Appendix 2. Dealer Biographies

b. 1938, active 1970s–90s. Galerie Palladion (also known as Antike Kunst Palladion, Palladion Antike Kunst); Palladion Ancient and Fine Art AG; all Basel, Switzerland

Address Rennweg 51, Basel, Switzerland (1970s)

Born and raised in Sicily (Castelvetrano), Becchina moved to Basel in the 1970s, where he sold antiquities to dealers, private collectors, museums, and auction houses through his gallery, Galerie Palladion (one catalogue was produced in 1976, together with limited advertisements in publications such as Apollo and Weltkunst in the mid- to late 1970s). Becchina is known to have obscured his sources through aliases, such as “Anna Spinello” (his sister’s married name),⁸ and falsified provenances, notably the “Lauffenbruger collection” for the Getty Kouros⁹ and the collection of a “Karl Haug” in Basel (with Hotel Helvetia letterhead) for works that have since been returned to Italy.¹⁰ In the mid-1990s Becchina moved back to Castelvetrano, while his wife Ursula (née Juraschek; known as “Rosie”) remained in Switzerland.¹¹ Becchina’s name appears on the organigram, and he has been charged in Italy of conspiracy and dealing in stolen antiquities.¹² The Carabinieri and Swiss police raided Becchina’s facilities in 2002 (and 2005), recovering thousands of objects, photographs, and documentation. Becchina’s confiscated archives contain evidence for ongoing investigations, so these documents have not yet been made public, but they have been shared with select law enforcement and researchers.¹³ The Becchina dossier confirms that Becchina sold mostly through Sotheby’s London, with some works sold through Christie’s London, and that he maintained close relations with dealers George Ortiz and Jerome Eisenberg as well as institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Dietrich von Bothmer); the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Cleveland Museum of Art (Arielle Kozlov); and the Louvre.¹⁴

1913–2003, active 1950s–80s. Gallery in Basel, Switzerland; Galerie Archéologie, Paris, France

Addresses 25 Admiral Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (ca. 1950s); Archéologie Classique et du Proche-Orient, Angensteinerstrasse 7, Basel, Switzerland (ca. 1960s–); Galerie Archéologie, 40 Rue du Bac, Paris (ca. late 1960s–)¹⁵

Borowski, born in Warsaw, Poland, was a specialist in Near Eastern art. He received his doctoral degree from the University of Geneva in 1946 and then moved to Toronto in 1948 for a fellowship with the Royal Ontario Museum. He worked as a consultant for ancient art dealers and collectors, meanwhile building up a personal collection, and in the late 1950s he set up his own gallery in Basel, Switzerland, with a subsidiary in Paris. Borowski advertised both locations in publications like The Burlington Magazine, L’Oeil, catalogues produced for the Biennale des Antiquaires (organized by the Syndicat National des Antiquaires) and later in Apollo and Antike Kunst (primarily 1960s) specializing in classical and Near Eastern archaeology. The Paris branch operated under Nina Borowski in the 1970s–80s until she moved the gallery to Geneva in 1995 (16, rue de la Corraterie).¹⁶ Borowski sold objects to museums and private collectors especially in North America and Europe, and his personal collection has been exhibited, partially sold at auctions, and donated to museums.¹⁷ Dieter Widmer (1918–2011) photographed works for Borowski in Basel, and this photo archive has been preserved (see Dieter Widmer in Appendix 1, under “Dealers”). Borowski’s name appears in the organigram, connecting him to Robert Hecht.¹⁸ In 1985 Borowski and his wife Batya (née Weiss) founded the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem for his collection, and they moved to Jerusalem upon the museum’s opening in 1992. After his death in 2003, Borowski’s personal collection continued to be published by specialists; a memoir, based on interviews and edited by John Boardman, was published in 2017.¹⁹

1883–1947, and brothers Imre Brummer (1889–1928) and Ernest Brummer (1891–1964), active 1920s–40s. The Brummer Gallery, Paris and New York

Addresses Brummer Frères / Brummer Curiosités, 3 Boulevard Raspail, Paris (1911–20s); 36 rue de Miromesnil, Paris (1920s); 27 East 57th Street, New York (1920s); 53 East 57th Street, New York (and other locations)

