From the Italian Press: Major Bust in Italy
Not sure if this will get coverage in English or not … from Il Tempo: Sono 70 gli indagati nell’inchiesta condotta dai Carabinieri del Nucleo tutela patrimonio culturale di Cosenza che ha consentito di recuperare 17mila reperti archeologici. Le investigazioni hanno preso spunto dall’individuazione di un personaggio della provincia di Crotone, abitualmente dedito alla illecita [...]
Bulgarian Bust Followup: It Ain’t Aphrodite
One of the things we posted t’other day detailed the bust of a smuggling ring in Bulgaria who/which had in its possession a two-metre sculpture of Aphrodite. Today Novinite suggests there are questions about that identification: The 2-meter antique statue, which was found buried in the back yard of a Bulgarian village house belonging to [...]
Bits of the ‘Lava Treasure’ Recovered by French Police
From Reuters: French police said on Wednesday they had seized a significant portion of an ancient Roman treasure that was discovered more than two decades ago by Corsican divers who became rich by secretly selling it off. The seizure is the latest chapter in the exploits of a then young Corsican and two friends who [...]
A Major Bulgarian Bust
From the Sofia News Agency … it would be nice to have photos of some of this stuff: Bulgarian police have shattered a crime group trafficking archaeological finds, including breath-taking items such as 2-meter marble statue of Aphrodite. The organized crime group carried out illegal archaeological digs at the ancient Roman city of Ulpia Oescus [...]
Questionable Antiquities in Madrid
Way back when the ‘museum case’ was just getting under way I wondered why the focus seemed to be only on American museums … now, it appears, with the trial of Gianfranco Becchina commencing, European museums might be coming into view. Here’s a very interesting item on same from the Art Newspaper: Madrid’s National Archaeological [...]
Another Bulgarian Bust … Coins This Time
I’m always curious what happens to the artifacts ‘after’ … A young Bulgarian in possession of 130 ancient coins was stopped on the Greece-Turkey border, police in the north-eastern Greek city of Komotini announced today. Intercepted at the border crossing in the town of Kastanies yesterday, the man – whose identity has not been revealed, [...]
Purloined Kouroi Recovered
Kouros-style marble statues, dated to the 6th century BC, are displayed on Tuesday at the National Archaeological Museum in central Athens. The priceless artifacts were recovered by authorities three days ago during a sting operation in the Corinth prefecture of southern Greece, and specifically near the village of Klenia, which is located in vicinity of [...]
Another Bulgarian Bust
Bulgarian police have captured a number of invaluable archaeological finds in a police operation in Sofia and the eastern town of Stara Zagora. The operation was carried out by the Unit for Combating the Traffic of Cultural and Historical Items of the main directorate for fighting organized crime (GDBOP), the police directorate in the city [...]
Bust in Sparta
Vague details, as often: Two local men were arrested on antiquities smuggling charges on Monday in the southern Peloponnese town of Sparta, after authorities discovered a cache of particular valuable objects in the pair’s possession, including a bronze Kouros-like statuette. Four ancient coins and precious stone weighing in at more than 500 grams were also [...]
Robin Symes Fallout
This one doesn’t seem to have received as much coverage as I thought it would … from the CBC: Italian authorities and antiquities experts are upset the British government is allowing the sale of about 1,000 artifacts allegedly stolen from Italy in order to pay the debts of a bankrupt collector. The items are from [...]
Bust in Ancona
Brief item from MSN Italia about a criminal who apparently had a thing for weapons and archaeology: Una vera e propria santabarbara, che comprendeva anche un proiettile anticarro della seconda guerra mondiale, e’ stata scoperta dai carabinieri a Sassoferrato (Ancona). Arrestato S.V., 37 anni, del luogo, un operaio con l’evidente passione per le armi e [...]
Another Bust in Thessaloniki
The Thessaloniki Police Antiquities Smuggling department on Sunday announced that it had successfully busted a ring of illegal antiquities traders, who were negotiating with antiquities-trading circuits for the sale of important archaeological finds for very large sums of money. Police said that an investigation lasting several months had culminated last Friday with the arrest of [...]
A Bust in Lebanon Nets a Sarcophagus
No photos, alas … The Lebanese Antiquities Department received on Monday a rare sarcophagus and other antique items confiscated from the house of a sheikh in Baalbek. The judicial police found the antiquities last Wednesday at the house of Sheikh Mohammad Jaafar Suleiman al-Mohajer, who was believed to have dug them out illegally and kept [...]
