PARKES, Australia – The King of Rock is alive and well in a rural Australian town, where more than 15,000 Elvis fans and impersonators attended an annual Elvis festival. Had he lived, Elvis Presley would have celebrated his 77th birthday on January 8th.
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Konstantin Kryzhitsky (Russian, 1858-1911), painted this forest scene that measures 41 inches by 27 1/4 inches. The oil on canvas from a private Dallas collection sold for $24,570. Image courtesy of Kaminski Auctions. BEVERLY, Mass. – Kaminski Auctions of closed out 2011 with a very successful two-day evening pre-New Year’s Eve auction, which was held Dec. 28-29. A large audience in the gallery, over 300 phone bids and several hundred registered bidders on the Internet kept staffers busy.
The first lot of the night set the tone of the evening as a bronze horse sculpture on a wooden base with marble inlay, after Leonardo da Vinci, rose to $15,500 with five phone lines to Italy, and lively Internet bidding. The piece from a Madison Avenue gallery bankruptcy was one of several from the gallery that topped all estimates.
The phone lines to Italy were busy all evening as the same five bidders vied for all lots with Italian provenance from the Madison Avenue gallery. A bronze and lead ancient Roman water spout in the shape of a lioness and labeled Giovanni Pisano estimated at $200-$300 sold for $6,500, while an ancient alabaster Roman head of a woman with the same estimate sold for $5,500. A Neapolitan Madonna and child reliquary, in painted terra-cotta sold for $6,500, while an antique Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist, oil on canvas after Botticelli sold for $5,500.
Surprisingly, though, the top lot of the sale was a Tiffany & Co. circus set of enameled silver from the Robert Peterson estate of San Diego that reached a hammer price of $26,000. The set contained 17 highly detailed circus animals and performers with the largest being 13 inches high.
Everyone anxiously watched as a 1906 Model 7 Holsman horseless carriage, a two-cylinder highwheeler, featured in the sale sold for $20,000 to a bidder in Australia. It will be the only Holsman in a private collection in the country, as the only other one in Australia is in a museum. The Holsman was advertised with the motto” High Wheels Travel All Roads Because All Roads Are Made To Be Traveled By High Wheels.”
“The Holsman Model 7’s body and motor were in remarkably good condition, with some repair needed to the seat. The rope drive has been upgraded with an automatic oiler at the time of manufacture and the paint is believed to be original,” said auctioneer Frank Kaminski.
Several Russian paintings did particularly well in the sale. A forest scene, oil on canvas by Konstantin Kryzhitsky (Russian 1858-1922) from a private collection in Dallas estimated at $6,000-$8,000 sold for $21,000. Another landscape, oil on wood by Feodor Vailyev (Russian 1850-1873), sold for $14,000. A view of Amalfi by Georgi Lapchin (Russian/French) oil on canvas sold for $5,000.
A landscape painting by Jean Baptiste-Camille Corot (French 1796-1875) from the estate of Broadway and Hollywood director Rouben Mamoulian (1897-1987) sold at the high auction estimate of $20,000.
Two Brian Coole paintings, oil on panel the first a scene of Boston Harbor in luminous light and the second of Gloucester Harbor each brought a hammer price of $3,250.
The Internet, audience and phones were alive with bidders the second evening of the sale as Kaminski had dozens of fantastic “Fortuny style” drapes, soft furnishings, light fixtures and furniture from a famous Copley Square, Boston hotel. The second half of the Copley sale, along with a Chinese collection will be sold along with their January Estate Sale scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 21-22 starting at 11 a.m. Eastern at their auction gallery at 117 Elliot St. Beverly, Mass. For details go to www.kaminskiauctions.com or call 978-927-2223.
Click here to view the fully illustrated catalog for this sale, complete with prices realized.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
Konstantin Kryzhitsky (Russian, 1858-1911), painted this forest scene that measures 41 inches by 27 1/4 inches. The oil on canvas from a private Dallas collection sold for $24,570. Image courtesy of Kaminski Auctions. 
A 17-piece circus set of enameled silver by Moore for Tiffany & Co. sold for $30,420. The largest piece was 13 inches tall. Image courtesy of Kaminski Auctions. 
The 1906 Holsman Model 7, a two-cylinder highwheeler horseless carriage, sold for $23,400 to a buyer from Australia. Image courtesy of Kaminski Auctions.
