The effects of looting are so interesting. It's good that the two known pieces of the original room were returned (and that they increased opinions on the reproduction!). I wonder which other priceless pieces of art and history are still in people's private collections (possibly without the holder even being aware of the origins after so many years).
I think it's more common than anyone wants to admit (or even knows). There was a gentleman who bought a genuine Faberge Imperial Easter egg for its scrap metal value. He loved it too much to have it melted down and one day some guest saw it and said "Oh, that looks like Faberge" and what do you know, it was one of the lost eggs.
There's a story they tell at the Peterhof Palace of a German tourist showing up and demanding to speak with the Director. He wouldn't say why, but then they got it out of him -- his father had been in the German Army and had taken a blue and white vase from the Palace during the war and he had it in his rucksack and wanted to return it. The Director was summoned.
The effects of looting are so interesting. It's good that the two known pieces of the original room were returned (and that they increased opinions on the reproduction!). I wonder which other priceless pieces of art and history are still in people's private collections (possibly without the holder even being aware of the origins after so many years).
I think it's more common than anyone wants to admit (or even knows). There was a gentleman who bought a genuine Faberge Imperial Easter egg for its scrap metal value. He loved it too much to have it melted down and one day some guest saw it and said "Oh, that looks like Faberge" and what do you know, it was one of the lost eggs.
There's a story they tell at the Peterhof Palace of a German tourist showing up and demanding to speak with the Director. He wouldn't say why, but then they got it out of him -- his father had been in the German Army and had taken a blue and white vase from the Palace during the war and he had it in his rucksack and wanted to return it. The Director was summoned.