On April 1, 1896, the Louvre announced that it had purchased a gold
tiara that had belonged to the
Scythian king
Saitapharnes. The museum had purchased the artifact for 200,000 gold French francs. A Greek inscription on the tiara read "The council and citizens of Olbia honor the great and invincible King Saitapharnes". To the experts at the Louvre, the tiara confirmed an episode dating to the late 3rd-century BCE or early 2nd-century BCE. 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. Shortly after the Louvre exhibited the tiara, a number of experts challenged its authenticity. Among them was the German archaeologist
Adolf Furtwängler and presented himself as the maker of the tiara. Experts at the museum refused to believe him until he demonstrated the ability to reproduce a portion of the crown. Embarrassed, the museum hid the object away in storage. 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. He lived in Paris until his death in 1934. In 1954, the tiara was included in a "Salon of Fakes" at the Louvre. As of 2009, another was on display at the
Tel Aviv Museum of Art. ==References==