Witchhunt frenzy to reclaim antiquities lacks proof

[caesar novus]

A Manhattan district attorney has in one year of office forced the return of a thousand antiquities, finally meeting with legal checks and balances from a Cleveland Museum for it's statue of Marcus Aurelius. How can provenance be upended so massively and suddenly unless it's a woke narrative that steamrollers past reasonable deliberation? To humble Cleveland, this is was a huge investment and point of pride and worth arguing that Turkey had no proof that the statue came from there: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-19/cleveland-museum-sues-over-seized-20-million-ancient-statue-ny-says-was-stolen

It's one thing to have due process with a genuine debate, but the attitude now seems to be guilty unless proven innocent. Museums seem eager to empty their shelves in a hurry to prove their virtue, vs blue collar Ohio city that knows the value of things hard won. I was just reading about how that attitude nourished it's rock musicians (R & R museum there). P.S. you may wonder why the top notch Cleveland sitcom "Drew Cary" show is no longer rerun, and it because they worked in so much local rock which subsequently became such classics that they cannot afford to license replay.

Edited October 20, 2023 by caesar novus

[caesar novus]

Here are interesting, more justified reclamation actions. Notice how the museum and the artifacts donor almost had to beat Italy over the head in order to check whether their stuff was stolen. Not the usual narrative of selfish artifact owners and vigilant enforcers:

https://tvpworld.com/71975995/italy-repatriates-looted-ancient-artifacts-from-us

https://tvpworld.com/73610023/spain-seizes-smuggled-ukrainian-gold-artifacts-worth-eur-60-mln

Edited October 23, 2023 by caesar novus