antiquities

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16 Major Pieces at Met Will Return to Rightful Owners

They're going back to Cambodia and Thailand

(Newser) - New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art announced Friday that it will return 16 major artworks connected to a trafficker to Cambodia and Thailand. The Cambodian government maintains that the Met has dozens of items that have been taken since the 1970s and has pressured the museum to return them,...

US Tourist Arrested for Hurling Museum's Statues to Floor

Lawyer says man was suffering from so-called 'Jerusalem syndrome'

(Newser) - Israeli police have arrested an American tourist at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem after he hurled works of art to the floor, defacing two second-century Roman statues. The vandalism late Thursday raised questions about the safety of Israel's priceless collections and stirred concern about a rise in attacks on...

Bust in Massachusetts Museum May Be a Stolen Antiquity

2nd statue allegedly stolen from Turkey is seized by NY authorities

(Newser) - A bronze bust believed to depict the daughter of an ancient Roman emperor has been seized from an art museum in Massachusetts by New York authorities investigating antiquities stolen from Turkey, per the AP . The seizure is the latest in an ongoing investigation into a smuggling network involving objects looted...

Struck by Lightning, Ancient Hercules Is Reborn

Vatican experts are restoring this statue to its former glory

(Newser) - Scaffolding in a niche of the Vatican Museums' Round Hall conceals from view the work of restorers who are removing centuries of grime from the largest known bronze statue of the ancient world: the gilded Hercules Mastai Righetti. For more than 150 years, the 13-foot-tall figure of the half-human Roman...

Billionaire Forced to Give Up World's Priciest Ancient Coin

Gold 'Eid Mar' coin, which sold for $4.2M in 2020, was looted, fraudulently sold

(Newser) - The world's most expensive ancient coin—one commemorating the murder of Julius Caesar, minted by the very Brutus who betrayed him—has been seized from its US buyer and repatriated to Greece. The "extraordinarily rare" coin, one of only three gold versions known to exist, and 28 other...

Ancient Empire's Crown Jewels Found 'in the Back of a Car'
Ancient Empire's Crown Jewels
Found 'in the Back of a Car'
in case you missed it
Feb 26, 2023 7:20 AM CST

Ancient Empire's Crown Jewels Found 'in the Back of a Car'

Looted antiquities held by English collector Douglas Latchford returned to Cambodia

(Newser) - The Khmer Empire's crown jewels, held by a suspected antiquities smuggler but largely unknown to experts, have been returned to their homeland. The Cambodian collection, including pieces dating to the seventh century, was once kept by collector Douglas Latchford, an Englishman who spent much of his later life in...

Artifact That Was Displayed in US Goes Back to Egypt
US Returns Artifact to Egypt
Jan 4, 2023 5:41 PM CST

US Returns Artifact to Egypt

Looted ancient sarcophagus was smuggled into US in 2008

(Newser) - An ancient wooden sarcophagus that was featured at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences was returned to Egypt after US authorities determined it was looted years ago, Egyptian officials said Monday. The repatriation is part of Egyptian government efforts to stop the trafficking of its stolen antiquities, the AP reports....

'It Was Wrong to Take the Bronzes' and 'Keep Them for 120 Years'

Germany returns 20 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria

(Newser) - The kingdom of Benin—whose earthen walls were said to be on par with those of the Great Wall of China—stood from the 11th century until 1897. That was the year the British invaded what's now southern Nigeria, burned it down, and made off with the Benin Bronzes:...

'A Spoil of War': Egyptologists Demand Return of Rosetta Stone

British Museum, which refused its return in the past, says there's no official request now

(Newser) - Egyptian archaeologists and thousands of supporters are demanding the return of one of the British Museum's most prized artifacts, along with other Egyptian treasures, saying their continued presence in the heart of the British Empire "supports past colonial endeavors of cultural violence." An online petition launched last...

Egypt's New Find Includes Well-Preserved Mummies

Recently unearthed antiquities date to 500 BC

(Newser) - Egypt on Monday displayed a trove of ancient artifacts dating back 2,500 years that the country's antiquities authorities said were recently unearthed at the famed necropolis of Saqqara near Cairo. The artifacts were showcased at a makeshift exhibit at the feet of the Step Pyramid of Djoser in...

