Hecht On Trial: A Victim of Changing Interpretations?

For a man accused of stealing millions of dollars worth of Italian antiquities, 88-year-old Robert Hecht doesn’t cut a very imposing figure. In fact, many in the art world say that the collector is being unfairly made an example of. “Hecht is a man who has seen the world pass him by. In the 1950s, shortly after his arrival in Italy, he bought antiquities on the streets of Rome. No one had a problem with it. The shops, Hecht said, would happily ship the ancient cups, coins and statues out of the country if you couldn’t take them home yourself. Now, Hecht finds himself on trial for allegedly doing the very things that were accepted practice half a century ago.”