Thursday, January 25, 2018 -
antiquities,Christie's,Christos Tsirogiannis,Edward Merrin,Guennol Stargazer,Harmon Fine Arts,Leonard Norman Stern,Medici Dossier,Michael Steinhardt,Samuel Merrin,Steinhardt
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January 24, 2018: New seizure at the residence of New York Collector Michael Steinhardt
A little more than two weeks ago, following a second set of seizures at the residence and office of Michael Steinhardt in New York City, ARCA wrote a blog post outlining other antiquities from the billionaire's private collection that have raised concerns with illicit trafficking researchers.
One of those objects was this marble Female Idol of the Ozieri Culture from Sardinia.
Image Credit: Manhattan district attorney's office |
This idol was seized on January 24, 2018 during the execution of a new search warrant carried out by law enforcement authorities working with the Manhattan District Attorney and HSI. The artifact was removed from Steinhardt's New York City residence.
Three years earlier, on November 21, 2014, Christos Tsirogiannis identified this marble artifact, dating from 2500-2000 B.C.E. when it came up for auction as part of Christie's December 11, 2014 sales event. Listed as Lot 85 in the New York sale, the idol had an estimated bid price of $800,000 to $1,200,000 USD.
Image Credit: ARCA Screen Capture |
Tsirogiannis had matched the antiquity online via Christie's web version of its sale catalog to a photo contained in the confiscated archives of antiquities dealer Giacomo Medici. Having made the ID, Tsirogiannis emailed his concerns to US Federal law enforcement and Italian law enforcement authorities working towards eventual repatriation should Italy file a claim. Additionally he notified ARCA, in hopes of drawing further attention to potentially trafficked pieces that often resurface on the licit market but which omit passages through the hands of known dealers involved in the sale of illicit objects.
The sales catalog for the Christies auction is stored online here, although the photo of the idol has subsequently been removed from the object's accompanying Lot description. Of note is the addition of a brief entry into the "Cataloguing & details" section of the listing, which states only that the object was withdrawn from the sale.
The artifact above matches perfectly with the image below which Tsirogiannis located in the dealer's archive. In the art dealer's records the statuette appeared atop a turquoise background and broken in multiple pieces, prior to the object's subsequent restoration.
The sales catalog for the Christies auction is stored online here, although the photo of the idol has subsequently been removed from the object's accompanying Lot description. Of note is the addition of a brief entry into the "Cataloguing & details" section of the listing, which states only that the object was withdrawn from the sale.
The artifact above matches perfectly with the image below which Tsirogiannis located in the dealer's archive. In the art dealer's records the statuette appeared atop a turquoise background and broken in multiple pieces, prior to the object's subsequent restoration.
Image of the Sardinian idol from the Medici archive |
On November 27, 2014 when the contested object was pulled from the Christie's auction, it apparently was sent back to Steinhardt, where it was later re-identified as still being part of Steinhardt's collection when officers searched his New York City home on January 5, 2018 pursuant to an earlier search warrant.
By: Lynda Albertson
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