Posted on: June 10, 2022 by Alexander Herman
“I’m confident in saying there will be more seizures and more prosecutions arising out of this investigation…” Those were the words of Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos, speaking to Ben Lewis last year on the Art Bust podcast. He was referring to an antiquities trafficking ring he’d uncovered that had been dealing in artefacts smuggled […]
Posted on: April 14, 2020 by Charlotte Dunn
The Museum of the Bible has been a site of continual controversy since its opening in November 2017. The issues it has faced range from alleged thefts and forgeries to the illicit trade in antiquities. More than anything else, the Museum’s difficulties have demonstrated the importance of careful provenance research before acquiring artefacts for a […]
Posted on: July 26, 2019 by Julia Rodrigues Casella Hommes
Earlier this month, controversy surrounded one particular lot in the ‘The Exceptional Sale’ at Christie’s in London. The object of the controversy was ‘An Egyptian Brown Quartzite Head of the God Amen with the features of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen’, dated to the Reign of Tutankhamen, c. 1333-1323 BC, New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty. The lot (no. 110) […]
Posted on: March 8, 2016 by Emily Gould
There is rarely a dull moment in the long-running saga of the Sekhemka statue, the rare Egyptian Old Kingdom sculpture controversially sold by Northampton Borough Council for £15.76 million in 2014. The piece had been displayed at the Northampton Museum and was sold by the Council to raise funds, incurring the wrath of the […]
Posted on: August 12, 2015 by Alexander Herman
The famous Sekhemka statue is in the news again. This is the Egyptian Old Kingdom sculpture thought to represent a court official that had once been in the possession of Northampton Borough Council and displayed at the Northampton Museum. The statue sold at auction last year for £15.76 million, but not before garnering controversy on a number […]
Posted on: October 2, 2014 by Alexander Herman
The nearly 4,000 year old Harageh treasure of Egypt was withdrawn today at the last minute from an antiquities auction held at Bonhams in London. The treasure consists of 37 pieces from the Middle Kingdom’s 12th Dynasty (1897-1878 BC) found within the burial tomb of an elite woman from that period. The treasure had been excavated […]
Posted on: September 5, 2014 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper
Yesterday’s Acts of Grace seminar on the voluntary return of cultural property was held at the historic Church of St Olave in Hart Street, a jewel amidst the bustle of London’s City. Papers were presented by a variety of speakers on a variety of topics. They were as follows: The colourful story of St Olave’s by Reverend […]
Posted on: December 15, 2013 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper
The Egyptian Antiquities Ministry has announced that a priceless statuette of the sister of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun has been found in Cairo, though few details as to precisely how it came to be recovered have been released. The statuette, which was the highlight of the museum in the city of Mallawi (near the archaeological remains […]