Germany Repatriates Pre-Columbian Objects to Mexico

After seven years of legal and international wrangling, a collection of Pre-Columbian objects which were stolen from Mexico have been returned.

Apparently, a Costa Rican man by the name of Leonardo Patterson was caught in April 2008 in Spain and Germany warehousing 1029 Pre-Columbian objects with questionable origins. The discovery of such a large cache of objects is known internationally as the Leonardo Patterson Affaire, which makes it sound quite 007. "This is the first delivery made to Mexico of Prehispanic objects seized in Frankfurt, part of the Patterson Collection." The collection was thought to be worth about US$100 million. In particular, one Mayan-like object that sold in Europe for about US$4 million was deemed a fake. I guess you could say it's a bummer for that guy.

Details about Leonardo Patterson and the discovery of the objects are quite sketchy but some sources report that "Patterson currently lives in Germany and has been charged by Spanish authorities with illegal artifact traffic." There are some who claim that Patterson is innocent, while the Stanford Archaeology Center makes a case for Leonardo Patterson's long involvement in illicitly trading in antiquities. Perhaps this is why it is referred to as an affair.



After antiquities officials in Munich, Germany performed analysis on the objects they determined that 252 of them are modern fakes. Another 86 were determined to have not originated in Mesoamerica, but that leaves 691 Pre-Columbian objects of Mesoamerican origin to have been deemed authentic. The objects include "anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures made in terracotta, basalt stone and limestone; terracotta kettles and urns, some polychromatic; miscellaneous figurines; obsidian and stone projectile tips and knives; small braziers and incense burners; obsidian ornaments; a mask carved in metamorphic rock; stone seals, incense holders, cases, necklaces, and strings." It is not clear when these objects will finally end up going on display.