2014 Blogging Archaeology eBook

(Chippindale et al. 2001). The second study was prompted by a NewYork based dealer who had suggested that the Cycladic study wasatypical and unrepresentative (Eisenberg 1995). We therefore focussedon a series of European and North American private collections ofantiquities (e.g. Shelby White and Leon Levy; Barbara and LawrenceFleischman; George Ortiz) and their display in public exhibitions(Chippindale and Gill 2000).The Medici ConspiracyIn 1997 our research took on a new emphasis. Journalist Peter Watsonpublished a revealing study of the way that antiquities had beenhandled by Sotheby’s in London (Watson 1997; see also Gill 1997). Theresulting investigation led to the raid on premises at the Geneva Freeportowned by the Italian dealer Giacomo Medici. This resulted in the seizureof a large dossier of Polaroid photographs showing objects that hadpassed through the Swiss market. Further investigations by the Italianauthorities revealed the cordata or network of diggers, middlemen,dealers, collectors, auction houses and museums. Watson and CeciliaTodeschini published a dossier of the evidence in The Medici Conspiracy(Watson and Todeschini 2006). Further revelations from theseinvestigations have appeared (Silver 2009; Felch and Frammolino 2011).The Polaroid photographs had allowed the identification of largenumbers of antiquities that had been acquired by public and privatecollections in Europe, Japan and North America (for an overview Gill2010e). In the autumn of 2006 Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts announcedthat it would be returning 13 antiquities to Italy. The museum published alist of the objects along with the full collecting histories showing how theitems had passed through the market. We made a study of this firstreturn, exploring the different routes and individuals (Gill andChippindale 2006). Supporting material was posted on static websites.However things started to move more quickly. The J. Paul Getty Museumannounced that it would be returning a first batch of material, includingitems that had been acquired (by gift and by purchase) from New Yorkcollectors Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman, two of the subjects of ourearlier study (Gill and Chippindale 2007; see also Exhibition catalogueBlogging Archaeology Page 45