directed by Admiral Harry Rawson. British forces sacked and destroyed Benin City. Following the attack, the victors took the works of art decorating the Royal Palace and the residences of the nobility, which had been accumulated over many centuries. According to the official account of this event written by the British, the attack was warranted because the local people had ambushed a peaceful mission, and because the expedition liberated the population from a reign of terror. Further, these objects were deemed "spoils of war", meaning that their rightful ownership was up for debate as soon as the attack began. This ambiguity surrounding the objects' ownership has made it difficult for the Benin Kingdom (present day Nigeria) to reclaim their property. The works taken by the British were a treasure hoard of bronze and ivory sculptures, including king heads, queen mother heads, leopard figurines, bells, and a great number of images sculpted in high relief, all of which were executed with a mastery of lost-wax casting. In 1910, German researcher Leo Frobenius carried out an expedition to Africa with the aim of collecting works of African art for museums in his country. Today perhaps as few as fifty pieces remain in Nigeria although approximately 2,400 pieces are held in European and American collections. Division among museums The Benin Bronzes that were part of the booty of the punitive expedition of 1897 had different destinations: one portion ended up in the private collections of various British officials; the Foreign and Commonwealth Office sold a large number, which later ended up in various European museums, mainly in Germany, and in American museums. The high quality of the pieces was reflected in the high prices they fetched on the market. The Foreign Office gave a large quantity of bronze wall plaques to the British Museum; these plaques illustrated the history of the Benin Kingdom in the fifteenth and sixteenth century. Subsequent sales, restitutions and repatriations The two largest collections of Benin Bronzes are located in the Ethnological Museum of Berlin and in the British Museum in London, while the third largest collection is located in several museums in Nigeria (principally the Nigerian National Museum in Lagos). Since gaining independence in 1960, Nigeria has sought the return of the bronzes on several occasions. There has also been extensive debate over the location of the bronzes being distant from their place of origin. Often, their return