[MSN] New York art dealer Jerome Eisenberg returned eight pieces of ancient art valued at about $510, 000 to Italy, one of the first private gallery owners to turn over antiquities which the government says were illegally removed from the country.

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Art Dealer Eisenberg Returns Antiquities to Italy 

By Alessandra Migliaccio and Adam L. Freeman

 Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- New York art dealer Jerome Eisenberg returned eight
pieces of ancient art valued at about $510,000 to Italy, one of the first
private gallery owners to turn over antiquities which the government says
were illegally removed from the country. 

``I gave back the works for ethics and good will,'' Eisenberg said in a
telephone interview from the Basel Ancient Art Fair. His action, he said,
may convince other dealers to return objects of questionable provenance. 

Eisenberg, 77, is the founder and director of Royal-Athena Galleries in New
York and a dealer in Etruscan and Roman art. He helped Italian authorities
recover some items that already had been sold on to collectors, Italian
officials said at a press conference in Rome today. 

``The circle is tightening,'' said Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli. ``Not
only are museums returning items after complex negotiations, but collectors
and dealers are doing the same.'' 

Rutelli, 53, has been leading Italy's campaign to recover pilfered artworks.
His biggest success came in August when the J. Paul Getty Trust agreed to
hand over 40 antiquities, including a statue of Aphrodite that Italian
officials said had been looted from Sicily. Italy also has recovered works
from museums in Boston, Princeton and New York, Rutelli said. 

The items from Eisenberg include three bronze Etruscan statues, four vases
and a marble sculpture, said Giovanni Nistri, head of the cultural section
of Italy's military police. 

Spotted by Italians 

Italian authorities became aware of the pieces after spotting some of them
on display in Eisenberg's Royal-Athena Galleries. 

Eisenberg said increasing awareness about looted items on the international
market made his shopping more difficult. ``Our biggest problem is buying,
not selling,'' he said. 

Eisenberg has sold over 30,000 antiquities over the past 45 years to U.S.
and European museums, including some 500 works of ancient art, according to
a biography on the Web site of the Public Broadcasting Service program
Antiques Roadshow, for which he is an appraiser. 

Eisenberg said two of those works were last year shipped back to Italy when
Boston's Museum of Fine Arts repatriated the items purchased from his New
York gallery. 

To contact the reporters on this story: Alessandra Migliaccio in Rome at
amigliaccio at bloomberg.net ; Adam L. Freeman in Rome at
afreeman5 at bloomberg.net 

Last Updated: November 6, 2007 11:40 EST

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