Product Description

A pulse-pounding real-life chase for an ancient masterpiece of immeasurable value . . .

Sotheby's. New York City. June 19, 1990.

Nothing of its kind had been sold to the public in more than a century. On a warm June evening on Manhattan's Upper East Side, with the auction-house showroom crammed with the wealthy, the curious, and the press, history was made when an anonymous man in a green golf sweater paid an unprecedented three quarters of a million dollars to win the twenty-five-hundred-year-old chalice. After that night, this historical artifact disappeared, its whereabouts a mystery. Until now.

It is among the most prized of antiquities: the Greek artist Euphronios's wine cup depicting the death of Zeus's son Sarpedon at Troy. Lost for more than two millennia, the chalice—one of only six of its kind found intact—mysteriously surfaced in the collection of a Hollywood producer, who then sold it to a Texas billionaire. Coveted by obsessed private collectors, dealers, and museum curators, it was also of intense interest to the Italian police, who believed it belonged to their country, where it had first been dug up earlier in the twentieth century.

In this breathtaking tale of history, adventure, and intrigue, archaeologist and journalist Vernon Silver pieces together the extraordinary tale of the lost cup and offers a portrait of the modern antiquities trade: a world of tomb raiders, smugglers, wealthy collectors, ambitious archaeol-ogists, rapacious dealers, corrupt curators, and international law enforcement. Spanning twenty-five hundred years, The Lost Chalice moves from the mythic battlefield of the Trojan War to the countryside of twentieth-century Tuscany, the dusty libraries of Oxford University to the exhibition halls of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the cramped law-enforcement offices of the Carabinieri to the tony rooms of New York's auction houses to solve the mystery of the world's rarest masterpiece.

As Silver learns, the discovery of the chalice exposes another riddle—and an even greater missing treasure. Epic and thrilling, The Lost Chalice is a driving true-life detective story that illuminates a big-money, high-stakes, double-dealing world, which is as fascinating as it is unforgettable. Silver's thrilling tale opens a window onto Italian history, culture, and life rarely seen.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #118304 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-01
• Released on: 2009-06-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.22" h x 6.22" w x 9.40" l, 1.25 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780061558283
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From Publishers Weekly
Focusing on a piece by the renowned ancient Greek vase painter and potter Euphronios, archeologist and journalist Silver presents a captivating tale of ancient art as a modern hot commodity. Euphoronius' "lost" kylix (chalice) mysteriously reappeared in the early 1970s after 2,400 years, it was purchased at auction in 1990 by a man identified only as a "European dealer," and again disappeared from public view. Silver deftly traces the intricate path of the chalice from Cerveteri, Italy, where robbers unearthed the Greppe Sant'Angelo tomb complex in 1971. The multifaceted story is grippingly revealed by Silver, who writes with verve and aplomb, along with the tale of a companion krater, or vase, by Euphronios, long housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and returned to Italy in 2008 under a landmark arrangement. Silver's telling is infused with an infectious curiosity about the illicit art trade and an equally infectious appreciation of the art itself, adding up to a fascinating look at "the dealings of tomb robbers, smugglers, wealthy collectors, ambitious archaeologists, and corrupt curators."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"Vernon's sharply rendered account is engrossing. A densely packed, dizzyingly detailed tale of art and espionage."
--Kirkus Reviews --Kirkus Reviews

"The Lost Chalice describes the seedy underworld of the antiquities trade in such vivid detail that one can almost smell the fresh earth of a pillaged archeological site."
--Barbie Latza Nadeau, "The Daily Beast"

Review
"A captivating tale of ancient art as a modern hot commodity... Silver's telling is infused with an infectious curiosity about the illicit art trade and an equally infectious appreciation of the art itself."
--Publishers Weekly

Customer Reviews

Spellbinding Historical Account!
Long ago I read Irving Stone's story about Henry Schliemann and it piqued my interest in Greek treasures.

The Lost Chalice is very interesting and I especially like it for the factual details. Vernon Silver details Giacomo's life and business dealings from personal interviews with Medici, accesses his personal files and uses legal documents, all to give an accurate AND fascinating account of the chalice created by the famous potter, Euphronios.

Robert Hecht (of Hecht Department Store fame), Dietrich von Bothmer (Metropolitan Museum of Art curator) and Thomas Hoving (Metropolitan Museum of Art director) all figure in this account.

This wonderful story tells of the tomb robbers methods and really the sad fact that so much history is lost when tomb robbers steal these precious artifacts, not just because the artifacts are stolen but also because so much DNA that might have been studied in the way of plant, animal and human matter is destroyed in their attempt to cover up their crime.

Further sad fact is the unscrupulous side of art dealers and collectors in pursuit of their perfect specimens to complete a collection. The politics, the lies, the egos of curators, art collectors, and archeologists make you realize it isn't just about historical understanding; it's about acquisition, pride and money.