Joseph and his brothers Imre and Ernest were art dealers, originally from Austria-Hungary. Joseph relocated to Paris and founded the Brummer Gallery in 1906. Imre and Ernest joined Joseph in Paris in 1911, and in 1914 Joseph and Imre moved to New York to establish an American branch, which opened in 1920.²⁰ Over the next four decades, the Brummers acquired and sold thousands of objects, including African art, classical and pre-Hispanic antiquities, art of the Middle Ages, Baroque and Renaissance decorative arts, and works of modern art. Clients included private collectors, dealers, universities, and museums in Europe and America. Their gallery played a large role in building the collections of Henry Walters, William Randolph Hearst, Grenville Winthrop, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Joseph maintained the New York gallery until his death in 1947, and his personal collection was sold by Parke-Bernet in 1949.²¹ After Ernest Brummer’s death, part of his collection was sold at auction in 1964, a selection of medieval works was acquired by Duke University in 1966, and his widow, Ella Baché Brummer, sold the rest at auction in 1979.²² While the catalogues of these later auctions sometimes include some provenance information, the Brummer Gallery records, which have been partly digitized by the Metropolitan Museum, include accession cards and inventories with detailed purchase and sale history notes.²³ With increased access, studies on the archive have been presented and published; and works connected to the Brummer Gallery continue to appear on the art market (see Joseph Brummer in Appendix 1, under “Dealers”).²⁴

Active late 1950s–80s, also as Jeanette Brun; Jeannette G. Brun. Zurich

Address 119 Dufourstrasse, Zurich, Switzerland; 15 rue des Grands Augustins, Paris, France (by 1960s)²⁵

Earliest advertisements in the late 1950s describe Brun’s gallery as focusing on sculpture, but by the 1960s she was carrying a broad general stock of classical antiquities, specializing in high-quality Greek, Roman, and Etruscan works. Brun advertised widely in European and American publications (Apollo, The Art Quarterly, The Burlington Magazine, L’Oeil, Antike Kunst, Die Weltkunst) and sold primarily to institutions, museums, and high-profile collectors.²⁶

1915–2002, active 1940s–80s. Münzen und Medaillen AG, Basel; H. A. C. Kunst der Antike, Basel (1988–)

Address Malzgasse 25, Basel, Switzerland

Herbert Cahn, a numismatist, professor of ancient art, and coin dealer, was born in Frankfurt am Main to a family with a long history in numismatics. Cahn’s grandfather, Adolph E. Cahn (1839–1918) had established a coin dealer house by 1890, later managed by Cahn’s father Ludwig Theodor Cahn (1877–1924). Herbert and his brother Erich (1913–1993) relocated to Switzerland in 1933, where they each established numismatic firms and in 1942 jointly founded Münzen und Medaillen AG Basel, which became one of the most important dealers of ancient coins. The firm also sold antiquities, with extensively researched scholarly catalogues specializing in Greek antiquities, terracottas, and decorated vases. To reach American buyers, Cahn partnered with the André Emmerich Gallery in New York, presenting several sale exhibitions between 1965 and 1970. He helped establish the journal Antike Kunst in Basel in 1956 (published 1958 to the present) and, with Leo Mildenberg, the series Typos (1975–82). Cahn also maintained a personal collection of vase fragments, acquired from the 1950s onward, which have been published and exhibited.²⁷ Cahn established his own ancient art firm in 1988, H. A. C. Kunst der Antike, which his son Jean-David Cahn took over and absorbed into his own company, Galerie Cahn, in 1999; this is still active and retains the firm’s archives from 1930, with significant holdings from 1954–86.²⁸ Herbert Cahn acquired from art dealers in Italy, and in 1961 he was charged with receiving stolen property. According to Robert Hecht’s memoir, Cahn had bought objects from dealers in Rome and “did not realize or did not want to realize” he was dealing in contraband.²⁹

1921–2002, active 1960s–80s. London

Addresses Charles Ede Ltd., 37 Brook Street, London (1971–2014); 1 Three Kings’ Yard, London (2014–); https:​/​/​www​.charlesede​.com

