The Metropolitan Museum of Art has surrendered looted antiquities worth more than $95 million since 2017, highlighting one of the largest ongoing restitution efforts by a major museum. The total includes more than 120 artifacts valued between $20,000 and $26 million, along with hundreds of smaller archaeological objects linked to international smuggling networks.
The latest transfers came in June, when investigators identified dozens of additional artifacts that had been improperly acquired. Among them were a 3,700-year-old Greek terracotta jug, a marble head from ancient Greece, a 2,000-year-old bronze statuette of Hermes from Turkey and an ancient Egyptian golden headpiece.
June recoveries add to growing restitution effort
According to The New York Times, the restitution effort has been carried out through cooperation between The Met and the Antiquities Trafficking Unit in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Authorities said recent advances in tracing international antiquities trafficking networks have helped investigators identify looted artifacts that entered museum collections decades ago. Many of those networks supplied museums and private collectors in the years following World War II.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has surrendered more than $95 million worth of looted antiquities since 2017, including artifacts linked to trafficking networks in Greece, Egypt, Italy and Turkey. The latest returns highlight the growing global effort to repatriate stolen objects. pic.twitter.com/SpE9MmGGDV
— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) July 8, 2026
Investigators subpoenaed records linked to acquisitions associated with suspected trafficking networks and dealers accused of providing incomplete or misleading ownership histories. They said the investigations also relied on dealer archives, private correspondence and statements from known looters.
After reviewing the evidence, authorities shared their findings with the museum, which agreed to transfer the identified objects for repatriation.
Museum records help identify looted artifacts
The Met established a dedicated provenance research team in 2023 to examine the ownership history of artifacts in its collection. The unit has since expanded to 12 specialists under Lucian Simmons, the former global head of restitution at Sotheby’s.
Investigators said The Met’s own curatorial records also played an important role in several cases. Condition reports and internal notes showed that some artifacts arrived at the museum still covered in dirt, evidence authorities said suggested they had been illegally excavated before entering the antiquities market.
The artifacts recovered in June originated from Italy, Greece, Egypt, Turkey and several other countries. They entered The Met’s collection between 1971 and 2001. The museum said the objects were not physically seized from its galleries. Instead, after they were identified as improperly acquired, The Met voluntarily transferred them to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to facilitate their return.
Provenance team expands its review
The museum said it has independently returned 18 antiquities to their countries of origin since 2017. It also helped arrange the 2022 transfer of ownership of more than 150 Cycladic antiquities from billionaire Leonard Stern’s private collection to Greece. Under the agreement, the sculptures remain on display at The Met through a 25-year loan.
Simmons said determining an artifact’s ownership history requires extensive research and that every object must be carefully assessed before restitution decisions are made.
Matthew Bogdanos, who leads the Manhattan District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit, questioned why prosecutors continued to identify problematic artifacts instead of the museum discovering them first, saying the repeated recoveries “spoke for themselves.”
Museum pledges continued transparency
The museum said it is committed to transparency and continues to update its online collections database to identify repatriated objects. It added that the returns have not affected its relationships with source countries, several of which continue to lend antiquities to The Met despite past restitution cases.
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