Officers working with Spain's Policía Nacional have recovered a collection of Scythian, Greek craftsmanship VIII-IVth century BCE gold jewellery.  The pieces, which consist mainly of necklaces and earrings, had been fenced by a criminal network involved in the sale of Ukraine-sourced antiquities via a web of sales transactions, at least one of which was identified in Madrid.   

According to statements released by Spain's National Police, the jewellery had previously been exhibited in an unnamed Kyiv museum between 2009-2013.  While the museum was not mentioned in the law enforcement press release, one of the striking pieces was fairly easy to recognise, which has helped identify at least one public showing of several of the now-seized pieces.  

The piece we first recognised is a striking openwork royal chest decoration, made up of four strands of woven gold, depicting images of animals and plants.  The object is similar to the famous Mozolevsky pectoral, found in 1971 in the Tolstaya Mogila mound near Ordzhonikidze.  This one however is stated to have possibly come from Kul-oba, a burial mound of a Scythian leader, discovered in 1830 near Kerch, Crimea which was partially looted prior to formal excavations. 

This recovered pectoral, a second container for storing aromatic oils decorated with carnelian stones, a pair of the earrings, a pin, and a collar necklace all match objects which have been part of an exhibition entitled “From the Depths” which was held at the then unfinished Mystetskyi Arsenal Museum on Mazepa Street in Kiev.  

Along with unique exhibits from state museums, the exhibition included a grouping of gold jewellery from the private museum collection "Rodovid", and were registered with the Ministry of Culture with inventory numbers. None of these items could be sold or taken out of Ukraine (unless their export was authorised for a  exhibition loan).

The seized jewellery is believed to have been smuggled illegally out of Ukraine on/around 2016.  Police have indicated that the confiscated cultural assets had been shopped with forged ownership documents which claimed that the jewellery was the legal property of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.  To assist in carrying out this ruse, the objects were marketed through a priest who is reported to live in the Spanish capital.

For the present, all of the recovered  pieces are being studied at the National Archaeological Museum and the Cultural Heritage Institute of Spain.

By: Lynda Albertson