Reflecting on Seized Antiquities from 2009

In 2009 three antiquities were seized from a single New York auction-house: one just prior to the sale, and two subsequent to it (after being sold for c. $120,000). The auction-house co-operated fully in 2009 and subsequently stated (over the later seizure) that "the transparency of the public auction system combined with the efforts from the U.S. ICE and foreign governments, in this matter, led to the identification of two stolen artifacts".

Earlier this month (May 2010) the same spokeswoman stated that "we do not sell works that we have reason to believe are stolen".

Presumably any objects that have parallel collecting histories ("provenances") to those seized in 2009 will be dealt with in a similar fashion.

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Two of the pieces reported to have been seized in New York during 2009 [ICE].

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