The auction, ‘Nino’ and the marble anthemion

It was October 1994 when a group of 12 police officers, including two Greeks, surrounded a white villa in a suburb of Munich. In the attic they found ancient vases, marble columns, statues and fragments of mosaics, as well as documents that recorded suspicious transactions in detail. In the basement they discovered a laboratory with magnifying glasses and chemicals, fully equipped for conservation work.

The biggest surprise that awaited them, however, was an indoor swimming pool, 1.5 meters deep. In there, they saw submerged antiquities. During the investigation, the owner of the villa, an Italian named Antonio Savoca, known as "Nino" in international circles, seemed somewhat nervous. Police officers from three countries were then on his doorstep. 

Three decades later, his name is back in the spotlight as a piece of marble featuring an anthemion, a decorative floral...