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At a press conference in Rome this week, Italy’s Ministry of Culture showcased 60 returned antiquities recently returned by US authorities.
The work, reportedly worth $20 million, included 21 allegedly looted items seized last year from the Metropolitan Museum of Art by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Artifacts included a circa 200 BC marble head (valued at $3 million) and a 5th century BC cup (valued at $1.5 million).
Most of the items were taken from the collection of Michael Steinhardt, a hedge fund manager and former antiques collector with a net worth of $1.2 billion.
Questions about Steinhardt’s vast antiquities collection first arose in 1997, when he was ordered by a U.S. federal judge to return $1 million in gold plates to Italy.
In December 2021, Steinhardt, a former trustee of New York University, turned over 180 looted antiquities worth $70 million from 11 countries to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office after a four-year investigation. . Steinhardt was never charged, but was banned from acquiring his antiques for the rest of his life.
“For decades, Michael Steinhardt has been looted without caring about the legality of his actions, the legitimacy of the works he bought or sold, or the profound cultural damage he caused around the world. It showed a ravenous appetite for artifacts,” said District Sai Vance, an attorney at the time, in a statement.
Antiquities from Steinhardt’s collection were subsequently repatriated to Turkey, Iraq, Bulgaria, Palestine, Egypt and Greece.
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