The auction, ‘Nino’ and the marble anthemion
Kathimerini presents clues to the suspicious provenance of an artifact about to be auctioned and the actions of an Italian antiquities smuggler
It was October 1994 when a group of 12 police officers, including two Greeks, surrounded a white villa in a suburb of Munich. In the attic they found ancient vases, marble columns, statues and fragments of mosaics, as well as documents that recorded suspicious transactions in detail. In the basement they discovered a laboratory with magnifying glasses and chemicals, fully equipped for conservation work.
The biggest surprise that awaited them, however, was an indoor swimming pool, 1.5 meters deep. In there, they saw submerged antiquities. During the investigation, the owner of the villa, an Italian named Antonio Savoca, known as “Nino” in international circles, seemed somewhat nervous. Police officers from three countries were then on his doorstep.
Three decades later, his name is back in the spotlight as a piece of marble featuring an anthemion, a decorative floral relief, from the 4th century BC is said to have passed through his hands. An identical object is to be auctioned by Sotheby’s in the coming days in London.
The auction is set for Tuesday, December 3. The marble anthemion is listed as item 408 in the online catalogue and its price is estimated at between 30,000 and 50,000 pounds sterling. In its provenance history, the international auction house states that it belongs to a private collection in Switzerland, without naming it, and that it was “acquired in the early 1980s on the German art market.” However, Dr Christos Tsirogiannis, a leading expert in looted antiquities and trafficking networks, has evidence at his disposal that point to the sculpture’s suspicious origin. He matched the object with an antiquity that appears in Polaroid photographs and documents in the confiscated material of convicted Italian art dealer Gianfranco Becchina.
Similar matches from the same archival material have in the past led authorities around the world to repatriate antiquities that had been illegally exported from Greece and Italy. The evidence that the Greek archaeologist used and brought to the attention of Kathimerini is contained in one of the 140 files seized in 2002 from Becchina’s gallery in Basel, Switzerland. The file in question bears the initials “SAV,” and contains photographs and documents that correspond to his transactions with an intermediary, Antonio Savoca.
Using the same material in May 2017, Dr Tsirogiannis had matched another object a few days before it was auctioned by Sotheby’s and the story had been reported in Kathimerini. The object was a marble Attic funerary stele from 340 BC. In the file with the initials “SAV,” the stele was depicted in photos, in poor condition, leaning against a wall, with wooden boards covering its front side. The photos and other evidence testified to its possible illegal origin. At the time, Tsirogiannis had informed Interpol, Scotland Yard and the Hellenic Police about the funerary stele. In September 2018, following actions taken by the Ministry of Culture’s Directorate of Documentation and Protection of Cultural Goods, the column was handed over by the auction house to London’s Metropolitan Police and returned to Greece.
It was a typical example of an Attic stele dating to Classical times with a flower crown. On its body, under two relief rosettes, there was an inscription, probably with the name of the deceased, “ESTI[AIOS].” According to the announcement issued at the time by the Ministry of Culture, the column undoubtedly came from an ancient cemetery in Attica and “this particular type was exclusive to Attic sculpture workshops.”
In the same file containing the transactions between Savoca and Becchina, Tsirogiannis found photographs of a marble anthemion that looks identical to the one that is to be auctioned on Tuesday. In fact, on one page of this file, next to the anthemion, there is a photograph of the stele that was repatriated in 2018. According to other documents, the anthemion appears to have come into Becchina’s possession in 1978. Another file also notes its height, at 86 centimeters. The same dimension is also mentioned in Sotheby’s online catalogue.
“It’s the same case as the one in 2017, the same documents and the same evidence. The case speaks for itself. I hope it returns to our country as soon as possible,” says Tsirogiannis, who also heads the working group Illicit Antiquities Trafficking of the UNESCO Chair on Threats to Cultural Heritage and Cultural Heritage-Related Activities, at the Ionian University.
Asked about the object by Kathimerini, a representative from Sotheby’s asked for more information and did not respond with any clarifying statement. In the past, Sotheby’s and other auction houses have requested access to the confiscated Becchina archive. Tsirogiannis says that auction houses can send photographs of the objects they intend to sell to the competent state authorities to verify their origin.
But who was the mysterious “Nino,” whose name seems to be involved in this case? Investigative journalist Nikolas Zirganos, who has been looking into antiquities smuggling cases for years, came across the name by chance in 2006, when he was searching for more information about the Italian tomb robber Pietro Casasanta. “The striking thing is that Savoca was known to the Greek authorities since 1975, when he was 25. He had been arrested at that time with two Greek accomplices in Zurich for the theft of a Greek amphora,” he tells Kathimerini.
His name appears again in the following years in other police files in Italy and Greece, as there were suspicions that he was receiving illegally excavated objects from Greece. However, it was not until 1994 that the Greek authorities requested the legal assistance of the Germans, who carried out a raid on his home in the suburbs of Munich. According to information, after the raid, an arrest warrant was issued by Greece, which was ultimately not executed. It was not possible for Kathimerini to ascertain the reason. In 1998, Antonio “Nino” Savoca died of a heart attack at the age of 48.
In Greek court records, he is referred to as Greek-Italian and it is likely he had Greek roots through his mother. In May 1995, his 74-year-old father, Giuseppe, was arrested at the Elliniko airport before leaving for Germany with two suitcases loaded with antiquities. Police officers from the Antiquities Crime Investigation Department estimated at the time that the recipient of the objects would be “Nino” in Munich.
A man who had met Savoca twice, in Greece and abroad, tells Kathimerini that it was difficult for anyone to trust him. “He made a lot of fakes, clay ones were his forte,” he says, asking not to be named. “He gave you the impression that he knew everyone and that he bought everything.” As the same source says, the Italian middleman allegedly staged a robbery at his home to steal a decadrachm coin that a man from Izmir in Turkey had brought to him for appraisal. The coin allegedly later appeared at an auction in the United States.
Zirganos notes that the raid at the Munich villa led to the repatriation of some ancient objects. The Greek archaeologist who was later invited to Germany to examine the seized items estimated that of the 2,000 artifacts, approximately 200 could be of Greek origin. While that operation was set up on the initiative of the Greek authorities, the Germans also invited their Italian counterparts as observers, due to Nino’s nationality.
“The Italians got over 1,000 objects back, as well as the Savoca archive. As far as I know, we either didn’t get it then, or we didn’t use it,” Zirganos says. These transaction documents found in Munich were used in the following years by the Italian Carabinieri to unlock other investigations into the illegal trafficking of antiquities around the world.
The common journey of two antiquities
January 31, 1978
A marble anthemion is said to have passed into the possession of Italian art dealer Gianfranco Becchina. Information about its origin appears in a dossier of his transactions with the middleman Antonio Savoca, known as “Nino,” among Greek antiquities smugglers.
March 30, 1990
In documents that were discovered in the Becchina archive by antiquities expert Christos Tsirogiannis and brought to the attention of Kathimerini, the value of the sculpture is now estimated at between 40,000 and 60,000 Swiss francs.
September 7, 2018
Another inscribed marble stele that was about to be auctioned by Sotheby’s is repatriated to Greece, following action by the Greek Ministry of Culture. Tsirogiannis had identified the object and informed Interpol in May 2017.
December 3, 2024
The marble anthemion is expected to be auctioned by Sotheby’s. Tsirogiannis has matched it in photographs from the Becchina archive, which betray the suspicious past of the object. The evidence in question is in the same folder as the stele that was repatriated in 2018.
Source: ekathimerini.com
