NEW YORK, April 22 -- The Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court has upheld a jury decision that a valuable collection of ancient Roman silver should be returned to its British owner despite claims from Hungary and Croatia.
In a decision released Thursday, the appeals court affirmed the November verdict of a state Supreme Court jury in Manhattan, which concluded that Hungary and Croatia failed to prove the 1,400-year-old collection had been unearthed on their turf.
The two countries had claimed the collection, known in art circles as the Sevso Hoard, was taken abroad illegally by the British Marquess of Wolverhampton, Spencer Douglas David Compton.
Lebanon had earlier withdrawn its claim to the hoard after suing for possession on the grounds that the 14 engraved plates, vases, ewers, basins and buckets were unearthed in Lebanon in perfect condition in the 1970s and then disappeared.
The silver, whose value may be in the millions of dollars, is believed to have been made for a Roman general named Sevso who was assigned to the Balkans or the Middle East.
Possession of the missing hoard by Lord Wolverhampton became known when he announced plans to sell it at auction several years ago.
When Hungary, Croatia and Lebanon claimed the hoard, Wolverhampton countered that he had purchased the silver in a legitimate transaction with a European dealer, and the case became a cause celebre in the art world.