Charles Ede, born in Kent, England, focused in his early career on publishing and fine art sales. In 1947 he founded the Folio Society, a publisher of literary classics in affordable editions, sold by mail-order membership. With the success of the Folio Society, Ede established the Collector’s Corner (later Folio Fine Art) in 1960, an offshoot mail-order catalogue that offered manuscript leaves, Old Master prints, and occasionally antiquities.³⁰ Gradually, these catalogues shifted to focus more on ancient art.³¹ In 1971 Ede sold his publishing firm and became a full-time antiquities dealer, establishing his gallery, Charles Ede Ltd., and in 1976 published an introductory guide to collecting, primarily for collectors of limited means.³² Ede produced more than two hundred mail order catalogues, some specializing in specific areas like Roman glass, ancient writing, Cypriot pottery, small sculpture from Egypt, Greek and Roman terracottas, and Athenian pottery. Ede’s son James Ede, who began working for the gallery in 1977, was appointed managing director in 1986. Charles Ede continued to contribute research to acquisitions and catalogues until his death in 2002. The gallery continues to operate as Charles Ede Antiquities Gallery and regularly produces sales catalogues.

1930–2022, active 1950s–2020. Royal-Athena Galleries, New York

Addresses 107 West 43rd Street (1960s), 1066 Madison Avenue (1970s), 153 East 57th Street (–2020), all New York; https:​/​/​royalathena​.com

Based in New York City, Eisenberg started selling ancient coins in 1942 through his father Samuel A. Eisenberg’s coin business, Sage Coin Company, also known as Royal Coin Company; Samuel founded Sage Coin Company and Royal-Athena Galleries in Miami, ca. 1958. Jerome subsequently opened Royal-Athena Galleries in New York, initially specializing in ancient coins and broadening to antiquities more generally by 1954 (earliest catalogues published 1956; Art of the Ancient World catalogues published 1965–2019, vols. 1–30). As the gallery’s director, Eisenberg traveled regularly to Europe, Egypt, and the Near East, purchasing from local dealers, agents, and auction houses. In the 1970s Eisenberg also opened a gallery for wide-ranging collectibles (Collector’s Cabinet, 143 East 57th Street, New York)³³ and worked with Alex G. Malloy, a coin collector and dealer of minor arts with a shop in New York (active 1970–80). Royal-Athena set up additional offices in London (with B.A. Seaby Ltd.) and in Beverly Hills, California. According to his gallery’s website, Eisenberg purchased more than forty thousand antiquities and sold eight hundred works to museums in the United States and Europe.³⁴ The gallery advertised itself as offering a wide range of antiquities, from museum-quality pieces to minor arts, at competitive prices. Royal-Athena Galleries closed in 2020, and the remaining inventory was transferred to Hixenbaugh Ancient Art Ltd., New York.³⁵

1924–2007, active 1954–98. André Emmerich Gallery; André Emmerich Inc., New York (1954–98); Zurich (1972–96)

Addresses 18 East 77th Street (–1954), 17 East 64th Street (1956–59), 41 East 57th Street (1959–98), 420 West Broadway (1971–98), all New York; https:​/​/​www​.emmerichgallery​.com

Born in Germany, Emmerich immigrated to the United States in 1940 and in 1954 established his New York gallery, specializing in classical antiquities and pre-Hispanic art. In the 1960s the gallery expanded to include contemporary painting and sculpture. Emmerich’s gallery hosted exhibitions on pre-Hispanic and Mediterranean antiquities from the 1960s onward, and for some partnered with Herbert Cahn of Münzen und Medaillen, AG.³⁶ The Emmerich archives, held by Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution, include correspondence and object lists related to the exhibitions, catalogues, and sales (see André Emmerich in Appendix 1, under “Dealers”).³⁷

1921–1994, and son Carlo-Maria Fallani, active 1970s–present. Fallani, Rome; Antichità Archeologia Numismatica, Rome

Address Via del Babuino 58A, Rome

Giorgio Fallani was born in Rome to a family with a long history in the antiquities trade. Fallani’s great-uncle, Oreste Fallani, founded Galleria Fallani in Rome in 1872. From the 1920s the family operated a gallery at Via del Babuino, 58, with Giorgio managing the business from the 1950s.³⁸ His son Carlo-Maria Fallani joined the business in 1969 and took over management after his father’s death in 1994. The business is still active at its Rome address; it does not produce sales catalogues or have a website.³⁹

