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Maori Panels – New Zealand and Ortiz Heirs
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In 1972, five rare Maori wooden panels were discovered in a swamp in New Zealand’s North Island. Shortly after the discovery, the panels were illegally exported out of the country by an antiquities dealer and then bought by Swiss collector George Ortiz. In 2014 New Zealand obtained the return of the Maori panels by virtue of an agreement with the heirs of Ortiz.
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Sevso Treasure – Lebanon et al. v. Marquess of Northampton
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The Sevso Treasure was consigned at Sotheby’s by the Marquess of Northampton in 1989. Sotheby’s released a press statement which said that the treasure would not be sold until all claims against it had been dealt with. Hungary bought seven pieces of the treasure in 2014, and a further seven pieces in 2017.
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Schiele Drawing – Grunbaum Heirs v. David Bakalar
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In 1938, the Nazi expropriated the art collection of Fritz Grunbaum while he was detained in Dachau concentration camp. In 1963, David Bakalar purchased a Schiele drawing that had belonged to the Grunbaum family from a gallery in Bern.
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Kennewick Man – Bonnichsen v. United States
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The skeleton of a 9,000 year old man was discovered on Federal territory near the city of Kennewick, Washington. Authorities decided to grant the request of five American Indian tribes, and transferred the remains to those tribes for burial. Several scientists, including Robson Bonnichsen, opposed the return and filed suit in the District Court of Oregon. Finding that evidence was not sufficient to link the remains to any present-day American Indian tribe, the District Court vacated the authority’s decision and ordered further examination of the remains. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the order on appeal.
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Three Grosz Paintings – Grosz Heirs v. Museum of Modern Art
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In April of 2009, after a decade-long search for artworks lost during Nazi persecution, George Grosz’s legal heirs brought action against the Museum of Modern Art, seeking declaration of title and replevin as to three of the artist’s paintings in the Museum’s possession, and requesting damages for their unlawful conversion. Holding that the action was time-barred by the statute of limitations, the District Court granted the museum’s motion to dismiss. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York affirmed the order on appeal, and the United States Supreme Court denied the Heirs’ writ of certiorari.
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The Night Café Painting – Morozov Heirs v. Yale University
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In 1908, Ivan Morozov, a Russian art collector, purchased Van Gogh’s painting “The Night Café”. The 1917 Bolshevik Revolution led to the nationalization of private property, and as such Morozov’s art collection was confiscated and subsequently sold.
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Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well – Gross-Eisenstädt Heirs and Museum de Fundatie
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In 1933, Jewish businessman and art collector Richard Semmel was forced to leave Berlin and sell parts of his art collection for economic survival. Among the works was the Italian painting Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well, which was bought by Dirk Hannema, a Dutch museums director. Since 1964, the painting has been in the Museum de Fundatie, which Hannema founded and to which he donated the painting.
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Stèles historiques – Galerie d’art c. Italie
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En 1980, des stèles historiques sont remises par la Suisse à l’Italie dans le cadre d’une procédure pénale ouverte en Italie. Une Galerie d’art suisse introduit une action en Suisse pour récupérer les stèles historiques. L’Italie se prévaut de son immunité de juridiction.
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View of the Asylum and Chapel at St. Rémy – Mauthner Heirs v. Elizabeth Taylor
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In 2007, the court battle over the van Gogh painting “View of the Asylum and Chapel at St. Rémy” came to an end when the United States Supreme Court denied a writ of certiorari, thereby finalising the decision of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Pasadina.
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View of Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer – Mauthner Heirs v. Switzerland
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Andrew Orkin sued the Swiss Confederation, the Oskar Reinhart Foundation and the Oskar Reinhart Collection in the United States in order to recover possession of the drawing “View of Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer”. Orkin alleged that his great-grandmother, Margarethe Mauthner, sold the painting under duress during the Nazi era.
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