Reflecting on the Michael Steinhardt collection

The announcement that Michael Steinhardt has 'surrendered' 180 objects valued at $70 million is shocking. Tom Mashberg ("Michael Steinhardt, Billionaire, Surrenders $70 Million in Stolen Relics", New York Times December 7, 2021) has also reminded us:

Prosecutors said Mr. Steinhardt had owned and traded more than 1,000 antiquities since 1987.

Each of these objects has been removed from its archaeological context. Associations have been lost. Stratigraphy destroyed. Knowledge has been swept away and will never be recovered. 

There is cheer that these objects are being returned to their country of origin. Yet repatriation does not restore the archaeological knowledge. This debate has shifted back to the old question, 'Who Owns Antiquity?'

And Steinhardt stands in a line of private collectors, many based in New York, who have chosen to acquire recently surfaced antiquities and have turned a blind eye to the issue of looting. How did he think such objects—1,000 of them—had appeared on the market?

How many of these collectors have funded archaeological excavations? (Just think of how $70 million could have been spent.) And does support for field archaeology cancel out the destruction of those lost contexts? And what about associating the names of these benefactors with some of the great museums of the world? 

We should be concerned at the scale of the problem. But we should be more concerned about the intellectual consequences of so much destruction of the archaeological record. 

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Ex Symes material on offer in London

Associate Professor Christos Tsirogiannis has identified two Etruscan bronze attachments that are being offered at Sotheby's, London, on December 7, 2021 (lot 68). The history of the pieces is rehearsed:

Mathias Komor, New York, inv. nos. I.514 and I.515 

Clarence Day, Memphis, acquired from the above on February 24th, 1978 (Sotheby's, New York, Antiquities from the Collection of the Late Clarence Day, December 7th, 2010, no. 15, illus.) 

acquired by the present owner at the above sale

Tsirogiannis made the identification for the bronzes in the Schinoussa archive thus showing that they had passed through the hands of Robin Symes.

The detail is provided in Dalya Alberge, "Antiquities for auction could be illicitly sourced, archaeologist claims", The Guardian December 7, 2021.

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The Minoan Larnax at Emory University

Minoan larnax.
L: Becchina archive (courtesy of Christos Tsirogiannis)
R: Michael C. Carlos Museum

The Minoan larnax acquired by the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University is once again in the spotlight. The name of the dealer, Robert Haber, appears in the legal papers relating to the collection of Michael Steinhardt. The papers note (p. 71):

In 2002, Haber sold another Becchina-trafficked antiquity a Minoan larnax, dated to the 14th century B.C.E. to the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University. 

When will the Michael C. Carlos Museum resolve this long-standing claim? 

Sources for the returned Michael Steinhardt antiquities

The legal paperwork lists those who handled the 180 antiquities that have been handed over by Michael Steinhardt. Robert Hecht is top of the list with 45 objects. Other names will be familiar to those who study the return of cultural property. 

Michael Steinhardt and the J. Paul Getty Museum

The return of antiquities from the collection of Michael Steinhardt that have been valued at $70 million raised questions about other objects. 

What about the two pieces in the J. Paul Getty Museum? How secure are their histories? Are they documented prior to 1970?

Inv. 92.AB.11. Roman Statuette of a Snake-legged Giant. It surfaced in the Hunt collection (no. 37), and was purchased by Steinhardt in 1990; then sold to Robin Symes, also in 1990; and then sold to the Fleischman collection, also in 1990.

Inv. 96.AB.177. Roman Statuette of a Comic Male Figure. It surfaced in the hands of Nicolas Koutoulakis, then to Edward Merrin, to Steinhardt, then to the Merrin Gallery in New York (1989–92) and thence to the Fleischman collection (no. 134).

Michael Steinhardt and the return of antiquities valued at $70 million

Michael Steinhardt has agreed to hand over antiquities valued at $70 million (Karen Matthews, "Fund manager to turn over $70 million in stolen antiquities", ekathimerini.com December 6, 2021). Some 180 antiquities are due to be handed over (Dan Morgan, "Hedge-Fund Pioneer Michael Steinhardt Surrenders 180 Stolen Antiquities Valued at $70 Million, Manhattan DA Vance Says", nbcphiladelphia.com December 6, 2021). The antiquities are said to have been derived from 11 different countries, and passed through some 12 networks. Steinhardt has also agreed not to acquire any antiquities in the future; he will not be facing any criminal charges. 

Among the objects to be handed over is a Cretan larnax, a silver rhyton in the shape of a stag's head acquired from the Merrin Gallery, a fragmentary fresco acquired from Robert Hecht and Fritz Bürki.

Press Release from the New York District Attorney's Office: D.A. Vance: Michael Steinhardt Surrenders 180 Stolen Antiquities Valued at $70 Million, December 6, 2021.

Becchina and a Sardinian boat-shaped lamp

Entry from the Becchina archive
Courtesy of Dr Christos Tsirogiannis

Associate Professor Christos Tsirogiannis has identified a Sardinian boat-shaped lamb in the seized Becchina archive with what appears to be same piece shortly to be offered at auction in London.

Why does this matter? The archive clearly shows that the lamp passed through Palladion Antike Kunst in 1993. (We note that the value at SFr 60,000 shows that the piece has clearly lost its value over the years.) Yet the auction house claims that this passed into an Austrian private collection after being acquired in Vienna in the 1960s. Now, the 1960s would conveniently place the lamp in the period before the 1970 UNESCO Convention. 

But is the history supposed to be something like this? Sold in Vienna in the 1960s; acquired by an Austrian private collection; sold through Palladion Antike Kunst in Switzerland in 1993; acquired by an anonymous individual or corporate body; consigned for auction in London.

Here are the questions. Was the current vendor unaware that the lamp had passed through the hands of Palladion Antike Kunst in the 1990s? Had the auction house checked the history of the object or had they accepted the oral account? Which Vienna gallery sold the lamp in the 1960s? What is the authenticated documentary evidence? Finally, who consigned the lamp to Palladion Antike Kunst in the 1990s?

We presume that the auction house has contacted the Italian authorities.