Stolen Peter the Great pendant found in Seattle returns to Russian museum

A silver medallion with the engraved image of Peter the Great, which was discovered stolen from a Russian museum in 2006, sold online and recovered last year at an antiques dealership in Seattle, was officially returned Thursday to Russian authorities in Moscow.

A pendant the size of a stamp, it is a historical artifact that had been on display at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, one of the world's most famous museums. Four years ago, it was discovered stolen along with 220 other artworks valued at up to $5 million.

The medallion carried the image of Russia's czar from 1682 to 1725.

Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Seattle, was in Moscow on Thursday for a repatriation ceremony. His agency, which recovered the pendant, declined to name the antiques dealer who bought and was attempting to resell the piece of art.

"Artifacts of historical or cultural significance allow the public to experience a nation's heritage, and these items shouldn't be offered as souvenirs for sale to the highest bidder," Winchell said in a statement.

The pendant is among 1,200 historical items linked to Peter the Great that were given to the museum in 1947 by the family of Czar Nicholas II, Russia's final emperor from 1894 to 1917.

In July 2006, the museum announced that more than 220 items, including the silver pendant, had been stolen from its permanent collection of more than 3 million artifacts of world culture and art.

In 2007, a court in St. Petersburg sentenced the husband of the museum's curator for his role in the theft of dozens of artworks over a period of six years.

As The New York Times reported at the time, Nikolai G. Zavadsky admitted taking only 77 works, which he sold to pawnshops around the city. Dozens of the pieces remain unaccounted for.

Last May, Russian authorities contacted ICE after they learned that an antiques dealer in Seattle was offering for sale a pendant very similar to the one stolen from the museum.

The pendant was sold online at a site frequented by world antique dealers. Local ICE agents located and recovered the pendant and turned it over for forensic examination by experts with the Moscow Kremlin museum. ICE declined to name the dealer or to discuss its ongoing investigation of his role.

Lornet Turnbull: 206-464-2420 or lturnbull@seattletimes.com