Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., Cultural Property Smuggling, New York 2023
Grimy Times Exclusive: A rare cuneiform tablet bearing a portion of the epic of Gilgamesh has been forfeited to the United States. United States District Judge Ann M. Donnelly entered an order yesterday forfeiting the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, a rare Sumerian poem considered one of the world’s oldest works of literature.
The tablet, which originated in the area of modern-day Iraq, entered the United States contrary to federal law. An international auction house later sold the tablet to Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., a prominent arts-and-crafts retailer based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for display at the Museum of the Bible. Law enforcement agents seized the tablet from the Museum in September 2019.
“This forfeiture represents an important milestone on the path to returning this rare and ancient masterpiece of world literature to its country of origin,” stated Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “This Office is committed to combating the black-market sale of cultural property and the smuggling of looted artifacts.”
The Gilgamesh Dream Tablet measures approximately 6-inches by 5-inches and is written in the Akkadian language. A 12-tablet Babylonian version of the Gilgamesh epic, written in Akkadian, was discovered in 1853 in the ruins of the library of the Assyrian King Assur Banipal in Nineveh (located in modern-day northern Iraq).
Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. is a defendant in the forfeiture decree. The exact criminal charges are not specified in the source. The city and state involved are New York. The exact date of the crime is not specified in the source, but the forfeiture decree was entered on an unspecified date in 2023.
Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. was ordered to forfeit the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet. The outcome of the case is that the tablet has been forfeited to the United States.
The investigation showed that the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet was smuggled into the United States and sold with a false provenance letter. The letter stated that the tablet had been inside a box of miscellaneous ancient bronze fragments purchased in an auction in 1981. This false letter traveled with the tablet as it was sold several times in different countries.
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Cultural Property Smuggling
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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