Palestinian Cosmetic Spoon

Palestinian Cosmetic Spoon

In 2021, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office seized this cosmetic spoon from Michael Steinhardt as part of an 180-piece, $70 million return of stolen goods. The ivory spoon, dating from circa 800-700 BCE, was repatriated to Palestine in 2023.

Steinhardt, a prominent New York hedge fund manager and antiquities collector, was the subject of a multi-national criminal investigation, which left him with an unprecedented lifetime ban on collecting.

Steinhardt acquired this piece for $6,000 from Gil Chaya, an Israeli antiquities dealer, in January 2003. Chaya sold at least 30 pieces to Steinhardt and allegedly bought antiquities directly from looters in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. The spoon, which would have been used to pour incense on ritual fires for the gods or the dead, was found in El Kom, near Hebron in the West Bank. In an email chain between the dealer and collector, Chaya explained that the Assyrian cosmetic spoon was found in an “area of the richest Iron age Jewish tombs (many royal).” The artifact was never registered by Chaya, even though he had a legal obligation to do so under Israeli law. The transaction between Chaya and Steinhardt was the first time the spoon had appeared on the market, and it had sat in Steinhardt’s private collection for the past 20 years.

In January 2023, the cosmetic spoon was repatriated to Palestine at a ceremony in Bethlehem, marking the first time the United States had returned an artifact to the country. However, other cultural goods seized from Steinhardt that were from Hebron and other areas in the West Bank were repatriated to Israel. Wael Hamamra, head of the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Archaeology, protested this decision, which effectively gave Israel ownership of pieces of Palestinian cultural heritage.

Israel also wanted possession of the cosmetic spoon. The office of Israel's Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu challenged the Manhattan District Attorney’s decision to repatriate the piece to Palestine. The ivory antiquity is still under the care of the Palestinians, in a West Bank museum, but Israel’s legal probe could make future repatriations to Palestine difficult.

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Religious Work – crucifixes, shrine objects, icons, religious texts

Assyrian

Michael Steinhardt

Palestine State

Michela Herbert

Liv Siefert