Rare coin praising Caesar's murder returned
The 1st-century-BC Brutus coin, which portrays the Roman politician's assassination of Julius Caesar as a patriotic act, was excavated illegally and brought to London by two Greek citizens.
European law on stolen cultural items was used for the first time in Britain to secure its recovery.
The Greek Government took the unprecedented step of using a Council of Europe directive to claim back a national treasure.
A British dealer, who insisted yesterday he had bought the coin in good faith, handed it over to the Greek embassy in London.
Eric McFadden, the senior director of the Classical Numismatic Group, confirmed he had bought it from two Greeks nationals.
ne of them had allegedly been linked to Nino Savoca, an Italian dealer in Munich, who died in 1998 after being found to have been dealing in smuggled antiquities.
Mr McFadden, whose company is regarded as one of the world's leading specialists in Greek and Roman coins, said: "He did some work for Nino in the 1980s ... One doesn't refuse to deal with someone because he has a slightly shady background.
"One looks at the deal on the table. We're business people. If there's any indication something's not legitimate, we don't deal in it."
The silver denarius coin was minted in Greece in 42BC, when Brutus, in exile, was the self-styled Roman emperor after taking part in the killing of Caesar in 44BC.
Soon after the coin was minted, Brutus was defeated at the Battle of Philippi in Macedonia and committed suicide.
Such is the coin's importance that it was mentioned by the historian Dio Cassius, writing in the early decades of the 3rd century AD.
This example came to Britain last northern summer.
Two Greeks were stopped by Customs at England's Stansted airport. They claimed they had arrived to spend the day in London but carried little money.
When they returned to the airport in the evening, they were stopped again by Customs, when they were found to be carrying a large sum of cash in euros.
Customs determined that the cash was payment for a coin that they had sold that morning to the Classical Numismatic Group Inc.
The cash was seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act and Customs contacted the Greek embassy.
After research by its Ministry of Culture's unit against the illegal traffic of antiquities, the Greek Government was able to use a European directive on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a member state, which was passed into British law in 1994.
Alan Bercow, of Stephenson Harwood, British lawyers for the Greek Government, said: "These laws have been in force for over 10 years but this is the first time they have been used in Britain."
Victoria Solomonidis, the cultural counsellor at the Greek embassy, said the coin had been "safely delivered unconditionally" by the dealer into the hands of solicitors for the Government.
Praising the watchful eye and investigative powers of Customs officers, she criticised the dealer.
"He says they've always acted in a bona fide way." she said. "If this is bona fide, why did they buy it in the first place? Caveat emptor. They should have never bought a coin without provenance for cash."