CC-Villas - Blog

One of these days a man of 74 years of age was arrested in Rome. A man who, like many others, has been selling junk at the Roman flea-market Porta Portese. Better “informed” clients, however, were shown his treasures: truly antique pieces the most experienced man had plundered from graves and tombs in the area and thereafter restored himself most skilfully. He was arrested when on his way to one of his clients. The police found several bags full of antique pieces in the car. The investigation that followed in his domicile summed up 8.972 antique objects, all of which of Etruscan or Early Roman period origin: statuettes, vases, bowls and other, all of which of highest value – and, of course, public ownership, under a preservation, selling and export severely prohibited. Beyond that the officers found an extremely well equipped workshop for restorations of all kinds.
The news did not address the question since when and with which overall profit he had raised his pension that way. Interesting, as a bottom line, that a clever grave plunderer could find items in that number and quality still today, where everybody has been thinking all “had gone” by now