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gavel restitution schedule Dec 12, 2025 visibility 1 link 2 artists, 1 gallery

us turkey sculptures repatriated aaron mendelsohn 2726367

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office has successfully repatriated eight life-sized Roman sculptures that were illegally removed from Bubon, Turkey, 60 years ago. The sculptures, part of a shrine honoring Roman emperors, were sold to Americans by Turkish villagers in the 1960s without required permits. After a two-year legal battle involving two lawsuits and an arrest warrant, the final sculpture—a headless bronze piece—was surrendered by collector Aaron Mendelsohn, who had acquired it for $1.33 million. The sculpture was returned to Turkish officials at a ceremony hosted by Bragg's office, alongside dozens of other looted Turkish antiquities, including a marble head of Demosthenes seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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looted nude emperor statue marble head returned to turkey 1234765920

A California antiquities dealer, Aaron Mendelsohn, surrendered a 2,000-year-old bronze statue of a Roman emperor, known as the Nude Emperor, to New York prosecutors. The statue, valued at $1.33 million, was purchased in 2007 from a defunct New York gallery but is believed to have been looted in the late 1960s from a Roman shrine in Bubon, Turkey. In a deal filed in New York Criminal Court, Mendelsohn relinquished claims to the statue without admitting wrongdoing, and prosecutors withdrew an arrest warrant. The statue was repatriated to Turkey in a restitution ceremony on Monday, alongside dozens of other objects, including an $800,000 marble head of Demosthenes seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.