Allegedly Looted antiquities at London Art Fair Turn Out Not To Be

HOWARD SWAINS

22nd October 2017

Anti-art-trade zealot Christos Tsirogiannis claimed that two Greek marble lekythoi on sale in London on behalf of the Swiss canton of Basel-Stadt, were stolen and therefore illegal to sell, despite the fact that the canton of Basel-Stadt received permission to sell the items from the Italian Carabinieri, who had sent back to Basel more than 1,000 antiquities from the original seizure of the Sicilian dealer Becchina's Swiss warehouse, stating that Italy had no legal claim to ownership of the pieces.