1919–2012, active 1950s–90s; also as Bob Hecht, or REH. Rome (1947–early 1970s); Hesperia Art, New York (1950s–70s); Paris (1974–2012); Atlantis Antiquities Ltd., New York (1984–late 1990s); Hesperia Arts Auction, New York (1990)

Addresses Hesperia Art, 300 East 57th Street, New York; Atlantis Antiquities Ltd., 40 East 69th Street, New York

Robert Hecht, from Baltimore, Maryland, studied classics at Haverford College until 1941 and in 1946 began graduate studies at the University of Zurich. In 1947 he accepted a two-year fellowship at the American Academy in Rome and remained in Rome to become an antiquities dealer full-time. He made his first major sales in the early 1950s, including the collection of Ludwig Curtius (1874–1954), the former director of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (German Archaeological Institute) in Rome, and a South Italian vase to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (50.11.4).⁴⁰ While residing in Rome, around 1951 Hecht established a small antiquities firm in New York, Hesperia Art. A few years later he partnered with George R. Allen of Philadelphia to produce The Hesperia Art Bulletin (1957–72): sales catalogues of minor antiquities and coins, which Hecht wrote and Allen distributed.⁴¹ Although based in Rome until the early 1970s and then Paris from 1974, Hecht moved constantly between his so-called “source countries”: Turkey, Italy, Greece, and Lebanon, and the markets of Munich, Zurich, London, and New York. Famously, in 1972 Hecht sold the Euphronios krater (see fig. 5) to the Metropolitan Museum; the vase was restituted to Italy in 2006.⁴² Fritz Bürki, the Zurich-based conservator who restored the Euphronios krater, worked for Hecht and Giacomo Medici as a restorer and dealer. Hecht started working with Bruce McNall in 1975, supplying antiquities to his Beverly Hills, California, firms Numismatic Fine Arts and Summa Gallery. In the 1980s Hecht partnered with financier and collector Jonathan Rosen to operate his own gallery, Atlantis Antiquities, in New York.⁴³ In addition to these public ventures, Hecht sold directly to museums and private collectors, and also served as a middleman for others active in the market.⁴⁴ Hecht was regularly under investigation for selling illicit antiquities both in Italy (between 1961 and 1978 with Herbert Cahn and George Ortiz, and between 2005 and 2012 with Marion True; he was banned from the country 1973–82) and in Türkiye (banned from the country 1968–80). His name appears at the center of the organigram, connecting him to Gianfranco Becchina and Giacomo Medici, who are known to have been involved in the trafficking of looted antiquities, and also the dealers Elie Borowski, Nicolas Koutoulakis, George Ortiz, and Frieda Tchacos. Hecht died in Paris in 2012.

1868–1951, active 1880s–1950, also as Dikran Khan Kélékian. Istanbul, Paris, London, Cairo

Addresses Le Musée de Bosphore, 303 Fifth Avenue, New York; 10 rue Rossini and 2 Place Vendôme, Paris; 709 Fifth Avenue, 598 Madison Avenue, 20 East 57th Street, and 32 East 69th Street, all New York

Born in Kayseri, Türkiye, and of Armenian heritage, Dikran Garabed Kelekian was a collector and dealer of ancient, medieval, Chinese, and Islamic art. He was based in Constantinople, now Istanbul, from 1885 until the 1890s, when he moved to Paris to continue his studies, opening a gallery there in 1891.⁴⁵ Dikran opened another gallery in Istanbul with his brother Kevork Kelekian the following year. In 1893 he traveled to the United States for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, serving as the commissioner of the Persian Pavilion. In 1902 he was appointed consul of Persia in New York and ran a gallery known as Le Musée de Bosphore out of his consulate office on Fifth Avenue. He established additional galleries in London and Cairo, while maintaining a personal collection of Islamic art, textiles, ceramics, and modern French paintings.⁴⁶ He advised major collectors, many with museum connections, notably Henry Walters, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Charles Lang Freer, and Metropolitan Museum of Art president George Blumenthal and donors Harry and Louisine Havemeyer, among others.⁴⁷ After Dikran’s death in 1951, his son Charles Dikran Kelekian (1900–1982) managed the New York business. The Kelekian archives are held by the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and additional correspondences are preserved in other archives (see Dikran G. Kelekian in Appendix 1, under “Dealers”).⁴⁸

