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Alleged forgeries here led to NY arrest
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · September 01, 2021
Alleged forgeries of antiquities found two years ago at a traveling exhibit at the Hoover Presidential Library and Museum played a factor in the arrest of a man in New York last month.
Mehrdad “Michael” Sadigh, 61, owner of Sadigh Gallery, faces charges that include seven felonies and two misdemeanors related to manufacturing and selling fake antiquities.
“For many years, this fake antiquities mill based in midtown Manhattan promised customers rare treasures from the ancient world and instead sold them pieces manufactured on-site in cookie-cutter fashion,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a statement shared with the West Branch Times.
University of Iowa Associate Professor Bjorn Anderson and graduate assistant Erin Daly of the Art and Art History department in April 2019 visited the Hoover Museum to view the Origins Museum Institute’s Rosetta Stone traveling exhibit, which was soon to go on display. Daly specializes in art history, including ancient art.
However, the two became suspicious about some of the pieces, so they took pictures and did some digging before concluding that the museum should not let the exhibit open to the public. They determined that 90 of the 125 pieces “are either definite or very likely fakes.”
The Hoover Museum canceled the exhibit and Anderson said Monday that he provided Daly’s and his information to the FBI back in 2019. However, nothing came of it at the time.
Then, in May 2021, he said the Manhattan D.A.’s office contacted him and four agents met with him over Zoom regarding their discoveries. Anderson said he originally thought they were finally getting around to his accusations but the agents told him they were unfamiliar with what he showed them; he wondered if they came across the West Branch Times story as part of their investigation. He also said he wondered if the tie to a presidential library gave the case more weight in the eyes of investigators.
“We went back through the material,” he said of the meeting with the agents. “I knew they had a case and were investigating and building evidence. I gave the Hoover information to them and they seemed glad to have it. I didn’t realize it would lead to a dramatic raid on the premises.”
He said he also had no idea authorities would find evidence suggesting the Sadigh Gallery manufactured pieces in a back room.
“I knew it was coming, but I was surprised how it unfolded,” he said.
Anderson said he and Daly put a lot of time into their work because they did not want to be wrong when advising the Hoover Museum about an exhibit set to open two days after their investigation began.
‘Dead giveaway’
He said the number of pieces included in the Rosetta Stone exhibit gave them ample opportunities to compare items found on the Sadigh Gallery website.
They found “multiples of the same object in different colors” on the website, Anderson said.
“That was a dead giveaway,” he said, since the pieces were supposed to be originals and unique. “It just took somebody to troll through it comparing objects.”
Anderson said the agents called the data “helpful” and he provided them with everything the two collected.
According to a six-page indictment obtained by the West Branch Times, Manhattan District Attorney’s office and federal agents investigated from April 27 through July 26.
The top charges against Sadigh are two Class D felonies of possession of a forged instrument. Other Class D felonies include grand larceny in the third degree, forgery, and possession of a forged instrument.
Sadigh also faces one Class E felony of scheming to defraud and two Class A misdemeanors of criminal simulation.
A grand jury handed down the indictment on Aug. 4. Sadigh was arrested and pleaded not guilty on Aug. 6 and will next appear in court on Oct. 12.
A Class D non-violent felony carries a possible penalty from no jail time to probation or up to seven years in prison. Class E non-violent felonies can result in up to four years in prison.
The New York Times reported on Aug. 25 that Sadigh is represented by New York attorney Gary Lesser, who declined to comment.
The New York Times reported that undercover agents purchased for $4,000 a gold pendant depicting Egyptian king Tutankamen’s desk mask, among other items. The Rosetta Stone exhibit that the Hoover Museum canceled included many pieces reflecting Egyptian and Mesopotamian history because the Rosetta Stone helped translate hieroglyphics.
According to the indictment, the undercover purchase by federal officers took place on July 26.
Photographs released by the district attorney’s office of the Sadigh Gallery suggested to investigators that the company ran something like an assembly-line process. The gallery’s work appeared to distress and create the impression of vintage pieces, the New York Times wrote after interviewing the district attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit’s Matthew Bogdanos.
‘Smoking gun’
Origins Museum Institute’s Marty Martin said in 2019 that he purchased the items from the Sadigh Gallery of New York.
Back in 2019, Sadigh, who went by “Michael” when speaking to a West Branch Times reporter, said he ran the gallery for 15 years but the sale to the Origins Museum took place 20 years before, so he could not speak to their authenticity.
“I don’t know anything about this,” Sadigh said at the time.
The Hoover Presidential Foundation covered the cost of the exhibit and Foundation President Jerry Fleagle said on Monday he does not see the organization getting its money back.
“(The Foundation) paid for the mostly forged exhibit that was never shown,” he said. “And we have realized for quite some time that there was little chance for recourse.”
Anderson said the Rosetta Stone exhibit covered an area regarded as the “Near East” in Biblical times; today it is known as the Middle East and includes countries like Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
Anderson said reputable museums often use replica pieces in displays but always publicly identify them as such. However, forgeries still get through.
Anderson said that when he and Daly searched online, they found evidence that the Sadigh Gallery provided buyers with certificates of authenticity.
“I felt this was a smoking-gun moment,” the professor said.
Anderson said the Manhattan D.A.’s office left open the possibility that they may need him further in the case.
Even if not, he said he hopes that the “bad stuff” that happened to the Hoover Foundation and the Hoover Museum leads to a guilty verdict.
The Sadigh Gallery’s website, which the West Branch Times located in 2019 to reach the owner, is no longer active. It’s address had been sadighgallery.com.
Editor's note: This story was updated on Sept. 8 to make two changes. First, to clarify that Erin Daly "specializes in art history, including ancient art." Second, to correct that Bjorn Anderson met with investigators over Zoom.
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