Britain on Thursday returned two
small but extremely valuable stolen Etruscan treasures that were
saved from being sold at auction in London earlier this year.
The IV century BC winged sphinx terracotta oil or perfume
server and a statuette of Lares stolen from a Siena museum in
1988 were recovered by the MET with the help of Italy's art cops
and the British Cultural Property Protection Unit.
"If they had been sold they would have got several thousand
pounds," said Carabinieri General Fabrizio Parrulli.
No guilty party has yet been identified, although notorious
art trafficker Giacomo Medici, convicted in 2004 of dealing in
tomb raiders' loot, has been linked to the terracotta figurine.
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