1906–1995, active 1950–74. J. J. Klejman Gallery, New York

Addresses 8 West 56th Street, New York (early 1950s); 982 Madison Avenue, New York (late 1950s–1970s)

Born in Poland, Klejman grew up in Warsaw and completed his studies in African art at the Sorbonne in Paris.⁴⁹ He returned to Warsaw and ran an art gallery specializing in European decorative arts, which was closed during World War II when Klejman and his family were forced to live in the Jewish ghetto. After the war, he reopened the shop in Warsaw at a different location, but in 1947 left with his family and lived in Sweden, then Mexico. In 1950 Klejman settled in New York and opened a gallery that offered African and Oceanic art as well as Mediterranean antiquities. Klejman sold to private collectors like Nelson Rockefeller, John and Dominique de Menil, and John F. Kennedy, and museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Cleveland Museum of Art. Famously, Klejman and the Swiss dealer George Zachos sold the Lydian Hoard, also known as the Karun Treasure, to the Metropolitan Museum in the late 1960s, as discussed in Rose’s chapter in this volume. The treasure had been looted from a tomb in the Uşak region of Türkiye in 1966, but Klejman claimed he purchased it that year in two European cities from “traders.”⁵⁰ After nearly ten years of legal disputes, the museum agreed to return the objects in 1993.⁵¹ According to Robert Hecht’s memoir, in at least one instance Klejman acted as a middleman for George Ortiz, who bought objects from illicit antiquities traffickers in Italy, to sell an Etruscan bronze candelabrum to the Metropolitan Museum.⁵² Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in the 1970s, Klejman retired by 1976, and his business records have not been preserved.

1909–1984, active 1930s–1984. Komor Gallery, New York

Address 19 East 71st Street, New York

Born in Hungary, Komor received his doctorate from the University of Grenoble in France and worked as an art dealer in Beijing in the 1930s, until the outbreak of World War II forced him to relocate to the United States.⁵³ In 1941 he established a New York gallery that specialized in Chinese antiquities, Japanese painting, art of the ancient Mediterranean, and African art. Komor had connections to the Asian antiquities trade through his time with Kuhn & Komor, a long-established firm founded by a family relation. One of the few New York dealers to sell antiquities from Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas, the gallery sold to a range of clientele, including museums, notably the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The gallery was active until Komor’s death in 1984. Although the gallery’s business records are not preserved, selections of the photographic archives, with limited annotations, and some associated papers are held by the Getty Research Institute (GRI) in Los Angeles (see Mathias Komor in Appendix 1, under “Dealers”).⁵⁴ The bulk of this archive contains photographs of objects that the gallery purchased and sold, with additional photographs for study and comparison.

1910–1996, active ca. 1950–90s. Paris and Geneva

Addresses 4 Rue de l’Échelle, Paris (address of Galerie Ségrédakis; used by Koutoulakis ca. 1950–70s); 3 Chemin de Conches, Geneva, Switzerland (ca. 1960s–90s)

Born in Greece, Koutoulakis moved to Paris in 1922, where he joined his uncle, art dealer Emmanuel (Manolis) J. Ségrédakis (1890–1948), the owner of Galerie Ségrédakis. After inheriting his uncle’s gallery, Koutoulakis based his operations in both Paris and Geneva, eventually settling in Geneva and specializing in antiquities, notably Cycladic, Greek, Roman, and Egyptian. In the 1960s he acquired many objects from the collection of Louis de Clercq (1836–1901) through de Clercq’s heir Henri de Boisgelin.⁵⁵ Around the same time, he owned Cycladic material later associated with the Keros hoard.⁵⁶ In Geneva, Koutoulakis often used the art photography studio of Gad Borel-Boissonas to produce photographs of objects for potential buyers. He advised private collectors and art historians, including Charles Gillet, J. Paul Getty, Norbert Schimmel, George Ortiz, Leon Levy, Dietrich von Bothmer, Bernard V. Bothmer, and Bernard Ashmole, and he sold and donated objects to museums in North America and Europe.⁵⁷ Koutoulakis’s name appears in the organigram, connecting him to the trade of illicit antiquities; some works from his collection have been repatriated.⁵⁸ His wife Mireille Thîlot (1924–1996) and their three children, Emmanuel, Ariane, and Daphne, are associated with works from his collection. In the 1990s his daughter Daphne Koutoulakis opened her own gallery in Geneva, Galerie Khnoum, and remained active in the art trade.⁵⁹ Koutoulakis’s advertisements (not illustrated) appeared in Antike Kunst, but he did not produce sales catalogues nor retain records; institutions and private collectors may hold archived correspondences.⁶⁰

