[Björn Hellqvist]

Viking finds, including seaxes, are offered online by a well-known US antique arms dealer. The problem is that they might be stolen from the local museum in Visby, Sweden. The dealer refers to (and offers documentation) from Swedish publications, but it is not likely that items kept by the museum have been auctioned off. Swedish laws forbid the selling objects of historical or archaeological interest, so if someone dug up a substantive cache, it cannot be sold for personal gain. Swedish authorities have contacted their US counterparts, and hope that the lot will be seized until their origin has been determined.

[Björn Hellqvist]

Update: the dealer has removed the page on his site. In an interview with a Swedish newspaper, he claims that the lot was bought at an auction in London 20 years ago. Antiquarians in Sweden doubt that the claims that the finds come from a single locale. They suspect that the items were found in different places by grave-robbers using metal detectors. Still, it is a crime to search for and remove archaeological objects in Sweden. That law is over 300 years old...