The Manhattan District Attorney’s office recently announced the return of 29 antiquities to Greece, estimated to be worth a total of $3 million.
The objects were seized by the office’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit as part of “ongoing investigations into multiple looting and trafficking networks, including those run by convicted traffickers Robin Symes and Eugene Alexander,” according to a press release on October 10. Notably, two of of the items were seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art this year.
The items include a Bronze Foot in the Form of a Sphinx, and Bronze Applique of a Gorgon, both from the 6th century B.C.E.
Bronze Foot in the Form of a Sphinx depicts a siren, counter to its name. The item first appeared in the collection of a trafficker who then sold it to now-convicted art dealer Robin Symes, who then sold it to a private collector, who then donated it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2000. The Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan DA’s office seized the Bronze Foot from the museum this year.
Bronze Applique of a Gorgon, “depicts a running mythological Gorgon and would originally have been attached to a bronze vessel”, according to a press release from the Manhattan DA’s office. The Bronze Applique of a Gorgon first appeared with antiquities trafficker Robert Hecht, who then sold it to the New York art gallery Fortuna Fine Arts, whose owners were arrested by the FBI in September 2020 after being indicted in federal court for fraud.
“Fortuna then falsely claimed that the Gorgon came from William Froelich, a name frequently used by Fortuna and other galleries in its false provenance,” said the press release. Bronze Applique of a Gorgon was then sold to a private collector, who loaned it with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it was seized this year.
“These 29 extraordinary pieces were recovered thanks to the hard work of our prosecutors and analysts,” District Attorney Bragg said in a press statement. “The impact of these significant trafficking networks are still felt in New York, and we will continue to work alongside our partners around the globe to return stolen objects.”
The investigations were conducted by Chief of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit and Senior Trial Counsel Matthew Bogdanos; Investigative Analysts Charlotte Looram and Michael Chapin; District Attorney Investigator John Paul Labbat; and Special Agents Robert Mancene and Robert Fromkin of Homeland Security Investigations. Investigative support was provided by Elena Vlachogianni and Vasiliki Papageorgiou of the Directorate of Documentation and Protection of Cultural Goods of Greece’s Ministry of Culture.
