BUDAPES, Hungary (AP) - Hungary’s prime minister says his country has paid 15 million euros ($20.7 million) to recover “the family silver,” seven large silver trays, bowls and jugs dating to the 4th century.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Tuesday that the artifacts were brought back to Hungary from London a few days ago after long negotiations with unidentified sellers.
The artifacts are part of the “Sevso treasure,” a collection of 15 silver objects named after their owner, a high-ranking Roman official who lived in what is now western Hungary, then part of the Roman Empire. The treasure is believed to have been found in the mid-1970s near Hungary’s Lake Balaton by an amateur archaeologist who died in mysterious circumstances in 1980.
Hungary had been trying for decades to regain the treasure.
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