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Rare glazed 14th century tiles to be returned to Uzbekistan with help from the British Museum and UK Border Force

13 October 2020

A collection of glazed tiles believed to be 14th century examples from a memorial complex near Samarkand are to be returned to Uzbekistan.

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ATG letter: Praise for police book crime response

12 October 2020

MADAM – it’s heartwarming to read that a number of stolen, extremely rare books have been recovered by the Met police in cooperation with the Romanian police (News, ATG No 2461).

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Indian bronzes returned by Met's Art and Antiques Unit

22 September 2020

The Metropolitan Police’s Art and Antiques Unit have helped recover three 15th century Indian bronze sculptures after one was identified in the possession of a UK dealer.

Stolen rare books

Stolen collection of antiquarian books worth £2.5m recovered from underground store in Romania

19 September 2020

A collection of rare books valued at more than £2.5m and stolen from a London warehouse in 2017 has been recovered in Romania.

Bernardo Bellotto's view of Dresden

Sotheby’s to offer restituted view of Dresden acquired by Hitler's art dealer

21 July 2020

An Old Master painting restored to the family of its original Jewish owner will be offered at Sotheby’s next week with an estimate of £3m-4m.

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Descendants win fight for justice for Carl Spitzweg painting

08 June 2020

Painting went through lengthy ownership saga before being returned to family and then sold.

Parthenon marbles in the British Museum

Institute of Art and Law to update guidance on restitution cases

19 March 2020

Arts Council England has appointed the Institute of Art and Law to help form new guidance for institutions around the thorny issues of restitution and repatriation of cultural objects.

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Family reunited with medals after ATG appeal

04 November 2019

Rare medals stolen from a car and found discarded in a park 10 months later have been reunited with their owner thanks to an ATG news story.

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My shoe is back – thanks ATG

16 September 2019

John Biggs Snr is celebrating the return of his stolen snuff shoe. The proprietor of dealer J Collins & Son in Bideford, Devon, was reunited with the French ebonised item by the police.

Joshua Reynolds portrait

‘Stolen’ Joshua Reynolds portrait at centre of controversy between UK family and Japanese museum

12 September 2019

A Japanese museum has claimed it bought a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds “in good faith and without fault from a respectable art dealer” after it was identified as being stolen from a UK stately home.

 Louis XVI gilt bronze vase

Nazi-looted French vases returned jointly by FBI and Christie’s

12 August 2019

The FBI’s art crime team and auction house Christie’s have returned a pair of Louis XVI bronze vases that were stolen by the Nazis to the heirs of the original Jewish owners.

Book of Hours

Valuable books missing since Second World War restored to Bonn library after being consigned to Sotheby’s

12 April 2019

Six-hundred rare books, manuscripts and prints which were lost or stolen from a German library during the Second World War have been returned after they were consigned to Sotheby’s.

Arthur Brand

Stolen Picasso painting from private yacht recovered by the so-called real-life ‘Indiana Jones’ of the art world

01 April 2019

A Pablo Picasso painting missing for nearly 20 years has been recovered by the so-called real-life ‘Indiana Jones’ of the art world.

Jan van der Heyden picture

Nazi-looted painting handed back by German cathedral

21 March 2019

A cathedral in Germany has returned a painting that was seized by the Nazis in 1941 to the heirs of its original Jewish owners. The work had entered the collection of Adolf Hitler’s photographer Heinrich Hoffmann and was found among the numerous works he kept in a castle in Bavaria at the end of the Second World War.

Christie’s voluntarily returns group of eight looted antiquities to Italy

15 February 2019

A group of eight antiquities that was consigned to Christie’s has been returned to Italy after the works were identified as not having the necessary export and provenance details to be sold.

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Rare manuscripts stolen from London auction house recovered in Italy

11 February 2019

A group of illuminated manuscripts valued at £100,000 that were stolen from a London auction house in 2016 have been recovered in Italy.

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Danish silver collection recovered

04 February 2019

ATG has learned that the collection of rare Danish silver advertised on two pages of ATG No 2359 as stolen has been returned to its owner.

Carnegie Library

Innocent London book dealers caught up in $8m US rare books library theft

30 July 2018

High-profile London book dealers Peter Harrington and Maggs Bros have been left out of pocket after an alleged $8m rare books theft from Carnegie Library in the US.

Antiquity

Coin dealer arrested in London following international looted antiquities investigation

06 July 2018

A coin and antiquities dealer has been arrested as part of an international investigation into a £35m crime network dealing in looted artefacts.

Cranach

Nazi-looted Cranach painting returned to rightful heirs to be sold at Christie’s Old Masters auction

27 March 2018

An Old Master portrait missing for nearly 80 years has been returned to the heirs of Dutch banker and art collector Fritz Gutmann. They now plan to auction the picture with an estimate of $1m-2m.