The top lot of the sale was this Waltham girandole (ornate banjo) clock, serial No. 1, which sold for $17,255. Image courtesy of Gordon S. Converse & Co. MALVERN, Pa. – A rare and important Waltham girandole clock, made around 1900 and with a serial number of 1, making it possibly the first of fewer than 50 made, sold for $17,255 at an auction held Dec. 28 by Gordon S. Converse & Co.
The Waltham timepiece was the top lot of the 400 or so items that changed hands in a sale that featured antique clocks, Asian objects, fine art, porcelain and antiques in an array of categories. The 48-inch-by-15-inch clock was made even more desirable by an unusual added thermometer in the throat. The condition of the clock and case was excellent throughout.
“Historically, collectors have paid premium prices for early 20th-century Waltham clocks because of their high quality and extreme rarity,” said Gordon Converse of Gordon S. Converse & Co., based in Strafford, Pa. “This Waltham clock came to us with an impeccable provenance, but it was the serial No. 1 that sparked a bidding frenzy. That only made collectors want it more.”
Converse said the crowd attending the auction was respectable but not overflowing, but Internet bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com was quite healthy, with over 600 registered online bidders. Phone and absentee bidding was also brisk. “It was one of our biggest sales ever, with stable, moderate prices, strong online interest and bidding in all of the categories,” he said.
Converse added, “There were good bargains for collectors of Asian antiques, which were supported by strong international interest and online bidding. There were also some good opportunities for clock collectors who were willing to pay reasonable prices for rare items. And LiveAuctioneers.com reported record numbers of online views for five of the top ten items sold.”
Following are additional highlights from the auction. All prices quoted include a 19 percent buyer’s premium.
Leading the Asian objects category was a display of various Chinese Imperial seals, all contained in a carved zitan box ($6,545). There was one large central seal, surrounded by 16 smaller seals, all incised with calligraphic writings. Also, a remarkably realistic miniature Japanese carved ivory peeled orange, or clementine, in polychrome, 1 1/2 inches tall, hit $5,950.
Several sets of porcelain panels, some of which may have been originally mounted onto furniture, were sold. One lot of two panels, bound in faux rosewood and measuring 36 inches by 6 1/4 inches, with each panel set off by carved and pierced panels showing the arts, rose to $1,130. Also, a pair of highly-viewed rosewood carved Chinese vase stands (circa 1840) fetched $3,273.
Clocks were the last items to be offered, but many bidders waited patiently throughout the entire sale just to vie for the treasures. A rare and important patented clock by the New Jersey clock maker Aaron Crane, featuring a torsion pendulum and running one year between windings, with a four-columns case, an etched glass pendulum glass door and white dial, garnered $6,545.
A pillar-and-scroll pendulum clock with a label identifying the maker as the renowned clock maker Seth Thomas, who bought the rights to Eli Terry’s patent in 1818, went for $5,474. The handsome timepiece featured the “off-center” wood geared clockworks and a second hand. It stood 29 inches tall by 16 1/2 inches wide, with brass urn finials.
Two large, Swiss-made pinwheel clocks came under the gavel. The first was a wall-mounted cased pinwheel timepiece, probably made by the New Haven Clock Co. (Conn.) around 1875. It breezed to $2,380. The other was a fine, dark mahogany, or rosewood, cased standing regulator. The 86-inch-tall, weight-driven timepiece with glazed door rose to $3,570.
Also, five Andrew Wyeth collotype prints, all signed by the artist, brought between $655 and $1,012 each.
Gordon S. Converse & Co.’s next big sale will be an Internet-only auction slated for Wednesday, Feb. 29. It will feature watches, Asian items and other merchandise. After that, a live-audience and online sale will be held sometime this spring (watch the website for details, at www.AuctionsatConverse.com). Gordon S. Converse & Co. plans to hold six auctions this year.
For details call Gordon S. Converse & Co. at (610) 722-9004 or email them at Gordon@ConverseClocks.com. Gordon Converse replies promptly to all e-mails.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
The top lot of the sale was this Waltham girandole (ornate banjo) clock, serial No. 1, which sold for $17,255. Image courtesy of Gordon S. Converse & Co. 
Important pillar and scroll clock with label identifying the maker as Seth Thomas, which sold for $5,474. Image courtesy of Gordon S. Converse & Co. 
Patented clock by Aaron Crane of New Jersey, featuring the torsion pendulum. Realized $6,545. Image courtesy of Gordon S. Converse & Co. 
