Following the coverage by the Guardian [1] on the Kouros returned to Samos by James Ede, another article has appeared in the Guardian copies of which have appeared in many regional papers across the US.
Athens News Agency have also covered the story.
From:
The Guardian [2]
Return of statue raises hopes in Greece
Helena Smith in Athens
Friday June 17, 2005
The GuardianHe’s got a broken nose, has been called ugly, and is barely 12cm tall. But that is not stopping Greeks welcomed the return from London of a 6th century BC bronze kouros, seized from the Aegean island of Samos by Nazi looters 60 years ago.
Yesterday, as the statue was unveiled at a ceremony in Athens, Greece’s culture minister Fani Palli-Petrallia said she hoped its repatriation would finally send a message to the British Museum.
That the pocket-sized figurine should return at all was thanks “not to a romantic philhellene” but James Ede, the London-based head of the International Association of Dealers in Ancient Art, she said.“I cannot thank Mr Ede without thinking of the Parthenon marbles at the British Museum,” Ms Petrallia told the assembled crowd. “We are waiting and hoping that, one day, Mr Ede’s move will be imitated by the British Museum.”
Mr Ede decided to return the statue after discovering that it had been part of a published collection of monuments at the archaeological museum on Samos until the second world war.
Following the fate of so many antiquities during the Nazi occupation, the kouros is believed to have been looted when the Germans bombarded the island in November 1943. After winding up in the possession of a private collector in Switzerland, Mr Ede’s antiquities firm acquired it earlier this year.
“We bought it from the collector’s Greek widow, but once I discovered it was stolen, I immediately got in contact with the embassy in London to alert them to the fact,” Mr Ede told the Guardian.
The authorities in Greece routinely offer rewards when antiquities are returned to the state. Every year, farmers invariably come forward to pick up a cheque after unearthing priceless monuments in their fields.
Mr Ede preferred to forfeit that right. Instead, he asked, that he be given a guided tour of the National Archaeological and Cycladic Museums, both of which had been closed the last time he visited Athens.
From:
Athens News Agency [3]
Friday 17, June 2005
Stolen bronze sculpture returned to GreeceA bronze kouros belonging to the Museum of Samos in Vathi was returned to the Culture Ministry on Thursday.
The sculpture had been bought by James Ed, a British antique dealer and president of the international antique dealers’ association, who was later informed by a friend that the sculpture belonged to the Museum of Samos.
The dealer contacted the Greek embassy in London and after verifying the information turned it over to the embassy.
The sculpture, which measures 11 cm high and is valued today at 30,000 British pounds, had been stolen from the museum during World War II.
The Cultural Attache of the Greek embassy in London, Victoria Solomonidou, gave the sculpture to Alternate Culture Minister Fani Palli-Petralia during a ceremony on Thursday.
Among those present at the ceremony were Ed and Secretary General of the Culture Ministry Christos Zahopoulos.
Solomonidou referred to the continuous efforts the Greek embassy in London is making regarding the return of stolen antiquities.
On her part, Petralia linked the return of the sculpture to the return of the Parthenon marbles, noting that a new museum is under construction which will hopefully showcase the marbles as part of its exhibit.