What’s in Your Back Seat? This Guy Was Rolling Around with an Ancient Crown

Looted antiquities from the Khmer Empire were found and returned home…  after they’d been discovered in the back of a car.

Some of these treasures date back to 800 AD.

The collection was once kept by Douglas Latchford.  He was an Englishman who died in 2020, as he awaited extradition to the United States – for charges of falsifying documents to traffic stolen antiquities.  When he passed, charges were dismissed, as his family agreed to return artifacts.

So, a family member led investigators to a car in London, where four boxes sat in the back seat.

The treasures were believed to have been looted in the 1970’s.  They included gold crowns, necklaces, bracelets and more.  Among the finds, according to Newser:  A suspected 11th-century solid gold bowl used as a rice bowl by Angkorian royalty (Angkor was the capital of the Khmer Empire beginning around AD800) and an alleged pre-Angkorian crown dating to the seventh century.

The BBC notes that “many of the items can be matched to stone carvings in the walls of Angkor Wat,” a majestic 12th-century monument of the Khmer Empire, still the largest religious structure in the world.

And:  Looters who turned government witnesses have identified items sold to Latchford – which now appear in institutions including the British Museum.  Officials urge their return, as well.

The 77 treasures found will be displayed in Cambodia’s national museum.

Discover more, and see PICTURES OF THE TREASURE, here:  (newser)