Knidos an Illegal Excavation Target
The ancient city of Knidos, located near the resort town of Datça on the Aegean, has become the target of illegal excavations and treasure hunters. The gendarmerie station in the 2,600-year-old city is closed in the winter months, and security is provided by two watchmen. The police and gendarmerie forces caught treasure hunters near the [...]
Today’s Bust in Italy
Operazione ‘Kore’, as it’s been dubbed, has recovered a number of votive figures of the goddess (among other things) in Caltanissetta. Here’s the beginning of a list of same from Corriere di Gela: La Squadra Mobile della Questura di Caltanissetta, nell’ambito di mirate indagini su un vasto traffico di reperti archeologici, iniziate su input del [...]
The Priestess of Boscoreale Returns
The skinny: a Roman second style painting of a priestess which was stolen from the villa of Asellius at Pompeii (some time prior to 1997) turned up at Christie’s in New York. Here’s the incipit: Tornerà a Pompei l’affresco con la sacerdotessa, recuperato a New York, presso la casa d’aste Christie’s, dai Carabinieri del Reparto [...]
Bust in Syracuse
They were selling the stuff on the Internet … Monete di diverse epoche e altri reperti archeologici, tutti frutto di scavi clandestini, erano messi in vendita sul web. A scoprire il traffico di reperti su internet sono stati i carabinieri del nucleo tutela patrimonio culturale di Siracusa che hanno effettuato quattro perquisizioni domiciliari, denunciando altrettante [...]
Smuggling Ring on Cyprus Busted
From AFP: Cyprus authorities said on Monday they had uncovered the island’s largest ever antiquities smuggling ring trying to sell stolen artefacts for 11.5 million euros (S$22.8 million). Ten Cypriots have been detained in custody while authorities have issued arrest warrants against five other suspects – including a Syrian – in connection with the case, [...]
Another Bust in Greece
The incipit of an item (with not much more information) from AP via CP: Greek police say they have seized ancient statuettes and an engraved tombstone after a sting operation foiled an attempt to smuggle antiquities. Authorities arrested three Greeks who allegedly negotiated the sale of the items to an undercover officer from the police’s [...]
Antonine-era Imperial Statue Found!
… in the courtyard of a condominium development in the Fuorigrotta neighbourhood of Naples! The carabinieri were in a ‘race against time’ to find the item, apparently originally found in the 1930s and destined for the black market, of course. Here’s the coverage from Libero: Una statua in marmo bianco raffigurante un imperatore di epoca [...]
Crime Beat: Bust in Olbia
La Guardia di Finanza di Olbia ha trovato in casa di un 50enne del posto undici reperti di ”interesse archeologico” di probabile epoca Romana. L’uomo ha recuperato il materiale durante una battuta di pesca subacquea, ed è stato denunciato alla Procura della Repubblica di Tempio Pausania. Nell’ambito dell’operazione denominata dai finanzieri ”Cocci di Natale”, sono [...]
Miriam Papyrus
As I work through the last of the end-of-school backlog, the quarry thing (next item) reminded me of this very interesting (especially as regards the dating) papyrus which border police in Israel seized about a month ago. An excerpt from the IAA press release: The document is written in ancient Hebrew script, which is characteristic [...]
Gela Shipwreck?
This is another one from the Italian press which I’ve been hoping would get some notice in the English press, but it doesn’t appear that that will be happening. The Carabinieri have been diving in the sea near Caltanisetta to recover assorted archaeological items which appear to be associated with several periods and several (?) [...]
Mithras in the News
A couple of items of interest relating to the worship of Mithras. First, remains of a Mithraeum have been found in Iraq’s Duhok province. Here’s the incipit of a piece (ultimately from Bloomberg, it turns out) in St. Louis Today: A temple built by followers of Mithraism, a mystery cult that flourished throughout the Roman [...]
Criminalita from the Italian Press
I’ve got a major backlog of items from Italian sources, so I’ve decided to break them up a bit and treat all the ‘busts’ in a single post — besides being an organizational principle, it does highlight how the marketing of illicit antiquities continues to be a major problem in Italy, despite recent successes (some [...]
