This episode investigates how a looted Egyptian antiquity — a $4 million gold coffin — ended up in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It examines the role Kim Kardashian played in cracking the case and the broader question of how much of what any museum displays has a problematic or stolen origin. The episode is Part 1 of the series "Stealing Art Is Easy. Giving It Back Is Hard" and was first published in 2023, with this update released in 2026.
This summary was generated from show notes and public descriptions, not from a full transcript review. Details may contain inaccuracies.
Highlights
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A Looted Gold Coffin in the Met
The episode opens with a case study: a freshly looted Egyptian antiquity, a gold coffin, ended up in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection.
The episode's framing premise, reflected in its series title, is that acquiring stolen art is comparatively easy while returning it is institutionally difficult.