25 Republic of Turkey v OKS Partners, 797 F.Supp. 64 (D. Mass. 1992); discovery motion granted in part and denied in part,146 F.R.D. 24 (D. Mass. 1993), summary judgment denied, 1994 U.S. Dist.
LEXIS 17032 (D. Mass. 8 June 1994), summary judgment on different claims denied, 1998 U.S.
Dist. LEXIS 23526 (D. Mass. 23 January 1998).
26 Press Release, Herrick, Feinstein LLP, Turkey’s Lawsuit Against American Businessman Ends with Agreement to Return Rare Ancient Coins to Turkey (1999), available at: http://www.herrick.
com/siteFiles/News/ECE5EA7733B4383784C79AC1BA80C27B.pdf (28.02. 2012).
27 See, e.g., BARRY MEIER, The Case of the Contested Coins – A Modern-Day Battle Over Ancient Objects, The New York Times, 24 September 1998, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/
1998/09/24/business/the-case-of-the-contested-coins-a-modern-day-battle-over-ancient-objects.
html?pagewanted=all (28.02.2012); ÖZGEN ACAR, Protecting Our Common Heritage, The Turkish Times, 1 January 2002.
28 See, e.g., MARK ROSE, Hoard Returned, Archaeology, Vol. 52, No. 3, May/June 1999, available at:
http://www.archaeology.org/9905/newsbriefs/hoard.html (28.02.2012).
29 Republic of Turkey v OKS Partners, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23526, 6–7 (D. Mass. 23 January 1998) (the defendants sought summary judgment, among other things, on the grounds that “the Republic has no evidence that the disputed coins are in fact the Elmali Hoard”).
ing thieves and smugglers implicated in the case30. The descriptions of the Hoard given by those who had seen the coins shortly after they were unearthed became critical in Turkey’s efforts to establish that the coins in the defendants’ possession were identical to those that the thieves described31. Ultimately, the Elmali Hoard case was resolved short of trial and the Hoard was returned to Turkey by the wealthy American businessman, William Koch, and his associates32. But this agreement was reached only after almost a decade of litigation. And I think it is safe to say that the out-of-court resolution was, once again, prompted in great part by the likely success of Turkey in establishing at trial its right to recover the Hoard.
IV. The Cooperative Model Espoused by Art-Rich States and Leading Museums
Beginning in 2006, a new spirit of cooperation, at least among art-rich countries and great museums, began to evidence itself, leading to some momentous returns and agree-ments that did not involve litigation. To be sure, protracted litigation in these cases was avoided because of the lessons learned from earlier cases that proved lengthy and costly, like the Lydian Hoard saga. In 2006, the Metropolitan Museum itself agreed to return 21 looted artifacts to Italy, including the famous Morgantina Collection, a group of 16 silver Hellenistic silver pieces (dating from the 3rd Century B.C.), as well as one of the Museum’s most prized possessions, the Euphronios krater, a painted vase dating from the 6th Century B.C. In return, Italy agreed to lend objects of “equal beauty and histori-cal and cultural significance” to the Museum33.
A few months later, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles turned to a long-standing claim by Greece, first asserted in the 1990’s, that four items acquired by the Museum were stolen
30 Ibid., 8 (describing the testimony of one of the “admitted thieves”, who testified that “photographs of the defendants' coins depict many of those that he unearthed and counted at Elmali”).
31 Ibid.
32 Press Release, Herrick, Feinstein LLP, Turkey’s Lawsuit against American Businessman Ends with Agreement to Return Rare Ancient Coins to Turkey (1999), available at: http://www.herrick.
com/siteFiles/News/ECE5EA7733B4383784C79AC1BA80C27B.pdf (28.02.2012).
33 NICOLE WINFIELD, N.Y. Museum Will Return Artifacts to Italy, Boston.com, 22 February 2006, available at: http://articles.boston.com/2006-02-22/ae/29249552_1_euphronios-krater-morgantina-return-artifacts (28.02.2012).
