{"id":209569,"date":"2026-05-03T17:24:03","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T17:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/new-york-officials-return-more-than-650-antiquities-valued-at-14m-to-india-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T17:24:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T17:24:03","slug":"new-york-officials-return-more-than-650-antiquities-valued-at-14m-to-india-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/new-york-officials-return-more-than-650-antiquities-valued-at-14m-to-india-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"New York officials return more than 650 antiquities valued at $14m to India – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Move comes after mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke of return of the Koh-i-noor diamond after UK royals\u2019 visit to New York
Hundreds of antiquities valued at $14m have been returned to India by New York<\/a> authorities, including some connected to the alleged art smuggler Subhash Kapoor, in a move that is likely to raise the pressure on others to make similar gestures.
The return of 657 antiquities was announced by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg Jr, on Tuesday, and came as New York City\u2019s mayor, Zohran Mamdani<\/a>, waded into the historically contentious ownership of the 105.6 carat Koh-i-noor diamond. A spokesperson for the prosecutor\u2019s office said the ceremony had been scheduled months earlier and was not connected to the royal visit.
Mamdani, the city\u2019s first democratic socialist mayor, suggested to reporters that Britain should return the gem \u2013 which is set into the Queen Mother\u2019s crown and held in the Tower of London \u2013 to India<\/a>, hours before shaking hands with King Charles on Wednesday at the 9\/11 memorial.
Mamdani\u2019s press office did not mention meeting the British monarch in its daily scheduling for Wednesday and later said: <\/em>\u201cI\u2019ll be attending a wreath-laying alongside a number of other elected officials.\u201d
But Mamdani said that if he met with Charles privately, he \u201cwould probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-noor diamond\u201d.
The return of Indian antiquities recovered from several ongoing investigations was held at a ceremony at the consulate general of India.
\u201cThe scale of the trafficking networks that targeted cultural heritage in India is massive, as demonstrated by the return of more than 600 pieces today,\u201d Bragg said in a statement read at the ceremony.
\u201cThere is unfortunately more work to be done to return stolen artifacts back to India, and I thank our team for their persistent efforts.\u201d
The pieces include a bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara, a Buddhist deity, seated on an inscribed double-lotus base over a lion-flanked throne. It was stolen and smuggled into the US by 1982, ultimately ending up in a private collection in New York by 2014.
Others include a red sandstone figure of a Buddha standing with his right hand raised in a gesture of protection, which was looted from northern India and smuggled into the US by Kapoor, who is under indictment on smuggling charges. A sandstone figure of a dancing Ganesha looted by an indicted co-conspirator, Ranjeet \u201cShantoo\u201d Kanwar, was also returned.
Mamdani\u2019s remark opens a can of worms over a gem that has at times been in the possession of the Mughal and Persian empires, as well as many others. Britain acquired the stone in 1849 and it is now a powerful symbol in the debate over colonial history. India, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan have all claimed ownership.
A spokesperson for the mayor, who was born in Uganda to parents of Indian origin, told the New York Times<\/a> that the mayor \u201cis generally opposed to the idea of a king\u201d. Mamdani\u2019s administration has described New York\u2019s history as \u201cone of colonization, exploitation and racial oppression\u201d.
William Dalrymple, co-author of the 2017 book Koh-I-Noor: The History of the World\u2019s Most Infamous Diamond, told the New York Times that the diamond \u201chas a long history of bringing bad luck and, again, seems to have been the tripwire which tripped up King Charles on his trip to New York\u201d.
<\/span> This article was amended on 1 May 2026 to clarify that Alvin Bragg Jr was not present at the ceremony; however, his statement was read there.<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Move comes after mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke of return of the Koh-i-noor diamond after UK royals\u2019 visit to New YorkHundreds of antiquities valued at $14m have been returned to India by New York authorities, including some connected to the alleged art smuggler Subhash Kapoor, in a move that is likely to raise the pressure on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":209570,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-209569","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}