“Chasing Aphrodite is an epic story that, from the first page, grabs you by the lapels and won’t let go. Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino have penetrated the inner sanctum of one of the world’s most powerful museums, exposing how its caretakers – blinded by greed, arrogance and self-deception – eagerly tapped international networks of criminals in pursuit of the next great masterpiece. It is a breathtaking tale that I guarantee will keep you reading late into the night.”
Kurt Eichenwald
Author of Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story
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Recently
- UPDATED > USA vs One Ancient Mosaic: A Looted Syrian Masterpiece in Los Angeles May 26, 2018
- The Sidon Bull’s Head: Court Record Documents a Journey Through the Illicit Antiquities Trade September 24, 2017
- Hobby Lobby’s Legal Expert Speaks: “I can’t rule out…they used my advice to evade the law.” July 10, 2017
- UPDATED > Help Wanted: We’re Tracking Down Objects Sold By Nancy and Doris Wiener January 5, 2017
- UPDATED > Manhattan Dealer Nancy Wiener Arrested: Criminal Complaint Alleges Sweeping Conspiracy to Sell Stolen Asian Art Through Major Auction Houses December 21, 2016
- UPDATED > Inside the ISIS Looting Operation: U.S. Lawsuit Reveals Terror Group’s Brutal Bureaucracy of Plunder December 15, 2016
- The End of the Beginning: NGA Returns Kushan Buddha and Two Kapoor Objects September 18, 2016
- The Missing Link: Subhash Kapoor’s Suppliers in India Are (Finally) Getting Rolled Up July 3, 2016
- The Lessons of Palmyra: Iconoclasm in the era of Clickbait April 7, 2016
- UPDATED > Asia Week Arrest: Japanese Dealer Convicted Of Selling Stolen Art March 19, 2016
- Asia Week Raids: New Details on the Christie’s Seizures March 18, 2016
- Busted: Asia Week Raids Reveal Scope of Illicit Trade in Asian Art March 17, 2016
- The Crennan Report: The NGA’s Ex Post Facto Due Diligence Finds 22 “Questionable” Asian Antiquities February 17, 2016
- Operation Antiquity: Prison for Antiquities Dealer Behind Looting and Tax Fraud Scheme December 15, 2015
- Ball State’s Kapoor Return Reveals New False Provenance November 17, 2015
- The Seated Buddha Goes Home: Nancy Wiener and National Gallery of Australia Will Return Sculpture to India March 5, 2015
- The Kushan Buddhas: Nancy Wiener, Douglas Latchford and New Questions about Ancient Buddhas February 1, 2015
- Danti’s Inference: The Known Unknowns Of ISIS and Antiquities Looting November 18, 2014
- Hecht’s Footprints: Haverford College Opens Up About Source of Their Greek Vases November 4, 2014
- Shiva Goes Home: Australia’s Prime Minister Returns Looted Kapoor Idols to India September 4, 2014
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Tweeting Aphrodite
- RT @TheArtNewspaper: The investigations arm of the US Department of Homeland Security (HSI) has returned 523 artefacts predating the Spanis… 2 hours ago
- RT @poetryinstone: thehindu.com/news/cities/ch… 2 hours ago
- RT @raydowd: #Museums are the industrial-level laundering points of stolen art in the USA. Tax dodging is the motive for the crime. @Anton… 2 hours ago
- RT @NYMag: Museums and cultural institutions have been racing to preserve the items, memories, and experiences of 2020. @DianaBudds reports… 1 day ago
- RT @HeritageAtState: Congratulations to everyone involved in the repatriation of the Laxmi-Narayan idol. The Cultural Heritage Center is pr… 1 day ago
- RT @CarenzaLewis: Sad to see thieves damaged newly discovered Roman villa in Scarborough - especially when it has such impact on the local… 1 day ago
- RT @albertis_window: For 10+ years, I have held in-class debates for whether the British Museum should keep or return the Parthenon Marbles… 1 day ago
- RT @GettyMuseum: The Getty Villa Museum is reopening on April 21 — limited free reservations are available now. Explore blooming gardens,… 1 day ago
- RT @JoyLynn_Davis: Great article by @KanakManiDixit about the thefts, market, and current whereabouts of Nepal's statues, with discussion… 1 day ago
