Bellingcat Stage Talk 2

Three Polaroid images from the confiscated Giacomo Medici archive which present an antiquity broken into pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Between 1976 and 1978, looters uncovered a sculptural group depicting Two Griffins Attacking a Fallen Doe, broken in fragments, in a tomb near Ascoli Satriano in Foggia. This antiquity was subsequently sold to Italian art dealer Giacomo Medici, who then passed it on to UK/Greek delaers Robin Symes and Christos Michaelides. Symes and Michaelides later facilitated its sale to collector US collector dealer Maurice Tempelsman, who eventually used Symes as an intermediary to transfer the piece to the Getty Museum.

 

Two Griffins Attacking a Fallen Doe, from between 325 – 300 BCE. This antiquity, accession number 85.AA.106, was restituted to Italy from the J. Paul Getty Museum in 2007

The introduction of Polaroid’s SX-70  with its self-developing photos gave antiquities looters a convenient and efficient tool for shopping their freshly plundered antiquities.  The camera’s instant photographs allowed looters to document stolen artefacts in their possession and to share the images with potential buyers, like in these pictures, just after the objects were removed from their original location. The portability and immediacy of Polaroid cameras meant that looters could operate discreetly in remote or sensitive areas, capturing high-quality images of artefacts without the risk of exposure at photo processing labs.  Artefacts photographed with dirty on them, also served as a calling card of authenticity, allowing buyers in the network to make a decision about a purchase solely based on photographs.

But like the digital photos of today, which can give you useful details about the camera, location, and image settings, a photo taken with a Polaroid SX-70 all gives you interesting, indirect details.