At the forthcoming auction no. 260 of Gorny & Mosch in Munich, scheduled to take place on December 18, 2018, are going to be auctioned six antiquities that have been already identified by Dr. Christos Tsirogiannis as deriving from G. Becchina, when these antiquities were on sale at Christie’s (twice, in London, April 15, 2015…
Dr. Christos Tsirogiannis, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Arts, Museum of Ancient Art, University of Aarhus, identified again two objects connected to Symes, Becchina and Medici in the upcoming antiquity auctions of Christie’s and Sotheby’s. Aphrodite’s head from the confiscated Symes and Michaelides archive (Sotheby’s, Lot 17, Auction December 4, 2018, London) Although this image…
From The Art Newspaper 14th November 201, by Anna Somers Cocks Nineteen of the accused in Operation Demetra face trial in December, while the alleged UK mastermind awaits extradition At a meeting about the looting of cultural heritage held in the British embassy in Rome in October, General Fabrizio Parrulli of the Comando Carabinieri per la…
Edek Osser, da Il Giornale dell’Arte numero 391, novembre 2018 Aarhus (Danimarca). Si chiama Christos Tsirogiannis, è un archeologo e storico dell’arte greco di 45 anni, laureato ad Atene e con un dottorato in Archeologia forense a Cambridge. Oggi insegna all’Università di Aarhus, in Danimarca. È un cacciatore di tesori archeologici illegali. La sua arma…
From Montreal Gazette, November 4, 2018 Italy’s populist government is to introduce tough new penalties for art and antiquities crimes as it aims to crack down on cultural theft as part of its nationalist agenda. The announcement comes after several high-profile restitutions of antiquities taken to London and New York and recovered only after being…
From The Antiquities Coalition, November 5, 2018. The Illicit Art Trade From plundering during the Crusades to Napoleon’s loot of Egypt, antiquities have long been symbols of worldliness and status. In today’s world, antiquities have become go-to investments for art consumers and market speculators. However, individuals with certain statuses, including those blacklisted and on sanctions…
From the art-crime.blogspot.com; published October 24, 2018. Following a formal request by the Deputy Prosecutor for the District Anti-Mafia Directorate Carlo Marzella, preliminary reexamination judge of of the Court of Palermo, Antonella Consiglio, has dismissed the charge of mafia association against the Castelvetrano antiquities dealer Gianfranco Becchina. In her decision, the judge cited that the accusations used for the…
The amphora as from the Symes-Michaelides archive. New York. Christie’s announced an amphora to be auctioned which passed through the hands of Symes-Michaelides, as proven by images from their confiscated archive (see images on the right), as was reported by forensic archaeologist Dr. Christos Tsirogiannis. The amphora will be auctioned at Christie’s, in New York,…
ARCA is accepting early applications for its “19th postgraduate certificate program in art crime & cultural heritage protection“. Travel to Italy, stay for a summer. Study Art, Antiquities, & Culture CRIME from experts in the field. Applications are now being accepted for ARCA 2019 November 30, 2018 – Early Application Deadline January 30, 2019 – General Application…
Written by Anna Brady for The Art Newspaper on August 31, 2018 Swiss prosecutor returns 5,000 seized antiquities. A further 6,000 items belonging to Ali Aboutaam of Phoenix Ancient Art are still held by authorities in Geneva A court in Geneva has released around 5,000 antiquities belonging to Ali Aboutaam of Phoenix Ancient Art which…
EAA-Committee on the Illicit Trade in Cultural Material 