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Government officials will travel to recover ten ancient jewellery items from the United Kingdom after the antiques agent selling them agreed to offer them back.

Prak Sunnara, director of the Ministry of Culture’s heritage department, said that officials from the ministry and from the Union of Youth Federation of Cambodia will fly to the UK soon to bring back the ancient items.

Mr Sunnara said the items will be put on display at the National Museum for all to see after being lost for so many years.

“I do not know when these items were lost, but they were made in the Angkor era,” he said. “The Cambodian government did not pay one cent for the recovery of these items. The antique sellers agreed to give them back to Cambodia.”

On November 18, 2016, the Ministry of Culture got information that antique dealers Jonathan Tucker and Antonia Tozer of Asian Arts in London were selling many ancient items, including ten golden jewellery items made for decorating sculptures during the Angkor era.

Once aware, the ministry, through the Cambodian Embassy in the UK, demanded the items back. Mr Tucker and Ms Tozer agreed to give them back to the Kingdom on April 20, 2017.

Looted Angkor jewellery returned to Cambodia
2 December 2017
PHNOM PENH: A set of ancient Angkorian gold jewellery was returned to Cambodia Saturday with an elaborate procession through the capital, decades after the precious pieces were looted from a famed jungle temple.

The 10-piece set, which includes a crown, earrings, armbands and a chest ornament, was stolen from Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple during the kingdom’s civil war in the 1970s and was discovered in the online catalogue of a London art dealer last year.

The items are thought to date back to the Khmer Empire, a once-mighty dynasty that sprawled much of modern-day Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos between the ninth and 15th centuries.

After the pieces turned up in Britain, the Cambodian government lobbied for their return and with the help of specialists spent more than a year inspecting the items to make sure they were genuine.

Officials proudly welcomed the jewellery back to the country Saturday as the items were accompanied from the airport by hundreds of people and flanked by security guards.

“This is a successful mission of all Cambodians, including diplomats and people who love the arts and antiques. Everyone is happy,” Chuch Phoeun, secretary of state at Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, told AFP.
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5093537/loo ... -cambodia/

The 10-piece set, which includes a crown, earrings, armbands and a chest ornament, was stolen from Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple during the kingdom’s civil war in the 1970s and was discovered in the online catalogue of a London art dealer last year.

I wonder what the story is here! Where the just put in safe keeping?

AndyKK wrote: ↑Sun Dec 03, 2017 5:35 pmI wonder what the story is here! Where the just put in safe keeping?

If the Cambodian govt had to lobby for their return, no.

Sotheby's was also named in cases of auctioning Angkorian items, in NYC, iirc.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/arts/ ... hebys.html

vladimir wrote: ↑Sun Dec 03, 2017 6:26 pm

AndyKK wrote: ↑Sun Dec 03, 2017 5:35 pmI wonder what the story is here! Where the just put in safe keeping?

If the Cambodian govt had to lobby for their return, no.

Sotheby's was also named in cases of auctioning Angkorian items, in NYC, iirc.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/arts/ ... statue-is-seized-from-sothebys.html

Archaeological experts cited by investigators said strong evidence indicates it was plundered during the upheavals of the Cambodian civil war in the 1970s.
On Nov. 8, 2010, Sotheby’s did notify a Cambodian minister about the planned sale and, receiving no reply, arranged to auction the statue in spring 2011, the complaint said. But on March 24, 2011, the day of the auction, the secretary general of Cambodia called on Sotheby’s to withdraw the item, claiming “it is believed that this statue was illegally removed from the site.”
Its all about the wording, before and after.
Would you agree the items were sold by the leaders of the country at the time. Or passed on only for safe keeping for the time of the unrest.

NY art dealer arrested for selling stolen Asian artefacts.
post157211.html

The items were sold by whom?

Lon Nol or Pol Pot? I doubt it.

Safekeeping? Then there should be documentation by a govt agency, or record of receiver, right?

Let's ID the seller first, a Khmer selling something he/she stole does not equate to the leader of the country selling it.

In fact, we don't even know if it was a Khmer who started the process, it may well have been a foreigner

vladimir wrote: ↑Sun Dec 03, 2017 7:31 pm The items were sold by whom?

Lon Nol or Pol Pot? I doubt it.

Safekeeping? Then there should be documentation by a govt agency, or record of receiver, right?

Let's ID the seller first, a Khmer selling something he/she stole does not equate to the leader of the country selling it.

In fact, we don't even know if it was a Khmer who started the process, it may well have been a foreigner

Archaeological experts cited by investigators said strong evidence indicates it was plundered during the upheavals of the Cambodian civil war in the 1970s. Was there western people around the temples at this time?

AndyKK wrote: ↑Sun Dec 03, 2017 7:34 pm

vladimir wrote: ↑Sun Dec 03, 2017 7:31 pm The items were sold by whom?

Lon Nol or Pol Pot? I doubt it.

Safekeeping? Then there should be documentation by a govt agency, or record of receiver, right?

Let's ID the seller first, a Khmer selling something he/she stole does not equate to the leader of the country selling it.

In fact, we don't even know if it was a Khmer who started the process, it may well have been a foreigner

Archaeological experts cited by investigators said strong evidence indicates it was plundered during the upheavals of the Cambodian civil war in the 1970s. Was there western people around the temples at this time?

Probably plundered by Cambodians, sold for almost nothing at the Thai border, and then sold for big money in Bangkok.