In another case we handled on behalf of the Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkey v OKS Partners25, the facts and evidence similarly led to a favorable settlement, but only after some 10 years of litigation26. In that case, Turkey sought to recover the fabled Decadrachm or Elmali Hoard, designated by some as the “Hoard of the Century”27, consisting of almost 2000 ancient Greek and Lycian coins, including a dozen Athenian Decadrachms, the extremely rare and highest denomination of ancient Greek currency.
Indeed, in all of history prior to the discovery of the Elmali Hoard, only about 12 or 13 of these silver Decadrachms had ever been discovered, so this Hoard alone doubled the number of these rare coins ever found anywhere28. The identity of the Hoard as the one illegally removed from Turkey was a critical factor in the case. Quite simply – and somewhat remarkably – the defendants argued that the hoard of coins they had acquired was not the hoard of coins unearthed in Elmali, but rather coins from a different hoard, which just happened to also contain some of the rarest coins ever discovered. These coins, they claimed, originated from some other country – in other words, anywhere but Turkey29. The problem with overcoming this assertion started with the fact that the coins had been found by thieves buried under the ground in a field in a remote section of Tur-key. Needless to say, none of the coins had been seen for some twenty-five hundred years, much less studied or inventoried by any archaeologists or museum officials. But we did succeed in linking the coins to Turkey through expert numismatic testimony demonstrating the unique character of the coins and the likelihood of their origin in Tur-key. In addition, we relied on interviews and written statements from witnesses,
25 Republic of Turkey v OKS Partners, 797 F.Supp. 64 (D. Mass. 1992); discovery motion granted in part and denied in part,146 F.R.D. 24 (D. Mass. 1993), summary judgment denied, 1994 U.S. Dist.
LEXIS 17032 (D. Mass. 8 June 1994), summary judgment on different claims denied, 1998 U.S.
Dist. LEXIS 23526 (D. Mass. 23 January 1998).
26 Press Release, Herrick, Feinstein LLP, Turkey’s Lawsuit Against American Businessman Ends with Agreement to Return Rare Ancient Coins to Turkey (1999), available at: http://www.herrick.
com/siteFiles/News/ECE5EA7733B4383784C79AC1BA80C27B.pdf (28.02. 2012).
27 See, e.g., BARRY MEIER, The Case of the Contested Coins – A Modern-Day Battle Over Ancient Objects, The New York Times, 24 September 1998, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/
1998/09/24/business/the-case-of-the-contested-coins-a-modern-day-battle-over-ancient-objects.
html?pagewanted=all (28.02.2012); ÖZGEN ACAR, Protecting Our Common Heritage, The Turkish Times, 1 January 2002.
28 See, e.g., MARK ROSE, Hoard Returned, Archaeology, Vol. 52, No. 3, May/June 1999, available at:
http://www.archaeology.org/9905/newsbriefs/hoard.html (28.02.2012).
29 Republic of Turkey v OKS Partners, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23526, 6–7 (D. Mass. 23 January 1998) (the defendants sought summary judgment, among other things, on the grounds that “the Republic has no evidence that the disputed coins are in fact the Elmali Hoard”).
ing thieves and smugglers implicated in the case30. The descriptions of the Hoard given by those who had seen the coins shortly after they were unearthed became critical in Turkey’s efforts to establish that the coins in the defendants’ possession were identical to those that the thieves described31. Ultimately, the Elmali Hoard case was resolved short of trial and the Hoard was returned to Turkey by the wealthy American businessman, William Koch, and his associates32. But this agreement was reached only after almost a decade of litigation. And I think it is safe to say that the out-of-court resolution was, once again, prompted in great part by the likely success of Turkey in establishing at trial its right to recover the Hoard.
