Wednesday 25 March 2009

Raid on a private collection in Taranto

A private collection in Taranto in southern Italy has been raided by Italian police ("Piccolo museo in case professionista Taranto" / "Man had home antiquities 'museum'", ANSA March 24, 2009). The owner is described as 'a wealthy professional'; the collection was displayed in his living room.

The collection consisted of around 170 antiquities and are "believed to have been bought from southern Italian tomb raiders". Colonel Giovanni Monaco of Taranto's Guardia di Finanza is quoted: "One of the two kraters and five small amphorae are of Greek provenance while the other pieces were made in Magna Graecia". The Italian news report suggests that the objects consist of Apulian and Lucanian material; the pieces were apparently found through illicit excavations ("scavi clandestini") in Daunia and Vulture melfese. The find came as a result as a tip-off and is reported to relate to a tax investigation.

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