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2014 Blogging Archaeology eBook

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eluctant to withdraw lots, even when information was passed to theItalian authorities and formal government requests were made.Bonhams also continued to offer objects that could be identifiedfrom the archives. One of the items was a Roman sculpture of a youth,apparently offered by a Spanish collector (or at least a vendor whocame under Spanish legal jurisdiction) in the April 2010 auction. It soonbecame clear that there was a wider debate about whether or notobjects had been identified by the Art Loss Register and whether theauction-house had acted on that information. In the case of the statue itwas claimed that the Italian government had no continuing claim; theItalians felt that this was not completely true (Gill and Tsirogiannis 2011).The case served to raise fundamental questions about the due diligenceprocess conducted prior to sales and the ability of the Art Loss Register toadvise appropriately in the case of potentially recently looted antiquities.The appearance of objects from the Polaroids on the marketbecame clear when Tsirogiannis identified 16 objects that were beingoffered by a New York dealer in early 2011. Some of the objects werediscussed on “Looting Matters” and the dossier of information with detailsof the collecting histories was passed to the Italian authorities. The dealercontinued to offer the objects, although it was unclear how potentialpurchasers reacted.Much of the focus has been on the Medici Dossier. However itemsfrom the archive of Gianfranco Becchina (and seized in Basel,Switzerland) allowed the identification of key objects acquired by theMichael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University. The report was broken byGreek journalist Nikolas Zirganos and a request for their return made bythe Hellenic authorities. Pertinent questions about the objects wereasked through “Looting Matters” although at the time of writing thepieces remain in Georgia (Gill 2009e).Pot Fragments and Museum CuratorsOne of the most controversial announcements was the return to Italyof a number of fragmentary pots from a New York private collector (Gill2012a). The fragments were reported to be linked to pots that had<strong>Blogging</strong> <strong>Archaeology</strong> Page 49

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