Five Andrew Wyeth collotype prints, all signed, brought between $655 and $1,012 each. Image courtesy of Gordon S. Converse & Co. 
Chinese imperial seals, all incised with calligraphic writings, in a carved zitan box sold as a single lot for $6,545. Image courtesy of Gordon S. Converse & Co. 
Remarkably realistic miniature carved ivory orange in polychrome, 1 1/2 inches tall. Realized $5,950. Image courtesy of Gordon S. Converse & Co.
Zhang Daqian (1899-1983), ‘Wuxia Mountain Clear Autumn,’ Chinese watercolor 1936, achieved an astounding $504,000, more than double its high estimate of $200,000. Image courtesy of 888 Auctions. RICHMOND HILL, Ontario – 888 Auctions concluded its first auction of the year Jan. 12, featuring sales of fine Chinese paintings and Asian works of art with a total of $717,180. The sale, comprising 598 lots, witnessed robust participation from around the world.
With 96 percent of the painting lots sold, collectors bid enthusiastically for works by Zhang Daqian and Li Kuchan in the Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy category. In the Classical Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy category, the 49 lots achieved $537,090 alone and well above the high estimate of $259,200.
Estimated at $100,000-$200,000, the featured lot of the sale was unquestionably Zhang Daqian’s Wuxia Mountain Clear Autumn 1936 with exceptional provenance. In a saleroom filled to capacity and eagerly awaiting the action to ensue, bidders in the room, on the telephone, and the Internet competed fiercely for Zhang Daqian’s watercolor painting. Starting at $5,000, the bidding for lot 38 kicked off at a feverish pace. After a protracted battle between an international telephone bidder and a local floor bidder, the local floor bidder emerged victorious after 64 bids with a winning bid of $504,000, bringing thunderous applause from the crowd seated in the gallery. In addition to the spectacular sale of Lot 38, a Li Kuchan (1898-1984) watercolor painting achieved $11,400 at lot 37.
From the collection of Chinese ceramics, lot 447 garnered a great deal of interest. This large and imposing Chinese square hu-shaped vase and decorated in rare Gutoncai enameling, realized $19,200.
In light of the high prices achieved in the Chinese Classical Paintings and Calligraphy category, the collection of porcelains did not perform up to par. Whether the performance of the ceramics was because of the saturation of ceramics in the Asian art market remain to be seen; however, it is clear that collectors around the world are thirsting for authentic high quality items with exceptional provenance. And the numbers do not lie; high quality items with an estimate of over $10,000 nearly doubled the estimate across all categories of art in this sale.
With a sell-through rate of over 50 percent, connoisseurs of Chinese art have realized they do not need to pay an arm and a leg for an authentic piece of Chinese art and antique at 888 Auctions.
For consignment inquiries or additional information, please contact 888 Auctions at 905-763-7201 or by email at info@888auctions.com. For detailed auction results and hammer prices, please visit us at www.888auctions.com.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
Zhang Daqian (1899-1983), ‘Wuxia Mountain Clear Autumn,’ Chinese watercolor 1936, achieved an astounding $504,000, more than double its high estimate of $200,000. Image courtesy of 888 Auctions. 
Li Kuchan (1898-1984), Chinese watercolor on paper, featurng two birds, realized $11,400. Image courtesy of 888 Auctions. 
Rare Chinese square hu-shaped Gutoncai enameled porcelain vase, six-character Qianlong mark, reached $16,000. Image courtesy of 888 Auctions.
With more than 80 rare and historically significant objects on view, Blumka and Eitle-Böhler are particularly pleased to present Pluto and Proserpina, by Matthias Steinl, an Imperial Court sculptor in Vienna (1643/44–1727) and one of the greatest ivory carvers of all time.
“We consider Pluto and Proserpina to be the most important Baroque ivory to enter the market in the past 50 years,” said Anthony Blumka. According to Blumka, there are only six or seven pieces by this artist in existence, and this example is possibly one of the 10 most important Baroque ivories in the world today.
This unique carved ivory depicts the ancient Roman gods Pluto and Proserpina. According to the myth, Pluto, god of the underworld, is enraptured by Proserpina (the daughter of Ceres, the goddess of agriculture and crops, and Jupiter, the god of sky and thunder), and their passionate love story forms the basis for the creation myth of winter.
