Maltese dealing in Baghdad and local antiquities unmasked

Karl Schembri
He resides in a villa in Santa Marija Estate and his real name is Joseph Schembri, the man who on the internet sells Mesopotamian artefacts and Maltese antiquities and is being investigated for suspicious antiques trading on the international market.
On eBay – the internet auction giant – Schembri presents himself as ‘qvadricavincente’, selling items singled out by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and Iraq Museum International – a cultural heritage watchdog set up after the infamous looting of the Baghdad museum during the war two years ago.
MaltaToday has tracked down the sale of ancient Mesopotamian artefacts and Maltese antiquities to Schembri following an investigation triggered by an alert launched by ICOM and Iraq Museum International.
Last week, he offered on auction a set of Babylonian cylinders and stamp seals dating around 1,000 BC at a starting price of $25, capturing the attention of the Baghdad institution which included the item on its online blacklist of highly suspicious internet deals in antiques.
The same trader was offering on auction old Norman coins found in Malta, a Roman silver pendant and an Islamic glass bangle dating back to 7-9 century AD.
Alerted to the items on sale, the Maltese Superintendent of Cultural Heritage, Anthony Pace, made a request to the police to investigate the deals although sources say the trader remained untraceable to investigators.
The Chairman of Heritage Malta, Mario Tabone, also expressed his concern that the items on auction had no specifications of their provenance and did not state how they ended up in private hands.
On the internet site qvadricavincente only claimed to send his items from Malta, leaving his identity and exact location undisclosed.
An investigation by this newspaper has revealed that qvadricavincente operates from Mellieha. A MaltaToday journalist made contact with him via eBay by bidding in his own name for two coins claimed to be “Roger II Copper Follari, dated 1130 AD” and “found in Malta”.
After winning the bid, the journalist was informed via email to send payment to Joseph Schembri in Mellieha.
Schembri wrote a second time saying he would be abroad until Thursday 28 April and that he would send the package after receiving payment.

The e-mail was sent from Malta via a VOL-Melita Cable internet account.
Calls made at the residence proved futile. Neighbours said Schembri was away but usually resided at his villa in Santa Maria estate, Mellieha.
The Chairman of the Baghdad Museum Project, John Simmons, appealed to police authorities to verify the provenance and authenticity of the Mesopotamian artefacts advertised by Schembri.
“Thieves stole thousands of such objects from the Iraq Museum and continue to strip-mine Iraq’s archaeological sites for more,” Simmons told MaltaToday. “However, there is no warning on eBay about new global efforts to hunt down black market dealers and collectors in order to recover the artefacts. Before bidding, prospective buyers of Mesopotamian artefacts listed on eBay are urged to carefully read and compare the sellers’ statements and determine that an artefact is both authentic and legitimate. Although we cannot state outright that any of the objects offered on eBay are in fact illegal, the best we can do is capture our data to a database over time, and then evaluate the data to detect patterns.”
ICOM put Mesopotamian cylinder and stamp seals on its red list of Iraqi antiquities at risk and issued warnings via Interpol to track down their traders.
Such seals with pictures and cuneiform inscriptions engraved on them were of great importance in ancient Mesopotamia (Iraq) from the end of the fourth millennium BC. Rich in iconography depicting processions of animals or mythical figures, they were used to imprint a pattern or name on some soft material such as clay, and establish ownership or authenticity of some possession.
MaltaToday has discovered more auction sales of Mesopotamian artefacts and other antiquities from Malta on the same eBay website. A trader who identifies himself as “bjderstr566” had a Neo-Babylonian seal dating 900-700 BC and a Persian cylinder seal dating 550 BC on sale last week. Other impressive artefacts included a fifth Century BC Carthaginian glass head pendant, an Islamic glass vase, a Roman gold stirrup ring, and a Byzantine silver ring.
Bjderstr566 is listed as “Joseph Schembri” on another website. While on eBay he claims to send the items from Malta, on squaretrade.com he is listed as operating from Ontario, Canada.
The same bjderstr566 was found on eBay to have operated with three different nicknames since 2003: meliteao, punici and hotelman_20. Meliteao is on eBay’s deal records as having auctioned Roman and Carthaginian arrowheads from Ontario while punici is listed as having auctioned cuneiform tablets in 2003, also from Canada.
In the item description of the latter artefacts, Schembri wrote two years ago: “I have of recent acquired a collection of cuneiform tablets. Also I have several tablets direct from Syria. The Syrian tablets although very pretty, are not documented, and being sold as such,” adding that all sales were final.
A spokesman for eBay had said after the Iraq museum looting that it was possible items stolen from Baghdad could end up on eBay but the auctioning website could not check every single sale on its site.