Remember the vehement and universal denials by the antiquities trade lobby that any artefacts looted in the US-led Iraq invasion were on the US antiquities market? This shows how much they were worth, the lobbyists were either not telling the truth, or they were spouting off while being ignorant of it:
US returns to Iraq several ancient seals looted from the Iraq Museum in 2003. The pieces were smuggled into the United States and purchased through various galleries and online auctions by a private collector between 2004-2009 ( D.A. Bragg Announces Return of Antiquities Looted from the Iraqi Museum in 2003, Dec 14, 2022).These antiquities surfaced after 19 years. What else will be turning up soon? What was online auction where the undocumented piece offered for sale? Who was the seller?In March of 2021, one of the stamp seals was listed for sale in an online auction, leading this Office to begin an investigation into its origin and provenance. Our investigation revealed that the consignor of this stamp seal was in possession of six additional seals that were all purchased shortly after the looting of the Iraq Museum and lacked any documentation confirming that they had entered the art market prior to 2003.
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