Here is a nice story about a museum doing the right thing … after the Ashmolean Museum received a large gift from the estate of Michael Wellby they proceeded to trace the provenance of the items.
Professor Tim Wilson, the museum’s keeper of the department of Western art, was aware from the outset that there may be a problem with some of the items as much of the collection was assembled in the 1940s from German sources.
Professor Wilson consulted the government’s spoliation advisory panel, which had already been contacted by lawyers for the Budge estate hoping to trace items that had found their way into British collections. The committee ruled that the treasure, a salt cellar dating from 1560, be returned to the executors.
To read the full article, click HERE.
salt cellar