Endnote 3 – Lord Elgin’s Marbles

Fauvel had actually secured for Choiseul-Gouffier a second south metope, which he recovered after it was blown down in a storm. He shipped it to Paris in 1803, but the French boat carrying it was intercepted by the British navy. Its entire cargo was confiscated and Admiral Nelson, believing the metope was part of Elgin’s collection, had it sent to London. When Elgin unpacked it and saw that it belonged to Choiseul-Gouffier, he immediately offered to return it, but the count, confused by the strange incident, refused to believe that his metope was in Elgin’s hands and never requested it back. It ended up in the Elgin collection (Smith, “Lord Elgin and His Collection,” pp. 355–365).