He confesses to the priest and returns 200 coins stolen from Paestum. An anonymous person, through the priest, has delivered an envelope containing the loot to the Archaeological Park of Paestum.
Thanks to the secrecy of the confessional, an anonymous person sent, through the confessor priest of a local parish, an envelope containing more than 200 ancient coins to the Paestum Archaeological Park asking to deliver them personally to the director Gabriel Zuchtriegel.
It is the latest in a series of restitutions by people who, moved by remorse for having committed an act harmful to the heritage, have decided to return what was illegitimately removed from public knowledge and enjoyment.
As revealed by an initial analysis of the materials by Professor Federico Carbone, a numismatist at the University of Salerno, in this case, however, among the ancient originals there were also a series of fakes made in a more or less professional manner: "Of the 208 numismatic finds - observes Carbone - 7 are fakes, while of the 201 originals 5 are in silver, a medallion is in aluminum and all the others are in copper alloy. In addition, there are 7 other objects of various materials. Among the coins, two rather homogeneous sets can be distinguished: the first is represented by the bronzes from the mint of Paestum (especially examples from the XNUMXrd century BC and up to the Augustan age), the second is composed of 'follis' and fractions of 'follis' between the middle and the end of the XNUMXth century BC. There are also some small bronzes from Poseidonia, Velia and from the middle imperial age. Only a couple are modern.
A good number, always referable to these same series, are illegible due to the poor degree of conservation. Furthermore - Carbone highlights -, 45 specimens could provide more information following cleaning interventions. The composition of the nucleus, therefore, roughly reflects what is generally found in the territory of Paestum".
According to the director of the Park, "this is an important restitution of original materials, mixed with fakes, stolen unduly and which are now being reintroduced in a context of legality, research and museumization. Our appeal to those who hide archaeological finds at home is to follow the example and return, in addition to the objects, the story they tell to our territory".
Article published on 21 January 2021 - 11:32
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