b. 1950, active 1970s–90s. Numismatic Fine Arts, Encino, California; Beverly Hills, California (1970–90); Summa Galleries, Beverly Hills, California (1974–90); Athena Fund I, Athena Fund II, and Numismatic Fine Arts World Coin Fund (ancient art limited partnerships) (1986–90); Hesperia Arts Auction Ltd., New York (1990)

Address Summa Galleries, 342 North Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, California

A Los Angeles native, Bruce McNall started collecting coins at a young age while working at a small coin shop. McNall continued building up a collection as an investment while a student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and started working for the coin dealer Joel Malter.⁶¹ McNall traveled to Europe and made connections with dealers, notably Leo Mildenberg and Robert Hecht, while supplying coins to Los Angeles collectors and investors, notably Seymour (Sy) Weintraub.⁶² By 1970, Joel Malter had bought the established mail-order coin firm Numismatic Fine Arts from Edward Gans, and in 1974 McNall bought the business name for his own coin firm. That same year he partnered with Robert Hecht to found Summa Gallery in Beverly Hills, offering a wider range of antiquities. Jane Cody, a University of Southern California (USC) classics professor and McNall’s wife by 1983, wrote sales catalogues for Summa Galleries from 1978 to 1984. In his memoir McNall admits that he was well aware of Hecht’s connections to smugglers and middlemen and acknowledges his own role in moving illicit antiquities.⁶³ Through Summa Gallery, McNall sold to private collectors, notably Nelson Bunker Hunt and Herbert Hunt,⁶⁴ and museums including the Getty Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In 1990 he revived Robert Hecht’s New York business Hesperia Art, with partner Jonathan Rosen, as Hesperia Arts Auction Ltd., for a special sale, with Summa Gallery, Atlantis Antiquities, and Athena Fund as major consignors.⁶⁵ McNall broadened his business investments to television, race horses, and sports teams, but ultimately he overvalued various assets and in 1997 was convicted of bank fraud and conspiracy.

b. 1938, active 1960s–90s. Antiquaria Romana, Rome (1968–78); Hydra Galerie, also known as Galerie Hydra, Geneva (1983–90s)

Addresses Antiquaria Romana, Via del Babuino 94, Rome; Hydra Galerie, 2 Grand-Rue, Geneva

Giacomo Medici was born in Rome. His parents ran a stall at the Piazza Borghese market, selling minor antiquities from nearby excavations, both permitted and illicit.⁶⁶ Building on his family’s connections, Giacomo established himself as a professional antiquities dealer; in the 1960s he supplied artifacts to Pesciotti, a pharmacist and collector in Rome, and quickly branched out to international networks.⁶⁷ In 1968 Medici opened a gallery in Rome, Antiquaria Romana, which he ran for ten years. Medici met the well-established dealer Robert Hecht in the late 1960s and eventually became Hecht’s “faithful supplier.”⁶⁸ In 1971 Medici reportedly bought the illegally excavated Euphronios krater from tombaroli (tomb raiders), and shortly thereafter sold it to Hecht in Switzerland.⁶⁹ In the late 1970s Medici partnered with Christian Boursaud of Geneva to consign antiquities at Sotheby’s London, and in 1983 they opened Hydra Gallerie in Geneva.⁷⁰ Medici bought Editions Services in 1986 and used other front companies, including Mat Securitas and Arts Franc, to sell and buy works through Sotheby’s.⁷¹ Provenances were fabricated, notably the fictitious “Zbinden collection,” which was used for fragments of a kylix sold to the Getty Museum (85.AE.385, which joined to 83.AE.362, deaccessioned in 1999) and other objects consigned to Sotheby’s.⁷² Medici had close connections to Robin Symes, and even shared a Geneva business address (7 Avenue Krieg) with Symes’s off-shore firm Xoilan Trader Inc. In 1995 authorities raided Medici’s Freeport warehouses in Geneva and discovered more than four thousand photographs documenting objects, many recently unearthed, that passed through Medici’s inventory.⁷³ Giacomo Medici’s name appears prominently on the organigram, a main branch linking illicit antiquities and the art market, and he was convicted in 2004 of trafficking illegally excavated artifacts.

