Art Museum Journal

Two Stolen Italian Artifacts Seized in New York
By STAN PARCHIN

October 28, 2009
 
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities in New York announced on October 26, 2009 the seizure of two stolen ceramic vessels smuggled out of Italy. The antiquities' recovery was the result of a cooperative effort between ICE and the Italian Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage.
 
The objects retrieved were a Red-figure Situla (ca. 365-350 B.C.) or bucket from Puglia and an Attic Red-figure Pelike (ca. 480-460 B.C.) or storage jar removed from Etruria. Both illegally excavated works have an estimated combined value of $120,000 (US).
 
The antiquities were smuggled out of Italy to Geneva, Switzerland. They then arrived in Beverly Hills, California, where they were intended for consignment by an American art gallery to major auction houses in New York. The unnamed gallery was previously associated with the illicit movement of looted art. These two works were part of a collection whose objects have been traced back to Giacomo Medici, the Italian dealer convicted of the unlawful excavation of artifacts and their illegal trafficking by the Tribunal of Rome in 2004.
 
James T. Hayes, Jr., special agent in charge of ICE's Office of Investigations in New York, said, “The recovery of these unique cultural artifacts serves as a deterrent to large-scale smuggling organizations trying to benefit financially from a nation’s history and heritage. ICE is committed to working closely with foreign governments to find and return stolen works of art and antiquities to their rightful owners.” 

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