Kyiv law enforcement officers have prevented the illegal sale of rare 4th-5th century artifacts seized on the "black market." The unique finds will be transferred to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine.
This is reported by the police press service.
They said that among the unique items were fragments of a men's bracelet, a gilded belt end in the shape of a bird of prey's head with a garnet insert, and a silver fibula.
Such jewelry was considered a sign of the highest status during the Great Migration of Peoples, and was the property of the nobility of barbarian kingdoms (geography refers to Northern, Central, and Eastern Europe).
The sale of historical finds that have exceptional value for history and culture was prevented in collaboration with specialists from the country's leading historical museum, the police reported.
It was the institution's experts who came across an ad for the sale of rare items on a website for collectors.
"A resident of the Kirovograd region tried to sell real treasures, which have no analogues anywhere in the world to this day, for next to nothing. In addition, we established the fact that another seller sold a silver brooch - a rare fastener for clothing, decorated with complex jewelry techniques, which simultaneously served as a decoration for its owner. We seized all the rare artifacts," the police reported.
An art expert examination has been ordered to confirm the authenticity and cultural value of the seized items. Once completed, they will be transferred to the museum.
An investigation has been launched under Part 1 of Article 193 of the Criminal Code "Illegal appropriation by a person of another's property of treasures that have special historical, scientific, artistic or cultural value."
They reminded that any cultural and historical values cannot be sold or collected by ordinary citizens. Their place is in the Museum Fund.
We previously wrote that people in Poland found a copper dagger that is 4,000 years old.