1928–2020. Edward H. Merrin Gallery; The Merrin Gallery, New York

Address 724 5th Avenue, New York (current)

Born in Brooklyn, Edward Merrin first worked for his father’s jewelry company and in 1963 founded his own art gallery focusing on pre-Hispanic and classical antiquities. Merrin advertised extensively in Apollo, Connoisseur, and The New York Times, and exhibited at the Winter Antiques Show in New York. He bought from antiquities dealers, including directly from Gianfranco Becchina, and some works sold by Merrin were found to have been illegally excavated and have recently been subject to seizure and repatriation.⁷⁴ Merrin’s son Samuel Merrin (b. 1963) took over as director in 1987. The gallery is still active and produces sales catalogues.⁷⁵

1913–2001, active 1950–80s, with Bank Leu AG, Zurich

Address Bank Leu, Bahnhofstrasse 32, Zurich, Switzerland⁷⁶

Born in Kassel, Germany, Mildenberg studied ancient history and Semitic languages in Frankfurt until the outbreak of World War II, which forced him to flee to Estonia. In 1938 he completed his doctorate and moved to Zurich, Switzerland, in 1947, where he joined Bank Leu, a private bank, as a numismatist.⁷⁷ At Bank Leu, Mildenberg worked with Silvia Hurter to prepare catalogues, and from 1954 to 1969 the firm partnered with Adolph Hess AG in Lucerne to organize joint coin auctions. After 1971, the bank published its own catalogues, authored by Mildenberg. In 1973 he partnered with Herbert Cahn for a joint coin auction.⁷⁸ Although the expert on coins with Bank Leu, Mildenberg built up a personal collection of ancient artifacts depicting animals. The collection was published several times until its dispersal at Christie’s London in 2004 and 2005.⁷⁹

1939–2023, active late 1960s–early 2000s. Robin Symes Ltd., London (1977–)

Addresses 346 Kings Road, London SW3 (by 1969); 3 Ormond Yard, Duke of York Street, St. James’s, London, SW1 (1970s–80s)

Symes, born in Oxfordshire, England, by the late 1960s was running a shop together with his then-wife Laetitia Symes, on Kings Road, London, selling Early Modern antiques.⁸⁰ In 1969 they mounted what may have been his first exhibition to include ancient art—gold jewelry from the de Clercq-Boisgelin collections and Egyptian, Etruscan, and Greek works, shown alongside contemporary paintings.⁸¹ In the 1970s Symes partnered with Christo Michaelides, who provided financial support to expand the business, which began to specialize in antiquities. Symes published his first antiquities catalogue in 1971.⁸² In 1976 he established a Panama-based company, Xoilan Trader Inc., with his partner’s financial backing.⁸³ The next year, Symes established his own firm, Robin Symes Ltd., in London. Symes worked closely with dealers Robert Hecht, Giacomo Medici, and Frieda Tchacos. In addition to participating in a wide array of auctions, he sold to museums and high-profile collectors like Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman, Maurice Tempelsman, Lynda and William Beierwaltes, and Shelby White and Leon Levy. Beginning in the early 1970s, Symes advertised frequently in Apollo, often with objects illustrated.⁸⁴ In 1988 Symes sold the Morgantina Goddess to the Getty Museum (88.AA.76), its provenance fabricated; after a 2007 agreement with the Republic of Italy to return the statue, it remained on display at the Getty Villa until 2010.⁸⁵ Following the sudden death of Michaelides in 1999, Symes tried to retain all of their shared company assets, which led to a legal dispute with Michaelides’s family. An investigation into Symes’s business dealings revealed that he had lied about the extent and value of their collection; he was found guilty of contempt in 2005. The trial also revealed that Symes stored antiquities at thirty-three locations and had connections to the illicit antiquities trade. A 2006 raid on the Michaelides property on the Greek island of Schinoussa recovered a photographic archive of more than two thousand images of nearly a thousand high-quality antiquities—all objects handled by Symes and Michaelides.⁸⁶ Symes’s inventory also included works acquired at auction and on the market that might have longer collecting histories. In 2014 Italian and Swiss police jointly raided a Geneva storage unit rented by Robin Symes, and in 2016 revealed that it contained forty-five crates of antiquities, which were subsequently returned to Italy.⁸⁷

