Stolen Greek vase sent back home to Australia
MELBOURNE (AFP) – A 2,500-year-old Greek vase stolen 12 years ago from Melbourne University was returned to its owners yesterday after being found at an Athens antiquities sale, officials said. The Attic black-figure vase was taken from a cabinet at the university’s Faculty of Arts in 1990 and the thief has never been caught. The school had given up hope of retrieving the vase until Interpol found it up for sale in Athens last year. Chris McAuliffe, director of the university’s Ian Potter Museum of Art, said it was unclear if the person who tried to sell the vase in Athens knew it had been stolen. He declined to say how much the vase may have fetched. The vase, 32 centimeters (12.8 inches) tall and decorated with a warrior departing for battle, was purchased by the university in 1972 from a private Swiss collection.
