Homeland Security investigations highlight repatriation of ancient coins to Greece. They are thousands of years old.
Feds return Greek coins seized from O’Hare
In a nondescript Lombard office building, fragments of ancient Greek history were returned to their rightful owner on Wednesday.
“These coins are very important to our cultural heritage,” Radiant Consul General Emmanuel Koubarakis said of the repatriation of 21 ancient coins discovered by the Chicago Office of Homeland Security Investigations.
Although the pieces were small – some no bigger than a pinky fingernail – the gesture was enormous. Now, rather than sitting in a private collector’s home, the pieces can be displayed to residents and tourists in Greece, Koubarakis said.
The pieces were discovered by Customs and Border Patrol agents while checking packages in 2000 at the international mail center at O’Hare International Airport.
A package marked “antique coins” made them suspicious. Turns out they weren’t just antiques, they were antiques.
They were sent from Austria. The pieces were purchased at auction.
Officials from Homeland Security Investigations and Customs and Border Patrol investigated the case.
It is not illegal to buy antiques, said R. Sean Fitzgerald, special agent in charge of the Chicago Office of Homeland Security. But you must have the correct provenance of the items to prove that they have not been stolen or looted.
The coins could have been stolen from Greece, he said. Antiquities are often looted during times of unrest, such as during World War I and World War II, he said.
Illegal antique sales are a multibillion-dollar industry, Fitzgerald said. He did not give a price for the 21 pieces, except to say they are worth thousands of dollars. He added that prices could reach “astronomical” heights if sold on the black market.
All of the coins featured on Wednesday are thousands of years old. At least one of them dates from around 500 BC, when Greece was inventing democracy. Each piece has a different person engraved on it.
“They (traffickers) are stealing the cultural heritage of a nation,” Fitzgerald said.
He said Chicago’s Homeland Security office has a unit dedicated to tracking down lost and stolen antiquities. It works with the State Department’s Cultural Heritage Center and the Smithsonian Institution to train agents, as well as FBI, customs agents and prosecutors.
Since the person who sent the coins is not being prosecuted, a judge ordered their confiscation. With this, the coins could be returned to Greece.
Some other coins from the shipment are still preserved, Fitzgerald said.
Emmanuel Koubarakis, Chicago Consul General of the Hellenic Republic of Greece, center, thanks Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Andy Melissaratos for his work repatriating ancient Greek coins.
Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Andy Melissaratos poses with ancient Greek coins. He helped with their repatriation.
Homeland Security Investigations officials highlighted the repatriation of ancient Greek coins during a ceremony Wednesday at the Homeland Security Office in Lombard. The pieces were discovered during an inspection of incoming packages at the international mail facility at O’Hare International Airport.
