BALTIMORE, MD—The U.S. government has secured the forfeiture of 14 ancient Egyptian artifacts, including an “Old Kingdom Limestone Funerary Statue” valued at approximately $6 million, that were illegally smuggled into the country.
The forfeiture was completed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes announced Monday. The smuggled items—which also included amulets, stone figurines, and a vase—were seized by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers while in transit through several international airports between August 2020 and April 2021.
The ultimate destination for at least one shipment was a private collector in Edgewater, Maryland.
Authorities said the shippers attempted to conceal the true nature and value of the relics by using deceptive paperwork that described the contents as common items like “home décor” or “decoration.” Historians and antique appraisers later confirmed the artifacts’ antiquity.
“This litigation highlights one of the benefits of civil asset forfeiture and is an important milestone toward eliminating smuggled cultural property from the U.S. art market,” Hayes said. “This office is committed to combating the black-market sale of cultural property and the smuggling of ancient artifacts.”
The Old Kingdom Limestone Funerary Statue is believed to have originated from a royal cemetery near the ancient city of Memphis, such as Saqqara or Giza in present-day Egypt.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and CBP officials stressed the importance of recovering the treasures, which they called “irreplaceable pieces of global cultural heritage.” The Justice Department has a history of working to return smuggled artifacts to their country of origin.
The Manhattan District Attorney has returned 16 antiquities to the people of Egypt, some of which were seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Photo via the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office
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