 They were illegally excavated by villagers in 1966 from the tomb of a Lydian noble woman, smuggled outside the country and sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York, USA.After their discovery in a catalogue of the museum in 1984, Turkish journalist Özgen Acar informed the Turkish government, which launched a judicial case against The Met.After a legal battle, the collection was returned in 1993 to Turkey.