“Art historians around the world have accepted that, indeed, this is a master work by Steinl,” added Florian Eitle-Böhler. “Because of this, it is the first time in memory that an object held in dealers’ hands was requested by a museum — the Liebieghaus in Frankfurt — where it was on view last year in their exhibition, ‘Elfenbein Barocke Pracht Am Wiener Hof.’”
Pluto and Proserpina also has an impressive provenance: It was once one of the prized pieces in the collections of the Princes von und zu Liechtenstein, Baron Anselm Salomon de Rothschild (1803–1874), Baron Albert Salomon Anselm de Rothschild (1844–1911), and Baron Dr. Alphonse Maier de Rothschild (1878–1942).
“Pluto and Proserpina by Matthias Steinl, the foremost sculptor active at the imperial court of Vienna around 1700, is an amazing rediscovery,” said Eike Schmidt, the head of the Department of Decorative Arts, Textiles & Sculpture at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the author of several books on ivory sculpture. “It is quite a sensation that this masterpiece, which was known to scholars only through an old photograph, taken when it was in the Rothschild collection, has re-emerged now. The wafer-thin whirled draperies are carved in the same masterful way as Steinl’s ivories made for the Emperors Leopold I and Joseph I, which are all in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna now.”
Schmidt continued: “Given the fact that the subject of Pluto and Proserpina in its Baroque interpretation celebrates love, and as such it was featured in operas composed for important weddings, I dare to speculate that the Emperor might have commissioned this ivory as a wedding gift for an important Prince close to his court – which would explain why it did not end up in the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The Pluto and Proserpina group is certainly one of the most outstanding ivory sculptures that were made in Austria in the Baroque age.”
In addition to Pluto and Proserpina, some of the other highlights of Collecting Treasures of the Past VII include:
*Diptych: The Passion of Christ: A medieval ivory masterpiece from the Workshop of the Master of the Passion Diptychs in Paris, 1360–1370. In this masterwork, four elaborately carved scenes in trefoil arcades represent Jesus’ Entry into Jerusalem, The Last Supper, The Washing of the Feet, The Betrayal, The Hanging of Judas, The Road to Calvary, and The Crucifixion. Each wing of the diptych has a hole for a string so it could be fastened to a belt.
*A Highly Important Jeweled and Silver-Gilt Narwhal and Ivory Cup Attributed to Georg Pfründt, Augsburg, 1670–1674: Once in the collection of Baron Nathaniel von Rothschild and exhibited in “The World of Wonder” exhibition at the Walters Art Gallery, this exceptional and exotic cup of carved sea monsters, unicorns, and Native Americans representing the American and European continents, is probably the finest example of similar cups that were avidly collected by German sovereigns.
*A Small Siculo-Arabic Casket of the 12th Century: With its original linen interior, this caskets’ sides are made of sheets of ivory carved with ornate flowers, peacocks, and what are perhaps family crests.
*Sitting Angel: An extremely life-like modeled figure of an angel whose mate is in the Bavarian National Museum, this wood-and-gilt sculpture is by the German Baroque sculptor and woodcarver Johann Joseph Christian, who worked in the mid-18th-century in southern Germany.
*Saint Magdalene, a Precious Ivory Relief by Frans Van Bossuit from the 3rd quarter of the 17th century in the Netherlands: In this work, a beatific Mary Magdalene, wrapped in luxuriant waves of her own hair and standing before streams of radiant light, clutches a skull.
About Blumka Gallery and Kunsthandlug Julius Böhler:
Blumka Gallery and Kunsthandlung Julius Böhler, both founded in the 19th century, are two of the leading firms in the field of European works of art. Over the years, each gallery has played a role in enhancing both private and museum collections across the globe. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Treasury at the Cloisters in New York, the Bavarian National Museum, and the Louvre are merely a sampling of museums that have acquired important pieces from Blumka and Böhler.
Blumka Gallery is located at 209 East 72nd Street (between Second and Third Avenues). Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. For more information, call 212-734-3222 or visit www.blumkagallery.com or www.boehler-art.com.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
LONDON – A retrospective view of Lucian Freud’s life over the past 12 years is covered in an exhibition of photographs by David Dawson to be held at Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, 38 Bury St., St. James’s, London SW1Y 6BB from Monday, Jan. 30 to Friday, March 2, 2012.