IV. The Cooperative Model Espoused by Art-Rich States and Leading Museums
Beginning in 2006, a new spirit of cooperation, at least among art-rich countries and great museums, began to evidence itself, leading to some momentous returns and agree-ments that did not involve litigation. To be sure, protracted litigation in these cases was avoided because of the lessons learned from earlier cases that proved lengthy and costly, like the Lydian Hoard saga. In 2006, the Metropolitan Museum itself agreed to return 21 looted artifacts to Italy, including the famous Morgantina Collection, a group of 16 silver Hellenistic silver pieces (dating from the 3rd Century B.C.), as well as one of the Museum’s most prized possessions, the Euphronios krater, a painted vase dating from the 6th Century B.C. In return, Italy agreed to lend objects of “equal beauty and histori-cal and cultural significance” to the Museum33.
A few months later, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles turned to a long-standing claim by Greece, first asserted in the 1990’s, that four items acquired by the Museum were stolen
30 Ibid., 8 (describing the testimony of one of the “admitted thieves”, who testified that “photographs of the defendants' coins depict many of those that he unearthed and counted at Elmali”).
31 Ibid.
32 Press Release, Herrick, Feinstein LLP, Turkey’s Lawsuit against American Businessman Ends with Agreement to Return Rare Ancient Coins to Turkey (1999), available at: http://www.herrick.
com/siteFiles/News/ECE5EA7733B4383784C79AC1BA80C27B.pdf (28.02.2012).
33 NICOLE WINFIELD, N.Y. Museum Will Return Artifacts to Italy, Boston.com, 22 February 2006, available at: http://articles.boston.com/2006-02-22/ae/29249552_1_euphronios-krater-morgantina-return-artifacts (28.02.2012).
and should be returned34. Three of them – a gold funerary wreath, an inscribed grave marker, and a marble torso dating from 400 B.C. – had been purchased by the Getty for
$5.2 million in 1993. The fourth item, an archaic marble relief that depicts a warrior with spear, shield, and sword, had been purchased in 1955 by J. Paul Getty himself35. In Au-gust 2006, the Getty returned the grave marker and the relief to Greece36, then in March of the following year, it returned the funerary wreath and the marble torso37.
In September of that watershed year, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston sent thirteen pieces back to Italy – eleven fifth century B.C. vases, a “portrait statue” of Sabina, and a first century A.D. marble fragment relief of Hermes38. The Museum agreed that it will inform the Italian Ministry of Culture of any future acquisitions, loans, or donations of works that could have an Italian origin39. In November 2008, the Director of the Cleve-land Museum of Art and the Italian Culture Minister signed an agreement pursuant to which the Museum will return fourteen ancient treasures that had been looted from Italy in exchange for several long-term loans of thirteen equally valuable artifacts for renewa-ble twenty-five-year periods40. And, in December 2009, France agreed to return to Egypt painted wall fragments that were stolen from the Luxor tomb in Egypt and that had been purchased by the Louvre in 2000 and 200341.
34 HUGH EAKIN, Getty Museum Will Return 2 Antiquities to Greece, The New York Times, 10 July 2006, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/10/arts/design/10cnd-getty.html?pagewanted
=all (28.02.2012).
35 ASSOCIATED PRESS, Greece Renews Museum Accusations, Boston.com, 25 October 2005, available at: http://articles.boston.com/keyword/looting/featured/3 (28.02.2012).
36 KAROLOS GROHMANN, Getty-Owned Antiquities Return Home to Greece, The Washington Post, 31 August 2006, available at: http://www.elginism.com/20060831/521/ (28.02.2012).; see also A SSOCI-ATED PRESS, Greece Displays Returned Getty Antiquities, Vows to Seek More Repatriations, Interna-tional Herald Tribune, 31 August 2006, available at: http://www.elginism.com/20060831/520/
(28.02.2012).
37 BBC NEWS, Ancient Wreath Returns to Greece, BBC News, 30 March 2007, available at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6505971.stm (28.02.2012).
38 ELISABETTA POVOLEDO, Boston Museum Returns 13 Ancient Works to Italy, The New York Times, 29 September 2006, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/29/arts/design/29mfa.html (28.02.2012).
39 Ibid.
40 The Cleveland Museum of Art and Italy Agree to Exchange of Antiquities and Scholarship, Artdai-ly.org, 20 November 2008, available at: http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new
=27357 (28.02.2012).
