![]() ![]() The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired the silver in two lots over 19 from the antiquities dealer Robert Hecht, for a total sum of $2.7 million (Blouin Art Info 2010). The silver, consisting of 16 pieces including two small silver horns (Stille 1999: 63) and an emblem depicting the sea monster Scylla in sculptural relief (Singleton 2006), was then probably smuggled into Switzerland in around 1981 ( Brodie 1998: 7). It is believed that in around 1979-1980, the Morgantina silver, sometimes referred to as the Morgantina Treasure (Steele 2000), was removed from the site by looters possibly using metal detectors (Fleishman 2000). The exact location of the city was then not rediscovered until 1955, when archaeologists from Princeton University found various artefacts and remains including a die marked ‘MGT’ for Morgantina the first evidence to emerge of the settlement’s location (Carroll 2002).įor years the excavations have continued at Morgantina, led by American universities including Princeton University but later also the University of Virginia and Wesleyan University (Bell 2002: 201), but always with an awareness that tombaroli were also at work. Morgantina declined rapidly after supporting, Carthage in the Second Punic War in 211 BC (Singleton 2006). ![]() It is in central Sicily, close to the modern town of Aidone, however its exact location was lost for many years. The Hellenistic settlement of Morgantina was founded around 1000 BC (Wilkerson 2001: 64), part of the ancient Kingdom of Syracuse (Stille 1999: 58). A silver hoard removed from the Sicilian site of Morgantina by looters around in 1979/80 which was eventually purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. ![]()
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