Wednesday, September 02, 2015

Recipe for tasty antiquities trade: Mix together false provenance, customs misdeclarations. Store for several years. Serve to antiquities collectors.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/archaeology/11837886/Ancient-Greek-relic-looted-from-Libya-to-be-returned.html

Discovered after sitting in a warehouse for two years.

Country of origin misdeclared as Turkish rather than Libyan.

Price misdeclared as $110,000 rather than $2 million.

False provenance claim made that sculpture belonged to family collection since 1977 

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