The exhibition also marks the release of the final set of photographs by David Dawson depicting life in Lucian Freud’s studio, and all unseen by the general public. “Lucian Freud: Studio Life” is the third and final set of photographs to be published. Taken throughout the final years of Freud’s life, the pictures offer an intimate and extremely personal view of the artist’s studio and his home. This box set of six photographs is for sale priced at £9,000 + VAT (approx. $13,790 + VAT).
Dawson has been photographing Freud exclusively since the mid 1990s, and his daily contact with the painter has provided a compelling insight into the life of this intensely private artist. Over the years Dawson’s pictures have recorded the daily goings on in the studio, offering rare glimpses of portrait sittings, studio visits and paintings in progress.
David Dawson is a painter and met Lucian Freud when he was working part-time for his then dealer, James Kirkman, in the late 1980s. He was Freud’s assistant for over two decades until the artist’s death in July 2011 during which time Dawson also modeled for Freud on numerous occasions.
Lucian Freud: Studio Life Photographs by David Dawson coincides with Lucian Freud Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, London (Feb. 9 to May 27, 2012).
EXHIBITION HOURS:
Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm.
Admission is free.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
BROOKLYN, Ohio (AP) – Dozens of personal checks from former U.S. presidents, authors and other famous people, including one written by President Abraham Lincoln the day before he was assassinated, are part of a collection that has been rediscovered by an Ohio bank and is being displayed to the public.
A total of 70 checks have been stored in a vault at Huntington Bank’s Columbus headquarters since 1983 after Huntington acquired the check collection when it took over Cleveland’s Union Commerce Bank. A Union Commerce president had developed the check collection, said Huntington spokeswoman Maureen Brown told The Associated Press.
The list of notable check-signers includes inventor Thomas Edison, composer George Gershwin and authors such as Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway.
Huntington officials decided last year to start publicly displaying some of the checks after an employee looking through the collection was struck by their historical significance and suggested that they really needed to be shared with everyone, Brown said. Huntington had not forgotten the checks’ existence, but “through the years—as employees left and new ones came in—the actual value of the checks hadn’t been recognized,” she said.
She said the bank began displaying some of the checks last summer at a Pittsburgh branch, and the public reaction was so positive that officials decided to display some of the checks at various branches across the Midwest.
“We were surprised that there are so many history buffs out there,” Brown said
Some of the checks are currently displayed at Huntington’s Brooklyn branch in suburban Cleveland. Branches in Akron, Canton and Toledo will have similar displays this year.
Abraham Lincoln’s check was written on April 13, 1865, the day before he was shot by John Wilkes Booth. The check for $800 was written to “self” and drawn on the First National Bank of Washington, D.C., according to an appraisal done for the bank by Cowan’s Auctions in Cincinnati.
That check was reportedly used to get cash to pay debts incurred by Lincoln’s wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, “who apparently was a shopper,” Brown said.
A special collection librarian at Cleveland State University sees the checks as quite a find, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reported.
“These are remnants of a vanished society,” librarian Bill Barrow said.
Checks with original signatures shows that famous historical figures like Lincoln had bills, too, Barrow said.
“The fact that President Lincoln had this in his hand the day before he was shot, it helps connect people,” Barrow said.
Twenty-four of the checks bear the signatures of American presidents.
The Lincoln check is worth about $25,000 today, while one written by George Washington to William Thornton for $500 is valued at $10,000. A check written by Thomas Jefferson in 1793 for $22.69 is now worth about $6,000, according to the appraisal.
Hemingway’s check was written to Curtis Publishing Co. for $3.50, and is worth about $1,500 today.
Cowan’s has valued the entire collection of checks around $73,000.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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NEW YORK (AP) – A part-time art dealer who unwittingly bought bogus Damien Hirst prints from a California fraudster created his own legal problems by doctoring appraisals as he resold them, authorities and his lawyer said.
Richard Silver, a real estate broker who moonlights in photography and art dealing, pleaded guilty Thursday to misdemeanor forgery and false-filing charges, admitting he’d faked appraisals for what he believed were limited-edition prints of three of the British conceptual-art star’s dot-patterned works: Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), Opium and Valium.
Silver, of New York, had bought several prints in each series online from Irvine, Calif., art scammer Vincent Lopreto, who was arrested in 2008 on charges of creating fraudulent certificates of authenticity for the prints. Lopreto later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to prison.
Silver, who had spent about $40,000 to $45,000, had no idea the prints weren’t real Hirsts until after he’d sold them, his lawyer, Vinoo P. Varghese, said Friday.
