More on ICE: The Nereid Sweetmeat Stand to Be Returned to Heirs of Former German Prime Minister

December 29, 2010

According to a Press Release from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the United States has entered into a settlement agreement with the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio that provides for the return to a royal family in Germany of the “Nereid Sweetmeat Stand,” a famed Swan Service collection’s centerpiece. 

The story is both common and atypical: “During the World War II, while on loan to the Dresden Museum from the family of the former prime minister of Saxony, the “Nereid Sweetmeat Stand” was stolen from a castle where it was hidden. The porcelain piece, valued at more than $1 million, was recently located at the Toledo Museum of Art, which has agreed to return it to the heirs of the former prime minister. . .  In 1955, the Stand was purchased from a European art dealer, subsequently imported into the United States, and sold to the Toledo Museum of Art. Recently, the Stand was determined to be the stolen Nereid Sweetmeat Stand after being examined by staff from the Toledo Museum of Art, the Dresden Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and special agents from ICE HSI.”