Iran is determined to block the sale of four smuggled Iranian relics at the Christie's upcoming auction in London and bring them back home.
The antiquities are scheduled to go up for auction among other precious ancient artworks in about a week, the travel news website Donyaye Safar reported.
Direct authentication was not possible due to lack of access to the objects, but Iran's cultural heritage experts managed to ascertain their authenticity from their pictures, an official with Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization said on Wednesday.
"The objects themselves have not been seen because they were unearthed in unauthorized excavations and smuggled out of the country. But the published photos in media show they are most probably original and belong to Iran," said Mohammad Reza Zahedi, director of the Museums and Historical Moveable Properties Office at ICHHTO.
The Iranian items to go under hammer include an earthenware pot dating to the Parthian (Ashkanid) period (third century BC), a cyan glazed earthenware from the late Parthian and early Sassanid period (around the third century CE), a bronze antelope belonging to the Parthian period (second century BC), and a Parthian golden and silver shield.
ICHHTO's director of legal affairs, Ebrahim Shaqaqi, said he is upbeat about the outcome of the case, citing similar previous proceedings successfully taken by the Iran government to stop the auctioning of other stolen Iranian historical artifacts.
"Previously, in the Achaemenid Soldier case, we succeeded in halting the sale of the object in New York," Shaqaqi said.