AND the very people who are supposed to rescue these treasures from the unscrupulous end up making you cringe as you read how they handled and stored the incredible treasures while investigating. Such a group of amateur inspectors that one handles the evidence and ends up breaking a two thousand year old kylix! Did I say 'break?' He dropped it and it smashed to smithereens! At times I thought it would have been better to leave it in the hands of the unscrupulous- at least they appreciated the value of the objects!

I read the book from an uncorrected proof and it looks as though there might be photos in the sale copy. That would be a real bonus! I googled the Euphronios Krater and I really hope pictures of that are in the final copy of the book, if not you have to look it up to appreciate the acquisition!

So much research, so many interviews, and so much documentation went into this book to make it accurate on an historical level, but Vernon Silver doesn't rest on those laurels; he goes on to make the telling of the lost chalice spellbinding as well.

Chain of classy crooks
As an archaeology student who has recently studied the Etruscans and Euphronius, I was eager to read this book. I was not disappointed. Most countries that contain antiquities have enacted laws in recent decades prohibiting their sale and export. However, certain goods are such prized commodities that collectors will pay dearly for items of questionable provenance, making for a flourishing black market in antiquities. My professor had talked about looting and tomb robbing in class. It's extremely destructive because an artifact tells us virtually nothing without its context. So I was aware that the practice went on, but I don't think I had really thought about the nuts and bolts of such operations. Silver's book gives a detailed account of how extensive the network is. At the bottom are the tomb robbers, who are mostly simple men who need some extra money. Then there are the shady speculators who buy the artifacts from the tomb robbers and create an artificial provenance for them. They then form partnerships with men who have entree to the big museums and great private collectors, some of whom will want an artifact so badly that they are content to overlook some irregularities.

Although the title of the book is THE LOST CHALICE, most of the book is really concerned with the Euphronius krater that notoriously wound up in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is quite a story and Silver tells it very well. Even though there are a lot of convoluted relationships, Silver sets it all out very clearly, all the while maintaining the suspense and keeping the reader interested. For me the real hero of the book is the Italian government, which despite its volatility, managed to hang in there for decades and get the job done.

I found THE LOST CHALICE very entertaining, but I also felt that I learned a lot, too. Four stars.

Intriguing true story about illegal traffic in ancient art
This is a fascinating tale that takes readers into the shadowy world of antiquities trading that goes on among art dealers, collectors, the world's great museums and, yes, even tomb robbers. Author Vernon Silver, himself an archeologist and Oxford-educated antiquities scholar, focuses his story on one particular Greek wine cup (called a kylix) and charts its journey from an Etruscan tomb in Italy through several countries, Sotheby's auction house and finally, after 30+ years, a storage facility back in its home nation.

Other reviewers have correctly pointed out that several previous books cover similar material. However, that does not diminish the value of The Lost Chalice, especially for readers who are not familiar with the antiquities trade. The device used by Silver -- tracking a single piece of ancient pottery -- makes the material accessible to general readers and lends the air of an adventure story to much of the book.

At times the narrative bogs down in repetitious details, in part because the author describes a number of Greek vases of various shapes and sizes, all of which are similar to the focal kylix. After awhile, it is easy to lose track of which kylix, chalice, cup, or krater Silver is talking about. On the whole, though, The Lost Chalice is a very worthwhile and enjoyable read.

Near the end of the book, Silver discusses the criminal trials of several individuals within the antiquities field -- trials that are taking place in Italy right now, and that have been ongoing for several years. One of those on trial for trafficking in stolen art is a woman named Marion True, a former curator at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. She is the only museum official to be charged, even though many others were clearly doing business in the same way. In fact, there is considerable reason to believe that most of the Getty artworks in question were acquired by True's predecessor, a man named Jiri Frel.

In addition, two well-known men formerly employed by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art -- Thomas Hoving, the Met's former director, and Dietrich von Bothmer, former curator of Greek and Roman art -- appear to have been deeply involved in questionable acquisitions of Greek vases, yet neither was ever charged. Silver also notes that a number of other museums obtained art that may have been looted or stolen, including the Museum of Fine Art in Boston and the Kimbell in Ft. Worth. Even Oxford's archeology lab is implicated, since it accepted payment from private dealers to date certain artifacts, thus providing documentation that could be used to imply legitimate provenance.

Why, then, with this huge cast of supposedly reputable institutions and characters, was only Marion True charged with a criminal offense? It makes me wonder whether she is taking the fall for the entire, corrupt system. She is one of the very few women in this story, and the only woman who had curatorial status equal to the museum-affiliated men. It is of course possible that True was charged simply because she is the only museum person whom the Italian court could find evidence against. I would be interested to know what others who read The Lost Chalice think about this issue.