acroliths

However, the New York Times reported in September that New York diamond merchant and philanthropist Maurice Tempelsman previously owned the acroliths.

Archive 2008-01-01 Jan 2008

Tempelsman bought the acroliths from the London dealer for $1 million, the newspaper reported, adding that there is no indication that Tempelsman knew they had a potentially shady origin.

Archive 2008-01-01 Jan 2008

But after an Italian prosecutor notified the museum that they were possibly illegally excavated, the acroliths were returned to Tempelsman.

Archive 2008-01-01 Jan 2008

Following the event - which will feature discussions on museum ethics, the antiquities market and archaeological preservation - members of the Italian police, called carabinieri, will escort the acroliths back to Italy.

Archive 2008-01-01 Jan 2008

The return of the acroliths is especially appropriate, Bell said, because the myths of Demeter and Persephone both involved themes of traveling and returning.

Archive 2008-01-01 Jan 2008

Since their discovery in 1978, the two acroliths have traveled the world via the black market of looted antiquities.

Archive 2008-01-01 Jan 2008

According to a report in Forbes magazine, the Italian government began negotiating with Tempelsman in the 1990s for the return of the acroliths.

Archive 2008-01-01 Jan 2008

In the case of five big-ticket items (a Song Dynasty head, Morgantina acroliths, Euphronius krater, Achyris phiale, and Marsyas statue), where we know the initial payout and the final price, middlemen received 98% of the money.

Stealing History 2000

Last year the Aidone Archaeological Museum became the permanent home to two archaic acroliths statues usually made with wooden trunks but stone heads and extremities that had also been looted from Morgantina.

NYT > Global Home By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO 2010

Last year the Aidone Archaeological Museum became the permanent home to two archaic acroliths statues usually made with wooden trunks but stone heads and extremities that had also been looted from Morgantina.

NYT > Home Page By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO 2010