(CNN) In 1961, 14 statues were stolen from the Archaeological Survey of India museum in Nalanda, eastern India.

On Wednesday, as part of the ceremonies for India's Independence Day celebrations, one of the sculptures, a bronze seated Buddha in the Bhumisparsha Mudra pose, was handed back to Indian high commissioner, Y.K. Sinha at a ceremony in London.

The story of how the 12th-century statue was spotted and recovered after it went missing for almost 60 years is fascinating.

Lynda Albertson, who heads the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art (ARCA), was in the Netherlands on business when she decided to attend the European Fine Arts Fair in Maastricht.

In a blog post detailing her experience , she said she was at the trade fair "to keep an eye open for looted antiquities which might be on sale with fabricated provenances -- artworks from the ancient past which have no legitimate pedigree as they have been looted directly from the ground."

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