The first batch of seven objects looted during the third Anglo-Asante War of 1874 has been returned to Ghana and will be formally presented to the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, on Thursday, February 8th.

Arriving on a United Airlines flight, the objects will be presented at the commencement durbar marking the 150th anniversary of the war at Dwaberem, Manhyia Palace. Dr. Silvia Forni, Director of the Fowler Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles, will lead the delegation making the official presentation.

The objects were acquired by the Fowler Museum in 1965 from the Wellcome Trust, and discussions for their return have been ongoing for several years.

The Wellcome Collection was established in memory of Sir Henry Wellcome. Permission for the objects' departure from California was granted in December under a CITES permit, allowing for their repatriation.

The returned objects include an ornamental chair, large beads, a strand of seed or bug-shaped beads, gold of an elephant hair, a royal stool ornament, a royal necklace, and a royal stool ornament, all dating back to the period before Asantehene Kofi Karkari in the 1840s.

This repatriation is part of a new cultural cooperation initiative involving the Fowler Museum, UCLA, the Manhyia Palace Museum, and the College of Art and Built Environment at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, envisioned by the Asantehene.