Pictured: “Coffin Face”  

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., today announced the return of 10 antiquities collectively valued at $1.4 million to the people of Egypt. Eight of these artifacts were recovered pursuant to the Office’s investigation into the “Dib-Simonian” trafficking network. The 10 objects were returned during a repatriation ceremony with Ambassador Howaida Essam, the Consul General of Egypt in New York. Since 2022 the Office has returned 27 pieces to Egypt, collectively valued at more than $6.5 million.

“Egypt has an incredibly rich cultural history that we will not allow to be diminished by selfish looters and traffickers. I am proud that my Office has successfully returned more than 25 antiquities to Egypt in just over two years, and we look forward to continued work with our partners at HSI to protect cultural heritage all around the globe,” said District Attorney Bragg. 

“I would like to thank all members of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit for the significant role in the investigations that has contributed to the success of the return of these antiquities to their homeland. I am confident that our future cooperation will result in the repatriation of other national treasures that have been illegally smuggled out of Egypt” said Ambassador Howaida Essam.

“Today, we return 10 artifacts to the Republic of Egypt, including at least one that is believed to pre-date the construction of the Egyptian pyramids. These extraordinary pieces, some as small as two inches long, offer a glimpse into a robust world unlike anything that continues to exist,” said HSI New York Special Agent in Charge Ivan J. Arvelo. “HSI New York is honored to have played a part in returning these antiquities to their rightful owners. I thank our law enforcement partners and the Republic of Egypt for their continued unified efforts in identifying and challenging the injustices of years past.”

The information about the Dib-Simonian network was developed and shared by the Manhattan DA’s office with law-enforcement agencies around the world and has led to the indictment or arrest of nine individuals in France, including the former director of the Louvre Museum, as well as the head of the ring, Serop Simonian, who was extradited from Germany and jailed in Paris last fall.

Key items being returned today include:

• The Gilded Wood Coffin Face dates to c. 332-275 B.C.E. and was looted from the Nag el-Hissaya necropolis, a burial site for the priests and officials serving the nearby temple of Horus. The Coffin Face first surfaced in early 2001 in the possession of the Simonians, who, after cutting the face out from the larger coffin headdress, consigned it for sale to Christie’s in New York City. It went unsold at that auction and was returned to Kevork Simonian, a key member of the Dib-Simonian trafficking network, but was subsequently bought and sold by multiple US-based dealers over the next twenty years. It was seized by the Office from the Merrin Gallery in 2023.
• The Alabaster Royal Vase dates to c. 3100-2670 B.C.E. and was excavated by British Egyptologist Cecil M. Firth from the Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara between 1924-1935. The vase was inventoried and stored in the Saqqara magazine after its discovery but was subsequently stolen from that warehouse and smuggled out of Egypt. It next resurfaced with the disgraced British dealer Robin Symes, then passed through the hands of several private collectors before it was seized by the Office from the New York-based Merrin Gallery in 2023

Pictured: “Alabaster Vase”  

During District Attorney Bragg’s tenure, the ATU has recovered more than 2,000 antiquities stolen from more than 25 countries and valued at more than $250 million. Since its creation, the ATU has recovered more 5,750 antiquities valued at over $450 million and has returned more than 4,500 so far, with another half-dozen repatriations scheduled in the coming months.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos, Chief of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit and Senior Trial Counsel, supervised the investigations, which were conducted by Assistant District Attorneys James Edwards-Lebair, Christine DiDomenico, and Bradley Barbour; Supervising Investigative Analyst Apsara Iyer, Investigative Analysts Alyssa Thiel, Daniel Healey, and Hilary Chassé; and Special Agents Robert Mancene, Megan Buckley, and Robert Fromkin of Homeland Security Investigations. Investigative support was also provided by Stephane Blumel, Major de Gendarmerie, of France’s Central Directorate of Judicial Police’s Office for Combating Trafficking in Cultural Property (OCBC) and Silvelie Karfeld and Nicole Pogantke of the Arts and Antiquities Crimes Unit of Germany’s Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) Kunst und Kulturgutkriminalität.

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