London auction house Bonhams removed ten artifacts from a 15 October auction following an appeal by former culture minister, Francesco Rutelli, who says that they were illegally exported from Italy. Among the most notable pieces on auction was an ornately decorated vase from the fourth century BC recovered in Apulia.

The artifacts in question belonged to former antiquities dealer Robin Symes, who was sentenced to two years in prison in 2005 for perjury. In 2007, then minister of culture Rutelli undertook negotiations with the commission assigned by the court to liquidate Symes assets, alleging that they included a number of