- RT @artlawalex: Thanks to @LHArtBooks for this tweet featuring my upcoming book on #restitution. Rather fitting for this #TagderProvenienzf… 2 days ago
What we’re talking about
AAMD American Numismatic Society antiquities Aphrodite archaeology Arnold-Peter Weiss art crime Arthur Houghton Art of the Past Asian Civilizations Museum book review Cambodia Chasing Aphrodite Christies Cleveland Museum Dallas Museum of Art David Gill Dietrich von Bothmer Douglas Latchford Edoardo Almagià Elie Borowski Events FBI Gary Vikan Getty Museum Getty Villa Giacomo Medici Gianfranco Becchina Hugh Eakin illicit antiquities Immigration and Customs Enforcement India Italy J. Paul Getty Museum J. Paul Getty Trust James Cuno james grimaldi Jane Levine Jim Cuno Jiri Frel Khmer Kimbell Art Museum Koh Ker Loot looted antiquities looting Marion True Metropolitan Museum of Art Michaela Boland Michael Padgett museums Nancy Wiener National Gallery of Australia New York Review of Books Nomos AG Norton Simon Museum numismatics Princeton University repatriation Robert Hecht Robin Symes Ron Radford SAFE scandal Selina Mohamed Sicily Sotheby's Subhash Kapoor Tamil Nadu The Art Newspaper Timothy Potts Turkey Vijay Kumar Walters Museum of Art WikiLootTon Cremer’s MSN
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Cultural Heritage Lawyer Rick St. Hilaire
- New Law Aims to Protect Lunar Artifacts
- Thai Cultural Property Case Edges Closer to Settlement
- Antiquities Trafficking Bathed in Sunshine: Disclosures of Shell Company Owners and Suspicious Financial Transactions May Be on the Horizon if the NDAA Becomes Law
- OFAC Puts High-Value Art Market Participants on Notice
- Brooklyn Man Indicted for Egyptian Artifact Smuggling. Did COVID-19 Impact Grand Jury Selection?
Paul Barford’s Portable Antiquities and Heritage Issues
Derek Fincham’s Illicit Cultural Property
David Gill’s Looting Matters
Conflict Antiquities
- “This is all published information and anyone who googles it can find it.” Christos Tsirogiannis, monitoring the trade in illicit antiquities.
- Private ‘rescue’-by-purchase of stolen cultural goods: The material and social consequences and the complicity of Europe and North America
- trafficking of forgeries by forced migrants and forced migrants as false provenances for forgeries
- Turkey’s Gendarmerie caught a Covid-19-infected, health emergency worker-impersonating antiquities trafficker
- the international conference on Handling of Cultural Goods and Financing of Political Violence, at the Norwegian Institute in Rome, has been postponed
The Association for Research into Crimes against Art
- Conference: IFAR's Provenance Research: Where Scholarship Meets Diligence
- Recovered: Greek authorities recover a 5th century BCE headless marble statue of a seated male
- Timeline: The stolen opus sectile floor fragment from Caligula's ship at Lake Nemi
- Conference: "Violated national heritage: theft, trafficking and restitution"
- The chronology of a beloved mūrti...now on its way home to Nepal
Larry Rothfield’s The Punching Bag
- Against "Displacement": A Thought about Hilgert's "Culture Matters"
- 100 antiquities police officers needed, 7 on the books
- A due diligence checklist -- the starting point for a calibrated taxing system for antiquities or for a registration system
- A possible second-best solution for orphaned antiquities?
- U.S. Senators are pushing for Native American Artifact legislation -- but will it do any good?
Elginism — Repatriation Issues
Lee Rosenbaum’s CultureGrrl
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Law Enforcement
- FBI Art Squad FBI’s Art Detail
- Carabinieri Art Squad The Tutela del Patrimonio Culturale, Italy’s Art Squad.
- Interpol Art Detail Interpol has tracked the trade in stolen art since 1947.
- ICE ICE Cultural Property, Art and Antiquities Investigations
Museums
- The Getty The website of the J. Paul Getty Trust
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Greek and Roman Galleries of the Met
- Boston MFA Art of the Ancient World at the Boston MFA
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