Michael Steinhardt’s looted antiquities coming back to Israel
JUDITH SUDILOVSKY
Repatriated antiquities valued at $5 million date back to 7000 BCE, include gold masks, carved ivory head and death Masks.
Some 39 stolen antiquities valued at more than $5 million are to be repatriated to Israel following a multi-national criminal investigation into the purchase of antiquities by Jewish philanthropist and ancient art collector Michael Steinhardt.
In a March 22 press release Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr. said 28 of the objects, some of which were looted from the West Bank, were turned over to Israeli authorities, and three objects have already been transferred to Israel, but eight objects had not been located yet. He said they will be returned as soon as they are found.
Two of the missing objects, including a cosmetic spoon dating back to 800-700 BCE valued at approximately $6,500 and a red carnelian sunfish amulet, dating to approximately 600 B.C.E. and valued at approximately $7,000, will be returned to the Palestinian Authorities once located.
The antiquities seized from Steinhardt’s collection were officially repatriated to Israel during a ceremony attended by Dr. Eitan Klein, Deputy Director of the Theft Prevention Unit within the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and US Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) Acting Deputy Special Agent-in-Charge Mike Alfonso.
“These antiquities are priceless for the State of Israel and its people. They Symbolize our rich and vast cultural heritage. Now, they are being returned to their rightful owners,” said Klein, thanking the US officials for their efforts.
“Illicit trafficking and looting of cultural property can be prevented through coordination at the international level. We believe that cooperation between the State of Israel and the United States of America will yield more fruitful results in the coming period.”
The objects repatriated to Israel were among the total 180 stolen antiquities valued at $70 million seized from Steinhardt in the multi-year investigation which concluded in December 2021.
One of the world’s largest ancient art collectors, Steinhardt received an unprecedented life-time ban on acquiring antiquities in an agreement with the district attorney’s office.
A lawyer for Steinhardt, an important donor to Israeli cultural institutions and the founder of the Birthright free travel program to Israel for young diaspora Jews, has said many of the dealers from whom Steinhardt bought the artifacts had misrepresented their alleged provenance and legal status.
Steinhardt is also a patron of educational institutions in New York and has invested in baseball teams. In the 1990s he purchased two islands in the Falkland Islands at Argentina’s southernmost tip and donated then to the Wildlife Conservation Society.
He has also faced sexual harassment accusations.
As a strong supporter of Israel, his defenders in Israel have said that his contributions to Israel outweigh any wrongs he may have done.
The D.A.’s office press release describes how Steinhardt purchased 28 of the items from Israeli antiquities dealer Gil Chaya, who bought illegal antiquities with his then-wife directly from looters, and two items from illegal antiquities dealer Rafi Brown.
Among those antiquities Steinhardt purchased from Chaya which will be repatriated are the Carved Ivory Head, which dates back to 1300-1200 B.C.E, and a set of three Death Masks, dating back to 6000 to 7000 B.C.E., now valued at $650,000. Two Gold Masks dating back even earlier to 5000 BCE which Steinhardt purchased from Brown will also be returned.
In addition, Neolithic masks depicting stylized human heads dating to around 7000 BCE valued at three million dollars and an incense burner with ducks, goats, and gazelle dating back to 1700 BCE valued at $70,000 will also be coming back to Israel.
Also among the antiquities seized in location are the Heliodorus Stele and two Neolithic masks which Steinhardt had loaned to the Israel Museum.
In the January press release the Manhattan District Attorney’s office outlined the process of the investigation into Steinhardt’s purchases of illegal antiquities. Many of the antiquities seized from Steinhardt were trafficked following civil unrest or looting, they said.
The criminal investigation into Steinhardt began in February 2017 when the D.A.’s office began investigating the purchase of the multi-million-dollar Bull’s Head statue, which was stolen from Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War, and which Steinhardt had loaned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
That statue and another second multi-million-dollar marble statue seized from Steinhardt, the Calf Bearer, were repatriated to Lebanon in December 2017.
In the process of uncovering the Lebanese statues, the D.A.’s Office learned that Steinhardt had additional looted antiquities at his apartment and office, and initiated a grand jury criminal investigation into his acquisition, possession, and sale of more than 1,000 antiquities since at least 1987.
During their investigation the D.A.’s Office issued 17 search warrants and conducted joint investigations with law-enforcement authorities in Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, and Turkey.
On the January 12, 2022 Bragg’s office announced the repatriation of the first of the 180 objects seized from Steinhardt, the “Veiled Head of a Female,” a marble bust antiquity dating back to 350 BCE valued at $1.2 million, which was returned to Libya.
In the January press release the Manhattan District Attorney’s office outlined the process of the investigation into Steinhardt’s purchases of illegal antiquities. Many of the antiquities they seized from Steinhardt were trafficked following civil unrest or looting, they said.
According to filed documents, said the D.A.’s office, Steinhardt purchased the Veiled Head of a Female, which originated from a tomb at the ancient city of Cyrene—modern day Shahhat, Libya—in November 2000.
A year earlier, scientific excavations in that area had been forced to shut down due to growing unrest and governmental instability, the press release noted.
Antiquities thieves took advantage of the situation and began extensive looting for tombs in Cyrene. The Veiled Head of a Female first appeared on the market immediately after reports of these lootings.
“These rare and beautiful artifacts, which are thousands of years old, have been kept from the public because of illegal looting and trafficking,” said Bragg. “My office is proud to once again return historic antiquities to where they rightfully belong.”
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