The Greek Ministry of Culture and Shelby White Conclude Agreement on
Return of Two Antiquities to Greece

Last update: 10:00 a.m. EDT July 11, 2008 -Market Watch


FORT LEE, N.J., Jul 11, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- An agreement was
concluded yesterday, July 10, 2008, between the Greek Ministry of
Culture and Shelby White. Ms. White is a philanthropist and antiquities
collector and has established the Institute for the Study of the Ancient
World at New York University which supports ancient studies.


Ms. White will return to Greece two antiquities from her collection
which, the Ministry contends, were illegally excavated and exported from
Greece and which Ms. White acquired in good faith.


The first object is the upper part of a grave stele depicting a warrior
and a youth dated to the early part of the 4th century B.C. The lower
part of the stele was found in the early 60's in a legal excavation of
the Greek Archaeological Service in a private field in Porto Rafti in
Attica and today is exhibited in the Vravrona Archaeological Museum. For
the first time after all those years the two parts of the stele can be
put together and exhibited in their place of origin for the sake of the
unity and integrity of the piece.


The second object is a bronze calyx krater dated approximately to 340
B.C. Greek archaeologists believe that the krater originates from
Pieria, Northern Greece, and was most probably found in illegal
excavations in a royal tomb in the area.


Both antiquities are very important, rare, and their repatriation will
take place within July 2008. They will first be exhibited in the
National Archaeological Museum in Athens and then be transferred to the
Museums corresponding to the areas were they came from.


SOURCE: Emerald Partners

For the Ministry of Culture:
Georgios Gavalas, + 30 210 8201306
(Directorate General of Antiquities &
Cultural Heritage, Hellenic Ministry of Culture)
gda@...
or
For Shelby White:
Emerald Partners
Fraser P. Seitel, + 201-784-8880,
yusake@...