NEW YORK. In a long-awaited decision, a US federal court has rejected an appeal by a New York antiquities dealer who argued that he should not be convicted of violating US law for having dealt in Egyptian antiquities. The objects are claimed as Egyptian property under Egyptian law. The dealer, Frederick Schultz, was sentenced in June 2002 to 33 months in prison for conspiracy to receive stolen property, but argued that Egypt’s claim to own the objects under its patrimony law did not make them “stolen” in the US. According to evidence at trial, Schultz’s co-conspirator, Jonathan Tokeley-Parry, used plastic and plaster to coat a limestone striding figure to make it look like a tourist souvenir during removal from Egypt.

The 25 June decision is a landmark ruling by the federal court of appeals for Manhattan. Dealers, archaeologists, collectors and museums closely watched the case. Friend-of-the-court briefs were filed by the Archaeological Institute of America, the National Association of Dealers in Ancient, Oriental & Primitive Art, Inc.; Citizens for a Balanced Policy with Regard to the Importation of Cultural Property, and other groups.