41 Associated Press, France Returns “Stolen” Relics to Egypt, The Guardian, 14 December 2009, available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/14/france-louvre-returns-egypt-relics (28.02.2012).
Most recently, Turkey achieved a great victory when Prime Minister Erdogan himself carried the stolen “Weary Herakles” statue back from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to Turkey42. The marble statue depicts the bearded hero Herakles leaning on his club, fa-tigued by his many labors43. In 1990, the top half of the statue was loaned to the Metro-politan Museum as part of a larger exhibition. While on exhibit, a scholar noted its simi-larities with the bottom half of the Herakles sculpture that had been excavated in Perge, Turkey in 198044. Although the MFA’s curator at the time of the acquisition, Cornelius Vermuele, dismissed the notion of the two halves being connected, in 1992 the Museum nonetheless agreed to conduct a test to determine if the two halves of the sculpture were a match45. Plaster casts of both original pieces were made and viewed together, ultimate-ly demonstrating that the two halves fit perfectultimate-ly together. But notwithstanding the suc-cessful test, the MFA still refused to return their piece to Turkey46. In September 2011, the two parties finally signed a memorandum of understanding, and Turkey dropped all claims that the Museum engaged in illicit trade when it acquired the Herakles47. Upon its return to Turkey, the top half of the statue was promptly united with its bottom half and went on display in the Antalya Archaeological Museum to the elation of Turkish citizens and officials alike48.
And, of course, there have been successes elsewhere as well. In September 2011, the Israel Museum returned the painting “The Return of Tobias” to the heirs of the artist, Max Liebermann. Libermann had loaned the work to the Jewish Museum in Berlin in the 1930’s, and it later disappeared during World War II. Following the War, the painting was
45 GEOFF EDGERS, After Years of Denial, MFA to Return “Weary Herakles” Statue to Turkey, The Boston Globe, 23 September 2011, available at: http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-
art/2011/09/23/after-years-denial-mfa-return-weary-herakles-statue-turkey/yhPcDZf9vxwdgkUc97LvrJ/story.html (28.02.2012).
46 See “Weary Herakles” To Be Reunited With His Legs, The History Blog, 23 July 2011, http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/12051 (28.02.2012).
47 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Turkish Republic Reach Agreement for Transfer of Top Half of Weary Herakles, Artdaily.org, 24 September 2011, available at: http://www.artdaily.org/index.
asp?int_sec=2&int_new=50671 (28.02.2012). The MFA purchased a half-interest in the statue in 1981; in 2004, the remaining half interest was donated to the museum.
48 JAMES C.MCKINLEY JR., Boston Museum Returns Bust to Turkey, The New York Times, 28 Sep-tember 2011, available at: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9502E0DB103EF93 BA1575AC0A9679D8B63 (28.02.2012).
and should be returned34. Three of them – a gold funerary wreath, an inscribed grave marker, and a marble torso dating from 400 B.C. – had been purchased by the Getty for
$5.2 million in 1993. The fourth item, an archaic marble relief that depicts a warrior with spear, shield, and sword, had been purchased in 1955 by J. Paul Getty himself35. In Au-gust 2006, the Getty returned the grave marker and the relief to Greece36, then in March of the following year, it returned the funerary wreath and the marble torso37.
In September of that watershed year, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston sent thirteen pieces back to Italy – eleven fifth century B.C. vases, a “portrait statue” of Sabina, and a first century A.D. marble fragment relief of Hermes38. The Museum agreed that it will inform the Italian Ministry of Culture of any future acquisitions, loans, or donations of works that could have an Italian origin39. In November 2008, the Director of the Cleve-land Museum of Art and the Italian Culture Minister signed an agreement pursuant to which the Museum will return fourteen ancient treasures that had been looted from Italy in exchange for several long-term loans of thirteen equally valuable artifacts for renewa-ble twenty-five-year periods40. And, in December 2009, France agreed to return to Egypt painted wall fragments that were stolen from the Luxor tomb in Egypt and that had been purchased by the Louvre in 2000 and 200341.
