Man repatriates 19 antiquities after reading Guardian article

November 12, 2022 10:28 AM

John Gomperts returned ancient objects worth up to £80,000 he had inherited from his grandmother, including artifacts from Cyprus, Greece, Italy, and Pakistan.
posted by Etrigan (12 comments total)

what a great story! I hope Gompert's story inspires others to come forward and do the right thing.
posted by supermedusa at 11:15 AM on November 12, 2022 [5 favorites]

I wish the British Museum would read a Guardian article
posted by scruss at 11:19 AM on November 12, 2022 [28 favorites]

I applaud Gomperts for wanting to do the right thing, and Tsirogiannis for helping him. But 'wrap them in a box for each country and go to their embassies' seems strange advice. Wouldn't it have made more sense to contact museums in Italy, Greece, etc?
posted by verstegan at 11:56 AM on November 12, 2022 [1 favorite]

But 'wrap them in a box for each country and go to their embassies' seems strange advice. Wouldn't it have made more sense to contact museums in Italy, Greece, etc?

Most governments have specific agencies responsible for this sort of thing, which the embassy would be best equipped to contact; for those who don't, the embassy would be able to identify appropriate museums or other entities to take the objects back, then transport them appropriately without Gomperts having to pay anything further or make arrangements that might end up with the artifacts broken or lost.
posted by Etrigan at 12:21 PM on November 12, 2022 [22 favorites]

I think it makes more sense to allow agents of the countries in question to assume possession and make their own decisions about what museums to contact. It would undercut the "I’m giving this back" angle to attempt to drive that part of the process.
posted by Earthtopus at 12:22 PM on November 12, 2022 [12 favorites]

Meanwhile, in Hamilton, NY…
posted by kinnakeet at 1:48 PM on November 12, 2022 [6 favorites]

I think that, understandably, Gomperts and his siblings wanted to avoid any possible legal jeopardy for themselves, so it was in their best interest not to illegally transport stolen antiquities or to be in possession of them after their rightful owners found out they existed. It sounds to me like the idea here was partly to protect Gomperts, and that's why he was counseled to drop them off rather than contact the countries and explain that he had their stolen treasures.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 1:58 PM on November 12, 2022 [3 favorites]

The recent Last Week Tonight episode on museums was scathing.
posted by spamandkimchi at 6:56 PM on November 12, 2022 [1 favorite]

Good on you, Gompers!

And kinakeet, that is encouraging news to hear. “Graverobber” is EXACTLY the term that should be appearing in print.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 7:16 PM on November 12, 2022 [1 favorite]

The most honest way is the straightforward way.’

Such a simple lesson. “I wanted to do the right thing.” Here’s hoping more people get back to that.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 8:43 PM on November 12, 2022 [2 favorites]

I mean also probably they didn't want him to try to pack and ship the things himself? I'm just picturing some hapless guy smashing up priceless antiquities by wrapping them in newspaper and packing peanuts and arranging a UPS pickup. If it were me with the priceless antiquities I'd rather hand deliver them someplace official in my car and let the embassy take it from there.
posted by potrzebie at 10:42 PM on November 12, 2022

It really annoys me how *bad* the antiquities market is. I'd love to pick up some properly sourced / documented South American pottery because some of it is gorgeous but I'm not willing to engage with the market since AFAIK nearly everything out there was looted and has no archeological context.
posted by caphector at 10:23 AM on November 13, 2022 [1 favorite]