A judge will rule next week in a dispute about the ownership of a €76,000 Georgian fireplace stolen 12 years ago from a country house in Co Laois.
He will decide whether it should be given to an antique dealer, who bought it in good faith or returned to the house owner, who received £4,500 compensation from an insurance company for the theft.
Mr Patrick Pilkington, of Coole, Co Westmeath, an antique dealer, claims the marble and pine fire surround, dating from 1750, belongs to him because he bought it from a reputable person in 1991, sold it to a Japanese country club, and later bought it back only to have it seized by gardaí when put on display at the Irish Antiques Fair in 2000.
He was unaware that in August 1990 it was taken in a burglary at Summer Grove Stud, Mountmellick, Co Laois, then owned by Mr John Dowling, Bray, Co Wicklow. As the thieves were carrying their haul through a paddock, a piece of carving from the fire surround came off. Mr Dowling found it and was able to show gardaí it matched the repaired fireplace when it turned up nearly 10 years later.
In Dublin District Court yesterday, Mr Pilkington and Mr Dowling both claimed ownership and contested a Police Property Act application brought by Mr Pilkington seeking its return from Garda headquarters.
The court heard that in 1991, Mr Pilkington bought the fireplace for sterling £5,000 from Mr Philip O'Neill, a fireplace restoration and reproduction expert, who had it on display in his premises at Carrickmines, Co Dublin.
Mr Pilkington told the court he took it to London, where it was sold to a Japanese corporation for £9,000.
Seven years later, Mr Pilkington was contacted by a man involved in the Japanese country club scheme and asked would he be interested in buying the fireplace back. He agreed to pay £10,000 and also paid the £5,000 costs of shipping it back to Europe.
Counsel for Mr Pilkington argued that under the statute of limitations, ownership had expired after a six-year period. Mr Pilkington twice bought the item in good faith.
He likened it to the fate of the Elgin Marbles, bought from the Turks on behalf of the British government to prevent them from being destroyed.
Judge Gerard Haughton said while it might be difficult to prove the Elgin Marbles were stolen, there was no dispute that this fireplace was taken in a burglary.