Christie's Withdraws Suspect Lots 36 and 70 from April 12 Antiquities Auction. Lot 9 sold.

ARCA has been informed that Christie's New York has withdrawn Lot 36: a Greek black-glazed hydria, with an estimate of $8,000 - $12,000 

as well as Lot 70: a Roman marble janiform Herm head, with an estimate of $40,000 - $60,000  from today's antiquities auction in New York.  

The two potentially looted pieces had previously been identified by Dr. Christos Tsirogiannis and was elaborated upon in ARCA's blog here. 

Photographs of the specific objects were found among the confiscated archival records of two antiquities dealers Giacomo Medici and Gianfranco Becchina both of whom have been implicated for illicitly trafficking in Italian antiquities. 

A third identified item, Lot 9: A Roman stone mosaic panel, with an estimate of $200,000 - $300,000  remained up for auction bidding and sold today for $545,000. 

Given its less than complete collection history, it proves yet again that antiquities buyers are not yet prepared to ask auction houses tough questions prior to purchasing, forcing the art market to treat sourced antiquities like diamond buyers do blood diamonds.  Questions like does the auction house guarantee that this object was sourced ethically and does the auction house know every step of the object's journey from initial discovery through to final auction.