“He never knowingly sold counterfeit art” and has recovered less than $2,000 of what he paid Lopreto, the attorney said.
Silver sold the pieces to buyers in Great Britain and Canada for a total of about $84,000. Those buyers got appraisals that Silver admitted Thursday he had falsified.
Varghese said Silver had had some works appraised to get shipping insurance and altered the documents to match the rest of the prints so he could “speed up the process and get things shipped out.”
“It wasn’t meant to defraud anybody,” the attorney said.
Silver, 44, also admitted he hadn’t reported the profits of the sale on his state taxes. He’s expected to be sentenced next week to 60 days in jail and ordered to pay restitution.
Meanwhile, an exhibition featuring more than 300 of Hirst’s spot paintings opened Thursday at Gagosian Gallery’s 11 locations around the world. A 20-year retrospective of his work is scheduled to open at Tate Modern in London in April.
Hirst, part of a group dubbed the Young British Artists in the 1990s, was awarded the Turner Prize, Great Britain’s best-known art award, in 1995, though his career hasn’t been without controversy. He came under criticism—from no less than fellow British art name David Hockney—for openly using assistants to create most of his canvases. He has said that his assistants do a better painting job than he could and that he gets bored easily.
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PARIS (AP) – American tourists fill the galleries of the Louvre Museum, yet American art is surprisingly scarce.
Paris’ premier museum and three U.S. art institutions are seeking to change that with an exhibit tracing the birth of American landscape painting and its influences.
“As soon as I arrived at the Louvre, I noticed that American art was not displayed at the level it merits,” said Louvre director Henri Loyrette.
Even the exhibit’s English-French melange of a name breaks tradition: It’s called “New Frontier: l’art americain entre au Louvre,” or “American Art Enters the Louvre.”
It focuses on Thomas Cole, a pioneer of the Hudson River School of American landscape painters of the 19th century.
Cole’s The Cross in Solitude, from 1845 and in the Louvre collection, is joined by other loaned works including The Last of the Mohicans and work of his disciples.
The other partners in the exhibit are Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas, and Chicago’s Terra Foundation for American Art.
Curator Guillaume Faroult described how Cole and fellow painter Asher Durand drew inspiration from a 19th century visit to the Louvre, home of centuries of artwork by European and other masters. The exhibit includes paintings that influenced Cole’s work.
The show includes conferences and projects aimed at improving the French public’s knowledge of early American art. The exhibit, which opened Saturday, runs through April 16.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) – A Swiss court has ordered the confiscation of a very rare ancient silver coin that was allegedly illegally excavated in northern Greece and sold at auction in Switzerland, Greek and Swiss officials say.
The lawyer representing Greece in the case said Thursday that the ruling in October opens the way for the early fifth century B.C. coin’s return to Greece. The debt-crippled country’s rich cultural heritage has long suffered depredations from antiquities smugglers supplying a lucrative international market.
“The coin was treated in the Swiss court ruling as a product of criminal activity that was illegally exported from our country and was then illegally offered (for sale) abroad,” Ilias Bisias told The Associated Press.
Greek authorities were officially notified of the ruling this week.
Swiss prosecutors said the coin has been confiscated while they await a legally binding verdict on the circumstances of its discovery from Greece, which regards all its antiquities as state property.
The high-denomination octadrachm—or eight-drachma—coin was struck by a little-known Thracian ruler named Mosses around 480 B.C., the time of the second failed Persian invasion of Greece.
Thessaloniki University professor of archaeology Michalis Tiverios said examples of Mosses’ currency are very rare.
“There are very few coins struck in his name,” Tiverios said. “Octadrachms were heavy coins used for transactions abroad, usually for mercenaries’ wages, which is why they are very rarely found in Greece.”
After allegedly changing hands through a number of offshore companies, according to Greek authorities, the coin was sold in 2009 to an unidentified collector for 100,000 Swiss francs (U.S. $106,000). It was then provisionally seized following a Greek request.
Authorities in northern Greece have pressed charges of antiquities theft in the case, although no suspects have yet been named. The Swiss court decision did not identify the seller of the coin at the auction.
In recent years, Greece has secured the return of important illegally excavated antiquities from foreign museums and collections, including the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. It has waged a long and unsuccessful battle against the British Museum in London to wrest back the Elgin collection of sculptures, taken from the ancient Parthenon temple on the Acropolis 200 years ago.
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Frank Jordans in Geneva contributed.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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