Emily Chan
The embassy arranged to have her send the vessel back to its home country. She packed the artifact in a cardboard box and surrounded it with crumpled newspaper for padding.
Then, she carefully drove 30 minutes to the embassy in D.C., where Mexico’s Ambassador to the U.S., Moctezuma Barragán, was waiting to greet her.
The Ambassador thanked Dozier for her generosity, saying that her actions allowed for the preservation of rich cultural heritage.
The vase will be returned to the National Institute of Anthropology and History in Mexico City. Dozier was glad to have helped recover a valuable piece of history. She never would have considered selling or auctioning the vase.
“Giving it back feels so much better than it would if I put it on eBay, and I got a bunch of money,” Dozier said.
“It’s really important to recognize that some of these things, especially with such historical and cultural value to an entire country and people – you can’t really put a number on that.”
