to long dead peoples. Archaeological objects on federal lands belong to all Americans.

Second, an archaeologist who excavates such things never "owns" what he or she excavates. These items are strictly controlled, and the object's ownership goes to the federal government which often stores such objects in state museums. Implying that this is not the case belies a deep ignorance of the laws regarding public lands.

Ownership is the non-issue. Archaeology promotes good stewardship of our cosmopolitan cultural resources.