First Collection
Rottiers had gathered the first collection of antiquities during a stay in Athens. He used a network of influential diplomats to acquire and export the objects. Where he had in fact gotten them from remained vague. Rottiers himself stated that he had excavated and been rather lucky, but others claimed that he had not found anything and then simply bought the items from them.
The first of Rottiers' collections was offered to the Dutch government in 1820. The Department of Education, Arts and Sciences Enzo in turn wrote to archaeology professor Caspar Reuvens, asking him to evaluate the collection and give advise. Reuvens was enthusiastic about the antiquities, mainly because they were Greek originals which the growing museum did not yet have. The Dutch government bought the collection for 12,000 guilders from Rottiers, and placed it in the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden.
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