Tiara of Saitaferne

A Greek inscription on the tiara read "The council and citizens of Olbia honor the great and invincible King Saitapharnes".

According to the story, Saitapharnes had besieged the Greek colony of Olbia and was convinced to leave the city in peace only through the offering of expensive gifts.

Among them was the German archaeologist Adolf Furtwängler[1] who noted many stylistic problems with the tiara's design and questioned the lack of aging apparent on the artifact.

In 1894, two years before the Louvre acquisition, two dealers, Schapschelle Hochmann and his brother Leiba, had commissioned Israel Rouchomovsky (fr), a skilled goldsmith from Odesa, to make the tiara.

The Louvre had been fooled in one of the greatest archeological scandals of the century; Rouchomovsky, on the other hand, became famous for his work and earned a gold medal at the Paris Salon of Decorative Arts.