On Friday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declared that three antiquities worth $725,000 will be returned to the people of Yemen by New York, as part of a

criminal investigation into a private collector based in Manhattan.

The seized antiquities, which include a 5th century B.C.E. alabaster ram that was stolen during the Yemeni Civil War in 1994, were discovered in the Manhattan residence of Shelby White, a member of the board of trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

According to Bragg, the Manhattan Antiquities Trafficking Unit's inquiry into White "has enabled dozens of antiquities that were taken from their countries of origin to finally return home," including nearly 1,000 antiquities that have been repatriated over the last 16 months.

Shelby was praised by the district attorney's office for cooperating in the investigation.

In December, the Art Newspaper reported that the Manhattan district attorney's office had seized $24 million worth of antiquities from White's apartment.

The Yemeni pieces will be temporarily displayed at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington until Yemeni authorities can safely return them to their rightful owners. Photo by yeowatzup, Wikimedia commons.