"The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has facilitated the return of 29 antiquities, collectively valued at $3m, to their rightful home in Greece. A ceremony was held earlier this month at the Consulate General of Greece in New York to mark the occasion and formally hand over the objects The artefacts include pieces implicated in trafficking networks conducted by the smugglers Robin Symes and Eugene Alexander."
"Notable objects in the repatriated trove include a sculpture dubbed "Bronze Foot in the Form of a Sphinx", which actually might depict a siren; it was seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2025. Dating from the 600BC, a trafficker had sold it to Symes, who in turn sold it to a private collector who donated it to the Met in 2000."
"Another piece, a bronze applique depicting a gorgon and dating from the 6th century BC, was originally attached to a bronze vessel. It depicts a running mythological female monster with snakes for hair, most popularly portrayed in modern day parlance through the story of Medusa. The bronze gorgon was sold by the trafficker Robert Hecht to Fortuna Fine Arts, a gallery that is currently battling fraud charges in federal court."
The Manhattan District Attorney's office facilitated the repatriation of 29 antiquities valued at $3 million to Greece and held a formal handover at the Greek Consulate in New York. The recovered items are tied to international trafficking networks run by smugglers such as Robin Symes and Eugene Alexander. Symes was identified by a 2016 Carabinieri probe as the ringleader of a long-running looting syndicate. Prosecutors credited analysts for the recoveries and emphasized ongoing global cooperation to return stolen cultural property. Repatriated highlights include a Bronze Foot seized from the Met and a sixth-century BC bronze gorgon applique linked to Robert Hecht.
Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]