Saga of missing Roman bronze head spurs lawsuit

It appears the Roman Empire is still causing problems, this time within the modern insurance industry. 

Entertainment magnate Peter Guber is suing one of his longtime personal property insurance brokers, Abacus Insurance Brokers Inc., claiming it failed to properly advise him on his ownership of a multimillion-dollar bronze head of Roman Empire heir Lucius Aelius Verus, according to an article on Variety magazine’s website Thursday. 

Three years ago, Mr. Guber, chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group and a collector of fine arts and antiquities, lost the bronze head — which he traded 42 Greek coins for — in a mired saga involving a series of antiquities dealers, collectors, several insurance companies, investigations, and lawsuits. 

Attempting to collect on his lost treasure, Mr. Guber pursued repayment through several different insurers in a lengthy tale of woe, eventually collecting undisclosed settlements from two of his property insurers, one of which spent a year investigating his claim only to find that the head was not covered, according to the article. 

According to the latest lawsuit, Mr. Guber is still seeking $2 million from Abacus, which has served as Mr. Guber’s personal insurance broker since the 1980s, when he began acquiring fine arts and antiquities. The suit alleges that that an Abacus representative told him that one of his personal property policies would be “fine” and thus delayed his obtaining a separate policy to protect the head, thus miring the claim, according to Variety.