Countering

Augustin Lazăr
the Romanian National History Museum in Bucharest.
After repatriation, the artifact was examined by Romanian experts who concluded
that ‘the presented piece is a gold bracelet having more than one spiral pertaining to a
category of typically Dacian jewelry […] dating back to the 1 st century BC’ and that it can
be ‘considered a token of Dacian royal rank’ (Babes, Marinescu and Trohani 2007). It also
stipulated that ‘as it is an original and comes from the Romanian territory, the examined
bracelet is included in the national cultural heritage inventory, classified as treasure’
for ‘bracelet no. 5, although exhibiting all the characteristics of the Dacian bracelets,
distinguishes itself from the other 4 through its higher gold title as well as through an
elaborate decorating style’ (Meyers in Hunedoara County Court, file no. 41/97/2005).
February 2007, New York, USA. Upon finding out the true origin of the bracelet pair
weighing 683 grams, a New York firm notified the Romanian judicial agencies, providing
them with the pictures, invoices and an expertise report of both bracelets. The expertise
report performed by a well known Los Angeles expert revealed the fact that the two
pieces were original Thracian bracelets, made out of natural 22 karat gold: ‘the execution
technique is consistent with the methods used to create ancient jewelry items’, and
‘the combined technical indications, including those pertaining to the composition of
common alluvial gold elements, the forging technique and the characteristics of the
surface are consistent with the suggested creation date’ (Meyers 2005).
The bracelet was examined by Dr Barbara Deppert, a Frankfurt-based expert, from
whence it was recovered, upon confirmation of its origin through an international
assistance request by Romanian judicial authorities. Pursuant to Article 4 of the
Convention on Stolen or Illegally exported Cultural Objects signed in Rome on 24
June, 1995, ratified by Romania through the Law 149/1997, the Ministry of Culture, as
a representative of the rightful owner, the Romanian State, paid the fair and reasonable
compensation to W. & Co, which was in fact the amount the firm had paid to purchase
the items. In order to retrieve the paid compensation, precautionary measures regarding
the goods of the concerned individuals were taken.
On 2 August 2007, the pair-bracelet was remanded in custody of the Romanian
National History Museum. The subsequent expertise led to the following conclusions: i)the
execution technique and the bracelet’s decorative art (i.e. bracelet no. 9) are consistent with
those of the Dacian silver bracelets from the 2 nd and the 1 st centuries BC, as well as those
of other Dacian or Geto-Dacian jewelry discovered in Romania, ii) they were therefore
undoubtedly crafted under the guidance of the same craftsman: ‘the objects subjected to
expertise (i.e. bracelet no. 9) are original Dacian jewelry items from the 2 nd and the 1 st
centuries BC’ (Constantinescu, Niculescu and Oberländer-Târnoveanu 2007: 6).
The subsequent reconstitution of the track the bracelets revealed the surprising fact
that the two artifacts had been stolen in August 1999, from a small terrace overlooking
the sacred area of the Sarmizegetusa Regia fortress (the coordinates of the poacher
hole are established in the research report) and by the year 2001 the items were already
monetized at the USA firm X LLC. On 27 December 2002, the pieces were examined
by a Los Angeles expert, who confirmed their authenticity in his expertise report. With
invoice no. 1439/7 of May 2004, issued by X LLC, the manager sold a 683 grams bracelet
to a New York firm for $40,000. The second bracelet, weighing 764 grams, was sent to the
same firm to be sold on consignment for $45,000 and, as it remained without a buyer, it
was sent back to the manager on 21 February 2005. He sold the bracelet in August 2006
to the New York firm for $30,000 and the piece was exhibited for sale at the Biennial
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