From The Art Newspaper, June 1:
Etruscan fragment of gilt bronze sheet with embossed decoration of oriental motifs (seventh century BC)
Italy has recovered a haul of 750 archaeological artefacts with an estimated value of €12m following a lengthy legal battle with the disgraced British antiquities dealer Robin Symes (84).
The collection was unveiled yesterday at a press conference held at Rome’s National Museum of Castel Sant’Angelo and attended by both Italian and Greek officials. Dating from the eighth century BC to the medieval period, the artefacts include ancient marble busts, mosaic fragments, clay vases from Pompeii, a decorated lead sarcophagus and Etruscan jewellery made from gold, bronze and amber. After being looted in central and southern Italy, the objects had been stored in London facilities. They were transferred to Rome on 19 May.
The restitution marks the next stage in Symes's fall from grace. A legal conflict between the family of the dealer’s Greek partner, the late Christo Michaelides, led to the discovery of a vast collection of looted artefacts stored in nearly 30 facilities in London, New York and Switzerland. Symes was sentenced in 2005 for two years for contempt of court. A further investigation by Italian authorities in 2016 revealed that the dealer had hidden 45 crates of stolen Greek, Roman and Etruscan objects at the Geneva Freeport storage warehouse. Symes’s former company, Symes Ltd, is currently being liquidated....
....MUCH MORE
Previously on the Geneva Freeport:
- "(Sm)art Investing: Rich Move Assets from Banks to Warehouses" ($4 trillion in 'treasure' assets)
- Super Wealth: Barron's Penta Calls For Avoidance Of Geneva-style Freeports
- Art (and money laundering): Swiss Government's Tough New Controls On Freeports Effective January 1
- Big Money: What Geneva’s Art King Lost in Battle with Russian Billionaire
- "The Bouvier Affair: How an art-world insider made a fortune by being discreet"
And many more. If interested see also Zürich's and Luxembourg's freeports, search box upper left.
The Day the Mesozoic Died
So bye-bye Mr. Brontosaurii....
(yes, yes, double i pronunciation in Latin, and Apatosaurus rather than Brontosaurus but work with me people;
five, six, seven, eight: "A long, long time ago I can still remember....")
