‘Priceless national treasures’ were smuggled into US, feds say. They’ve been returned
A priceless ancient coin collection, with coins dating back to 81 BC, was discovered by United States Customs and Border Patrol agents in 2009, officials say.
Now, the collection was just returned to the government of Cyprus.
Agents found the coins while inspecting air cargo from London in April 2009, Customs and Border Patrol said. The coins were being shipped to a coin collector in Missouri, officials said.
“On behalf of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, I am honored to return these priceless national treasures to the government and citizens of Cyprus,” CBP Director of Field Operations in Baltimore Casey Durst said.
According to the agency, the coins were all from the Roman empire:
- “Two bronze coins from an unspecified Roman period
- “One coin from the Ptolemaeus period, 81 BC -58 BC
- “One coin from the Augustus period, 27 BC – 14 AD
- “Two coins from the Tiberius period, 14-37 AD
- “One coin from the Severan period, 193 AD – 217 AD”
Agents also found coins from China “determined to be from the Zhou, Han and Western Han dynasties, dating from 400 BC through 220 AD.”
“The coin collector lost a protracted legal challenge” to keep the artifacts, officials said.
“Customs and Border Protection will continue to use our border authority to identify and rescue precious antiquities being smuggled by those who profit on the theft of another country’s historical and cultural property, and return them to their rightful owners,” Durst said.
This story was originally published February 18, 2020 at 11:03 AM with the headline "‘Priceless national treasures’ were smuggled into US, feds say. They’ve been returned."
