JAKARTA - The United States returned a letter from the 15th century belonging to Christopher Columbus that was stolen to Italy, the United States Immigration and Customs Agency (ICE) announced on Wednesday.
Written in Latin, the letter is one of the first 30 editions still in existence of the rover's letter announcing its discovery on the American continent to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain in 1493. Both are known to fund Columbus' voyage to the New World.
The letter is believed to be a stolen version of the Oblioteca Nazionale Marciana (historic general library) in Venice, Italy, in the 1980s. The letter was found in the ownership of a private collector in the United States.
Announcing this discovery in 2020, ICE and the US Prosecutor's Office in Delaware said the collector accidentally got the letter from a rare book trader in 2003.
Authorities have not released further details about how the letter was stolen or in the hands of the merchant. It is known, the copies of the letter are very rare and highly valued by collectors and historians.
1/3 leri le autorità statunitensi hanno restituito al @MiC_Italia un prezioso incunabolo di Cristoforo Colombo del 1493 che fu rubato negli anni Ottanta alla Biblioteca Marciana diVenezia. pic.twitter.com/tiG7LuB3vK
— Gennaro Sangiuliano (@g_sangiuliano) July 20, 2023
1/3 leri le autoreliance hanno restituito al @MiC_Italia un prezioso incanabolic di Cristoforo Colombo del 1493 che fu rubato negli anni Ottanta alla Biblioteca Marciana diVenzo. pic.twitter.com/tiG7Lub3vK
The version returned to Italy this week is known as the Plannck I edition. This name is taken from the name Stephan Plannck, a leading printer who published the two editions of the letter more than 500 years ago.
When it was first discovered in 2020, the US Prosecutor's office said the document was worth more than $1.3 million.
"This is the fourth original edition of this letter stolen over the past few decades and we are very pleased to be able to return it," US Deputy Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Patrick J. Lechleitner said in a statement.
Other stolen copies included those sent back by US authorities to libraries in Vatican City in 2018, and others returned to the Catalonia Library in Spain.
In 2016, the US returned a copy of eight pages taken from libraries in Florence, Italy and donated to the US Congress Library.
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The return of the letter to Italy is part of a broader effort by the United States to return the stolen objects.
"Christopher Columbus is a fundamental figure in our history. We will perfect this document with a mobile exhibition that explains it and makes it appreciated," Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano tweeted.
ICE said it had returned more than 20,000 objects to more than 40 countries and institutions since 2007. These objects include artwork looted by the Nazis, Egyptian sarkophagus, French paintings, Italian statues, Mongolian and Chinese dinosaur fossils to human bodies.
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