The return of 200 antiques worth $10 million to Italy and 100 stolen artifacts to Pakistan was revealed by a New York prosecutor on Wednesday, marking the latest stolen artworks discovered by US investigators.
The works include “Pithos with Ulysses,” a ceramic jar from the 7th Century B.C.E., and “A Head of a Maiden,” a terracotta image of a goddess from the 4th Century B.C.E.
150 of the artifacts were tied to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s inquiry into Edoardo Almagia, he added.
He was an antiquities merchant from Italy who left the United States in 2003.
Almagia was investigated in Italy for trafficking and selling plundered items to American buyers, according to Vance, but he is still at large.
100 of the repatriated artworks were seized from the Fordham Museum of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Art in New York, according to Vance.
Since August 2020, the New York district attorney’s office has returned over 70 antiques to 14 countries, including about 30 relics to Cambodia, 100 stolen artifacts to Pakistan, and nearly 250 objects to India.
Also read: A US billionaire returns stolen antiques worth $70 million to Pakistan and other countries
Vance reported earlier this month that notable US art collector and billionaire philanthropist Michael Steinhardt had returned 180 stolen objects of art and antiquities worth $70 million from throughout the world, including some from ancient Greece.
The move let the 80-year-old avoid prosecution and trial for the time being, but it also barred him from buying antiques on the legal art market for the rest of his life.
