Looted Figurine Turns up in London

An ancient clay figurine depicting a horse and rider/warrior dating to the Cypro-Archaic period (approximately 700 BC) has been repatriated to Cyprus from the UK, the Antiquities Department of the island announced on Friday. Sigma Live, 'Ancient clay figurine comes back to Cyprus from UK' 5th August 2016

The figurine was identified by the Department of Antiquities on the website of a London-based antiquities dealer’s shop. Following a request by the Department of Antiquities and the Cyprus Police, the shop handed over the figurine to the London Metropolitan Police, which in turn, returned it to the Department of Antiquities in July 2016. The figurine was part of Christakis Hadjiprodromou’s registered private collection that was kept in his house in Famagusta prior to the Turkish invasion in 1974. As a result of the invasion, Hadjiprodromou’s residence was pillaged and his collection was looted, with its objects being scattered around the world. 

 The antiquities trade lobbyist Peter Tompa snipes:

Peter Tompa ‏@Aurelius161180 18 godz.18 godzin temu

@DrDonnaYates But what's the basis? Hopefully more than it looks to be of Cypriot manufacture.

But of course "what it looks like" ('art style') is precisely how no-questions-asked dealers (who do not interest themselves overmuch about where an antiquity they want to add to their for-profit stock actually comes from), assign an object to a category.In this case the Cypriot origin seems pretty assured and Bailey and Ehrenberg's self-proclaimed "Cultural Property Observer" turns out once again to be engaged in the usual ill-informed sniping which characterises his 'lobbying'.

And once again, an announcement like this only appears only after the dealer has had a chance to delete the sales spiel and picture of the item in question, equally from Google cache.  This is not helpful, we need to name and shame the people whose due diligence is faulty enough to allow items like this to "surface" from underground in their shops.