U.S. District Court records
The artifacts ranged from a 15th century sculpture, to French flatware from the 1800s, to a 1976 concert poster for The Who by German artist Gunther Kieser.
They included an early 20th century home phonograph designed by Thomas Edison, a two-handled cup from Tiffany & Co. dating back to around 1893, and a Currier and Ives print of The City of Chicago, 1874.
And after they went missing from a set of storage units in Deerfield last spring, federal court records show at least $112,000 in cash changed hands in exchange for some of the artifacts before the FBI set up a sting operation in a Lansing jewelry store. The investigation, conducted in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, has since led to criminal charges against three people in connection with the alleged heist.