A total of 266 Cypriot antiquities were handed over to Deputy Culture Minister Vasiliki Kassianidou in Claremont, Los Angeles, on Tuesday, including a rare copper talent, the third such artefact to be found in Cyprus.

The artefacts were delivered by vice president of academic affairs at Harvey Mudd College professor Tom Donnelly.

The collection of antiquities was exported by Harvey Mudd, co-founder and owner of Cyprus Mines Corporation, under licence from the newly established Antiquities Department in 1930, under British colonial rule.

After Harvey Mudd’s death, his family founded Harvey Mudd College. Upon the death of his wife, the collection was donated to the college.

Victoria Mudd, Harvey Mudd’s granddaughter, expressed the wish for the collection to be returned to Cyprus and an agreement to this effect was signed in 2018.

The collection includes clay vessels and lamps, glass objects, a compass, clay female figurines, a limestone female head and a significant number of copper tools and mirrors, dating from the Early Bronze Age to the Roman Age.

One of the most prominent artefacts is a copper talent in the shape of an ox hide of the Late Bronze Age, which was the form in which copper was exported.

This is the third such talent to have been found in Cyprus. One is currently housed in the British Museum and the other in the Cyprus Museum.

The Antiquities Department is packing the artefacts and will bring them back to Cyprus over the next few days, almost a century after they were removed.

Speaking at the handing over ceremony, Kassianidou said all items would be catalogued and delivered to the University of Cyprus for educational purposes. The talent and some other important artefacts would be incorporated in the ongoing planning of the new archaeological museum.