Bangkok – Culture Minister Vira Rojpojchanarat said an American collector, Katherine Ayers-Mannix, has returned her private collection of 12 prehistoric Baan Chiang pottery pieces to the Thai government.
At a press conference on Thursday (Aug 2), Vira said the returned artifacts are being kept at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok. He said the Ministry of Culture plans to display the returned treasures at the National Museum, and they will be later showcased at the Baan Chiang Museum in Udon Thani province.
The Culture Minister added that the United States could potentially return two additional smuggled stone lintels to Thailand. The 11th-century stone lintels are from Nong Hong Sanctuary in Buriram province and Khao Lon Khmer Sanctuary in Sa Kaeo province. They are now being reviewed by an US agency established to investigate the claims.
He said his ministry’s ad hoc committee for retrieving smuggled treasures from abroad is now working to prove that the works were smuggled from Thailand, and would then call on the US Department of Homeland Security to return them to Thailand, he said.
Fourteen more objects displayed at the Honolulu Museum of Art were also determined to have come from Thailand. They have already reported the result of their investigation to the US Department of Homeland Security to begin the retrieval process.