34 HUGH EAKIN, Getty Museum Will Return 2 Antiquities to Greece, The New York Times, 10 July 2006, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/10/arts/design/10cnd-getty.html?pagewanted
=all (28.02.2012).
35 ASSOCIATED PRESS, Greece Renews Museum Accusations, Boston.com, 25 October 2005, available at: http://articles.boston.com/keyword/looting/featured/3 (28.02.2012).
36 KAROLOS GROHMANN, Getty-Owned Antiquities Return Home to Greece, The Washington Post, 31 August 2006, available at: http://www.elginism.com/20060831/521/ (28.02.2012).; see also A SSOCI-ATED PRESS, Greece Displays Returned Getty Antiquities, Vows to Seek More Repatriations, Interna-tional Herald Tribune, 31 August 2006, available at: http://www.elginism.com/20060831/520/
(28.02.2012).
37 BBC NEWS, Ancient Wreath Returns to Greece, BBC News, 30 March 2007, available at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6505971.stm (28.02.2012).
38 ELISABETTA POVOLEDO, Boston Museum Returns 13 Ancient Works to Italy, The New York Times, 29 September 2006, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/29/arts/design/29mfa.html (28.02.2012).
39 Ibid.
40 The Cleveland Museum of Art and Italy Agree to Exchange of Antiquities and Scholarship, Artdai-ly.org, 20 November 2008, available at: http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new
=27357 (28.02.2012).
41 Associated Press, France Returns “Stolen” Relics to Egypt, The Guardian, 14 December 2009, available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/14/france-louvre-returns-egypt-relics (28.02.2012).
Most recently, Turkey achieved a great victory when Prime Minister Erdogan himself carried the stolen “Weary Herakles” statue back from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to Turkey42. The marble statue depicts the bearded hero Herakles leaning on his club, fa-tigued by his many labors43. In 1990, the top half of the statue was loaned to the Metro-politan Museum as part of a larger exhibition. While on exhibit, a scholar noted its simi-larities with the bottom half of the Herakles sculpture that had been excavated in Perge, Turkey in 198044. Although the MFA’s curator at the time of the acquisition, Cornelius Vermuele, dismissed the notion of the two halves being connected, in 1992 the Museum nonetheless agreed to conduct a test to determine if the two halves of the sculpture were a match45. Plaster casts of both original pieces were made and viewed together, ultimate-ly demonstrating that the two halves fit perfectultimate-ly together. But notwithstanding the suc-cessful test, the MFA still refused to return their piece to Turkey46. In September 2011, the two parties finally signed a memorandum of understanding, and Turkey dropped all claims that the Museum engaged in illicit trade when it acquired the Herakles47. Upon its return to Turkey, the top half of the statue was promptly united with its bottom half and went on display in the Antalya Archaeological Museum to the elation of Turkish citizens and officials alike48.
And, of course, there have been successes elsewhere as well. In September 2011, the Israel Museum returned the painting “The Return of Tobias” to the heirs of the artist, Max Liebermann. Libermann had loaned the work to the Jewish Museum in Berlin in the 1930’s, and it later disappeared during World War II. Following the War, the painting was
45 GEOFF EDGERS, After Years of Denial, MFA to Return “Weary Herakles” Statue to Turkey, The Boston Globe, 23 September 2011, available at: http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-
art/2011/09/23/after-years-denial-mfa-return-weary-herakles-statue-turkey/yhPcDZf9vxwdgkUc97LvrJ/story.html (28.02.2012).
46 See “Weary Herakles” To Be Reunited With His Legs, The History Blog, 23 July 2011, http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/12051 (28.02.2012).
47 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Turkish Republic Reach Agreement for Transfer of Top Half of Weary Herakles, Artdaily.org, 24 September 2011, available at: http://www.artdaily.org/index.
asp?int_sec=2&int_new=50671 (28.02.2012). The MFA purchased a half-interest in the statue in
asp?int_sec=2&int_new=50671 (28.02.2012). The MFA purchased a half-interest in the statue in