The Treasure of Cordoba. Illegal antiquities trade during the first third of the XX century

Abstract

The British Museum exhibits a collection of Iberian jewellery and Ibero-Roman silver coins known as Cordoba Treasure. The hoard, discovered by chance in 1915 at the Molino del Marrubial, on the outskirts of Cordoba,was acquired by the British Museum in 1932 to an american scholar and collector, W. L. Hildburg. Its exportation and subsequent sale was made breaching the legislation, at a time, the first decades of the twentieth century, in which the Spanish State carried out a considerable effort, both legislative and institutional, to provide the country with legal mechanisms which effectively could protect its historical and artistic heritage.