Active 1970s–90s, also as Frederique Tchacos-Nussberger or Nussberger-Tchacos. Galerie Uraeus, Paris (1970s–80s); Galerie Nefer, Zurich (1977–)

Addresses 24 Rue de Seine, Paris; Augustinergasse 14, Zurich, Switzerland

Born in Egypt and of Greek descent, Tchacos pursued her education in Europe, first in Geneva, then at the École du Louvre in Paris to study Egyptology. After her studies, Tchacos remained in Paris where she opened an art gallery and met dealers, including Nicolas Koutoulakis. By the mid- or late 1970s, Tchacos was the owner of Galerie Uraeus in Paris, which was active through the 1980s.⁸⁸ Proficient in multiple languages, including Arabic, she built up her reputation internationally and by 1977 established Galerie Nefer in Zurich. In the early 1980s she married Werner Nussberger, a Swiss jeweler and dealer from Baden, Switzerland. In the early 1980s her gallery was described as a high-end shop offering Greek, Roman, and Luristan art with a good selection of Egyptian material.⁸⁹ Galerie Nefer produced annual catalogues from 1982 to 1992 and specialized exhibition catalogues during the 1990s. Famously, in 1999 Tchacos bought the so-called Gospel of Judas manuscript that had surfaced in the 1970s, likely through illegal channels, and after failed sale attempts she ultimately arranged for the manuscript to be returned to Egypt.⁹⁰ Tchacos’s name appears in the organigram, connecting her to Robert Hecht and the trade of illicit antiquities. In 2002 Italian authorities arrested her in Cyprus, and she was found guilty of handling stolen artifacts.⁹¹

1882–1974, active 1920s–70s. Piero Tozzi Galleries, Florence and New York

Address 137 East 57th Street, New York

Tozzi was an antiquarian, artist, restorer, professor, and art dealer with galleries in Florence and New York, which focused on Italian decorative arts, sculpture, and painting but also sold antiquities to dealers, private collectors, and museums.⁹² The records of the Brummer Gallery have more than a hundred and fifty ancient object cards linked to Tozzi. The Piero Tozzi archive is held by the Onassis Library for Hellenic and Roman Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (see Piero Tozzi in Appendix 1, under “Dealers”).

1929–2012, active by 1954 and into 1980s, also as Mohammad Jägane; Mohammed Yegane; Manuchehr Jamali. Galerie für Griechische, Römische und Byzantinische Kunst, Frankfurt; Apollo Gallery, Frankfurt and London; also active in Stuttgart and La Mesa, California

Addresses Taunusstrasse 52,⁹³ Bundenweg 7, and Telemannstrasse 5, 6, all in Frankfurt, Germany; Alexanderstraße 112/1, Stuttgart, Germany; 75A Ridgmount Gardens, London WC1, England

Based in Frankfurt, Yeganeh dealt primarily in antiquities. The name of his wife, Gertrud Waltraud Lück-Flender, appears on some provenance documentation. He advertised in, among others, the Jahrbuch der Hamburger Kunstsammlunge, Die Weltkunst, The Burlington Magazine, and Apollo. Between 1969 and 1986 he sold dozens of antiquities to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, including the Herakles, which has since been returned to Türkiye, as discussed by Rose in this volume.⁹⁴ Yeganeh dealt in objects from a range of cultures, including Greek, Roman, Iberian, South Italian, East Greek, Roman Syrian, and modern objects, although Persian and Iranian objects were a focus. His gallery produced a small catalogue in 1971, which includes two objects donated to the Getty in 1974 and 1983.⁹⁵