Repatriating art and antiquities
But in 2012 a judge ruled in favor of the museum, which had claimed the statue of limitations protected its possession of the artifact.
The repatriation of ancient artifacts to their countries of origin has been a long-simmering issue over fabled treasures. Recently, a growing cooperation between governments and museums has led to some repatriation of centuries-old works.
By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan
Elgin Marbles
A frieze which forms part of the "Elgin Marbles," taken from the Parthenon in Athens, are seen on display January 21, 2002 at the British Museum in London.Greece has lobbied Britain for two decades to secure the return of the Marbles, which were removed and taken to London during the Ottoman occupation of Greece by the British ambassador Lord Elgin.
Elgin Marbles
"The government, the legitimate government of Greece gave permission for those to be taken at the time - now, it was a Turkish government of occupation, you could argue, but it was legally done," said Kimerly Rorsarch, director of the Seattle Art Museum and president of the Association of Art Museum Directors. "There's documentation, permission was given. They were openly removed, they weren't dug up out of the ground clandestinely. You know, how do you go back? I mean, throughout history, wars, disruption, things have changed hands in distressing ways."
Left: Sculptures which form part of the "Elgin Marbles," are on display January 21, 2002 at the British Museum in London.
Parthenon Marbles
Looting
Left: Pieces of mummified human limbs are left on the ground by tomb looters in the valley of the Golden mummies in the Bahariya oasis, 225 miles west of Cairo, December 12, 2004. Egyptian antiquities experts believe the valley contains over 10,000 mummies.
Egyptian archeologist Dr. Monica Hanna told CBS News' Mo Rocca she has seen an increase in looting since the 2011 revolution. Artifacts taken find their way onto the international art market, and often into museum collections.
Looting
Only a human shield of patriotic Egyptians prevented catastrophic plundering.
Colombian Moche Ceramics
According to research anthropologist Santiago Uceda, this discovery in northern Peru could change the history of the Peruvian pre-Hispanic culture.
Etruscan Shields
The Italian government named a former New York antiquities dealer in a criminal case for having "sold, donated, or lent" numerous objects looted from Italian sites.
The Italian government has requested the return of the pieces, which have been part of the collection of the Dallas Museum of Art since 1998.
Calyx Krater
Maxwell Anderson, director of the Dallas Museum of Art, said his museum has restituted works to the Italian and Turkish governments. The krater is one of several objects Italy's Ministry of Culture has offered the museum to hold, on loan, in recognition of their return of antiquities.
Red Figure Krater
Roman Mosaic
Greco-Roman Marbles
The sculptures where found in 1994 by divers in the wreckage of the steamer Castor, which sank off the southern coast of England on July 28, 1894, while carrying Turkish antiquities to the Netherlands.
The treasure - worth an estimated 25,000 pounds, but priceless in archaeological terms - includes a bust of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and a head of Venus.
Iraq Antiquities
Buddhist Stupa
Artifacts from the area have been sent to the Musee Guimet in Paris, from Afghanistan's national museum in Kabul, and will be on display from December 2006 as part of the "Afghanistan, Rediscovered Treasures" exhibition. The artifacts were saved from the looting of the Afghan national museum during the civil war of the 1990s and then the Taliban regime, which destroyed many pieces.
Angkor Pendant
Dutch Master
The painting belonged to the late Jewish art dealer and was seized after a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement investigation. The painting is the sixth artwork - of several hundred listed in the claim filed by Dr. Stern's estate - to be recovered.
Rubens
The Foundation for Prussian Palaces and Gardens lost about 4,000 works of art during World War II and its aftermath. Today almost half of 180 paintings from the collection of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, remain missing.
Medieval Manuscript
For more info:
Acropolis Museum, Athens
British Museum, London
Dallas Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Saint Louis Art Museum
Seattle Art Museum
Ministry of State for Antiquities, Egypt
Italian Ministry of Culture (Ministero per i Beni e le Attivita Culturali)
Association of Art Museum Directors
By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan