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December 26, 2023

How the Denver Art Museum Acquired Stolen Relics

City Cast Denver

How the Denver Art Museum Acquired Stolen Relics

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It’s been exactly one year since the Denver Post published a blockbuster three-part investigation uncovering an international criminal conspiracy involving the Denver Art Museum. While the DAM removed one of the co-conspirators’ names from its Arts of Asia gallery earlier this year and has returned some of the stolen relics, the story behind Denver’s Emma Bunker, or “The Scholar” as she was known, and how those looted antiquities ended up at the DAM still warrants an explanation. Producer Paul Karolyi spoke to reporter Sam Tabachnik about his globetrotting investigation and how his revelations have rocked the Denver art world. 


This episode originally aired on December 5, 2022. 


Bree mentioned Tabachnik’s recent reporting on the DAM’s recent decision to remove Emma C. Bunker’s name from a gallery and their quiet repatriation work since his initial investigation. 


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