Path of 3K-Year-Old Ring Winds Back to Greece
Greece Has Ancient Ring Back
May 21, 2022 5:30 PM CDT

Greece Has Ancient Ring Back

Swedish museum turns over gold piece stolen during World War II

(Newser) - A gold signet ring more than 3,000 years old that was stolen from an Aegean island in World War II, crossed the Atlantic, was bought by a Nobel Prize-winning Hungarian scientist, and ended up in a Swedish museum has found its way back to Greece. It was the latest...

Saga of Looted Gilgamesh Tablet Comes to an End

3,500-year-old tablet bearing portion of Epic of Gilgamesh now in Baghdad

(Newser) - A small clay tablet dating back 3,500 years and bearing a portion of the Epic of Gilgamesh that was looted from an Iraqi museum 30 years ago was formally returned to Iraq on Tuesday, following a September repatriation ceremony in Washington, DC. The AP reports the $1.7 million...

Billionaire Gets 'Unprecedented Lifetime Ban' on Antiquities

Michael Steinhardt will face no charges over $70M in stolen items

(Newser) - A New York billionaire will face no criminal charges after surrendering 180 antiquities worth $70 million, which authorities say were stolen from 11 countries. The items had been looted from Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Syria and Turkey, and trafficked by 12 criminal smuggling networks before...

Couple Used Caligula's Lost Mosaic as Coffee Table

Italian stone expert Dario Del Bufalo speaks on his 2013 discovery

(Newser) - Dario Del Bufalo, an Italian expert on ancient stone, was signing copies of his book, Prophyry, about the reddish-purple rock favored by Roman emperors when a man flipped to a page showing a priceless Roman mosaic that had vanished during World War II. "'Oh, Helen, look, that's...

Cops: Man Tried to Illegally Sell 'Exceptional Work of Art' for $120K

Greek police believe 5th-century BC statue was taken from temple on or near Acropolis

(Newser) - A man has been arrested on suspicion of antiquities smuggling for trying to sell an ancient marble statue of "exceptional artwork" that once likely adorned a temple on Athens' famed Acropolis or the slopes around it, Greek authorities said Friday. Police said the fifth-century BC statue was recovered following...

They Found 13 Ancient Coffins in One Well. Then, 14 More

Archaeologists unearth 2,500-year-old sarcophagi near Egypt's Step Pyramid of Djoser

(Newser) - Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed more than two dozen ancient coffins in a vast necropolis south of Cairo, an official said Monday. The sarcophagi have remained unopened since they were buried more than 2,500 years ago near the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, says Neveine el-Arif, a spokeswoman...

Cats, Dogs Frolicked Near $9M Emperor's Vase
'Next to Miraculous' $9M Vase
Found in Old Woman's Cupboard
in case you missed it
Aug 8, 2020 11:31 AM CDT

'Next to Miraculous' $9M Vase Found in Old Woman's Cupboard

Rediscovered Chinese porcelain dating back 275 years kept in open cupboard near cats, dogs

(Newser) - A delicate Chinese porcelain vase believed to have been crafted for an emperor 275 years ago has sold for more than $9 million after turning up in a cupboard in a country home in central Europe. The rare find—actually two vases in one, with a pierced outer layer of...

Authorities: Gilgamesh Tablet Needs to Leave the US

They say it must be returned to Iraq

(Newser) - A 3,500-year-old clay tablet bought by the Hobby Lobby for display in the Museum of the Bible should be returned to Iraq, US federal prosecutors said in a civil complaint Monday. The cuneiform tablet is inscribed with a portion of the Epic of Gilgamesh, hence, its name: the Gilgamesh...

Christie's Thinks This Is Worth $5M. Egypt Thinks It's Stolen

A tussle over a Tutankhamun statue

(Newser) - Last Monday Christie's let the world know that it planned to auction an Egyptian brown quartzite head of King Tut as the god of sun and air, Amun. It expected it to go for more than $5 million in the July 4 sale. Egyptian officials are now trying to...

Collector Had 'Staggering' Number of Human Bones

2K bones represent 500 humans, likely Native Americans

(Newser) - It was a collection "unlike anything we'd ever seen." That's how the head of the FBI's art crime unit describes some 42,000 artifacts discovered in the rural Indiana home of Don Miller during a 2014 raid . Almost five years later, Tim Carpenter of the...

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