Page 14 - Bloomberg Businessweek July 2018

Bloomberg Businessweek
THE HEIST ISSUE

as “the archaeologist.” “He’s doing terrorism toward the said. “Those are Lots 26 and 55.” The boar was still for sale.
auction houses and the museums!” he said. Someone bought it for $15,000. Christie’s spokeswoman
Medici stressed that, despite his conviction for ille- Cat Manson said the vase was withdrawn because infor-
gally trafficking in hundreds of objects, the judge absolved mation not previously available had come to light and the
him of smuggling thousands of others, even objects that auction house would never sell anything that might be sto-
were photographed broken and dirty. “Archaeologists len. In this and other cases, she said, “without access to
seize on the fact that an object is encrusted, but that’s the archives, we are not able to do our best by the object.”
hugely stupid,” Medici said, pointing out that many Italian Tsirogiannis sounded resigned afterward. Nobody
museums display works that are purposely left in their nat- heeded his warnings about the boar, and he didn’t yet
ural states. That’s true to a limited extent. know the fate of the amphora. “Usually, I have to wait
I showed him a photo of the prerestoration Sardinian years to see,” he said. And even then, he’s never been
figurine from his archive. He remembered it well. invited to a ceremony where, say, Italians take possession
“Absolved!” he said, triumphant because the picture, and of an item being returned. At best, he gets kind emails
the figurine depicted in it, wasn’t among those for which from members of the public after his rescues hit the news.
he was convicted. Then I showed him images of the erotic “If it turns out to be the same thing with the Etruscan
amphora. Even though it wasn’t amphora,” he added, “I will be
from his archive, I thought he might more than happy.”
recognize it. He said it could have In early June, Bogdanos told
come from “an old collection,” not Tsirogiannis that a warrant had
an illicit excavation. But looking been executed for the vase. The
closely at the pictures, Medici con- prosecutor in the case said in an
ceded that Tsirogiannis had a point. email to Bloomberg Businessweek
“Unfortunately,” he said, “on this, that it doesn’t comment on
he, the archaeologist, is right.” ongoing investigations but cited
As Christie’s April auction press releases that commended 67
approached, Tsirogiannis saw few Tsirogiannis for his “conscientious
signs that others agreed. Interpol dedication to helping stop the ille-
told him it had forwarded the gal trade in antiquities.”
information to the relevant author- Yet there was no time to cele-
ities, and Bogdanos told him only brate. Less than a month after the
that he’d look into the matter. To Christie’s auction, Sotheby’s would
apply pressure, about two weeks have an antiquities sale in New
before the sale, Tsirogiannis sent York, and the catalog was expected
his findings, including copies of any day. When it came out in early
the photos, to antiquities bloggers. May, Tsirogiannis found a match:
Some of those posts were picked up in the art press. Lot 4, a bronze Greek figure of a horse in the Symes trove,
On April 11, a week before the auction, a notation was estimated to sell for as much as $250,000. The day
appeared on the catalog entry for Lot 26: “This Lot is before the auction, the Greek culture ministry wrote to
Withdrawn.” The boar was still for sale. Other lots that Sotheby’s demanding the horse be withdrawn, and it was.
Tsirogiannis hadn’t flagged were in flux, too: An Egyptian After years of lost sales and accusations of aiding
statuette of the god Bes, Lot 55, was withdrawn, and smugglers, Sotheby’s went on the offensive in June. It
another vase went from withdrawn to back on sale with a sued the Greek culture ministry over the bronze horse in
COURTESY CHRISTOS TSIROGIANNIS (2) note that it wouldn’t be delivered to a buyer until the seller the horse for sale was its rightful owner. Tsirogiannis’s
Manhattan federal court, saying Greece had no proof that
it was exported illicitly and that the client who consigned
established clear title. Tsirogiannis said the withdrawals
were evidence that the antiquities trade reeked. He held
out hope that the boar would be withdrawn.
work had triggered the ministry’s demand. What happens
next will test how much sway his secret archive has in
A week later, Tsirogiannis tuned in to a webcast of the
sale from his dining room, fingers crossed. He watched as
court and whether collectors will feel more emboldened
to buy a piece of history regardless of whether it should
an auctioneer wearing a pink tie made announcements
even be for sale. <BW> �With Katya Kazakina
preceding the bidding. “We have two withdrawn lots,” he
Polaroids of a fragmented vase from Tsirogiannis’s archive matched Lot 26 from Christie’s April sale