From museum-security at museum-security.org Wed Jun 1 06:17:15 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 06:17:15 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] INTERNET bargain hunters have been warned to look out for nicked church relics Message-ID: <20050601041717.GOZP4821.amsfep12-int.chello.nl@cremers> DON'T NET A STOLEN RELIC Jun 1 2005 INTERNET bargain hunters have been warned to look out for nicked church relics. A host of historic items worth thousands of pounds have been stolen from Dunkeld Cathedral in Perthshire. And detectives fear they may be put up for sale on internet auction site eBay. The raiders made off with a haul including a beadle's hand-bell dating from 1693 and pewter communion flagons from 1745. A quaich and three communion plates were also stolen during the theft from the cathedral's museum last Saturday night. A police spokesman said' The eBay site may used to sell stolen items on. 'We would ask anyone who sees any of these objects to contact us.' Eileen Cox, chairwoman of the museum committee, said: 'The relics are completely irreplaceable From museum-security at museum-security.org Wed Jun 1 06:20:08 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 06:20:08 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] Scotland: Cathedral hit in midnight raid Message-ID: <20050601042010.HHFW6651.amsfep15-int.chello.nl@cremers> Cathedral hit in midnight raid June 1, 2005 KURT BAYER AN ORGANISED gang has escaped with a haul of centuries-old "irreplaceable" church artefacts in a midnight raid on Dunkeld Cathedral. The thieves overcame a series of obstacles before using long ladders to gain access to the building though a window high on its eastern end. Once inside, they moved through to the Chapter House museum where a collection of pewterware items were displayed in a reinforced glass case. They shattered the glass and made off with nine pieces including a drinking quaich dated 1693 that was used as part of a fountain at The Cross in Dunkeld. Also taken were three pewter communion flagons inscribed "Dunkeld 1745", three 18th- century pewter communion plates, and a cast-bronze beadle's bell with a wooden handle that was used in the cathedral from the 17th century. The gang left behind pieces that they either could not carry or were not valuable to them. David Arbuthnott, the session clerk of the Perthshire cathedral and chairman of its museum, said: "This is sickening and we are all very upset. "I think this was a well planned job carried out to order. I suspect the stolen items will be out of the country by now." Tayside Police are appealing for witnesses and are especially interested in speaking to anyone who may have seen a van parked nearby. They fear the items may be offered for sale on the internet and have asked online bargain hunters to be on the look-out. Col Arbuthnott was horrified to discover the break-in early on Sunday morning. He said: "It happened on Saturday night-Sunday morning, so people going to church found the smashed case and smashed window. Everybody is very upset. It's not somebody skylarking about on a Saturday night. It's a planned operation. "They must have used something like a pickaxe [to shatter the display case] because it's very tough glass." The remaining exhibits from the case have been removed for safekeeping, the cathedral has been secured and the museum reopened to the public. While the items were covered by insurance, Col Arbuthnott said: "Insurance is academic because they are irreplaceable." He added that an antiques dealer had advised that a specialist in church plate will have to be called in, but it is estimated that the losses will run into the "thousands". A police spokesman said: "It's certainly been quite specialised in what they've done. They have specifically targeted what they went for." Police say that the theft took place some time between 6:40pm on Saturday and 9:35am on Sunday. The cathedral has a rich history. In 1560, it suffered badly in the Reformation, and anything considered to be remotely "Popish" was ruined. The chancel was repaired and reroofed in 1600 to serve as Dunkeld's parish church. On 21 August, 1689, during the first Jacobite uprising, the Jacobites attacked government forces based in Dunkeld. During a long and bloody battle, much of the town, including the repaired parts of the cathedral, were burned down. The site has been reserved as holy ground since 730AD when Celtic missionaries, known as Culdees, built the first monastery on the idyllic site beside the river Tay. The current cathedral is a mixture of both Gothic and Norman influence, having been built in stages over a period of nearly 250 years between 1260 and 1501. From museum-security at museum-security.org Wed Jun 1 06:21:55 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 06:21:55 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] India: Arsonists to rebuild library Message-ID: <20050601042158.ZUEY1724.amsfep14-int.chello.nl@cremers> Arsonists to rebuild library Imphal, May 31: The script organisation, which called off its more than three-month- long violent agitation, is prepared to extend "all possible help" to the Manipur government's efforts to rebuild the state's oldest library, which was razed by its volunteers. The Meitei Erol Eyek Loinasillon Apunba Lup, which was behind the "successful" campaign for switching the script from Bengali to Meitei Mayek, called off its agitation from today following the release of all the script activists and student volunteers from the jail yesterday without any condition. The activists were released following an agreement between the organisation and the state government after the Okram Ibobi Singh cabinet resolved to replace the Bengali script with the local one in Class I and II from the next academic session. The cabinet prescribed the Roman script for tribal students. Chingsubam Akaba, president of the Meitei Erol Eyek Loinasillon Apunba Lup, who was among those released from jail yesterday, said his organisation was prepared to extend all possible help to the government and book lovers to rebuild the central library, which was torched on April 13 by script activists. The fire destroyed books and property worth Rs 10 crore. The script leader did not specify the mode of help to be extended to the government but hinted that it would try to donate Manipuri books in Meitei script. _________________________ Museum Security Network http://www.museum-security.org/ toncremers at museum-security.org Archive Cultural Property Protection http://te.verweg.com/pipermail/cpprot/ Archive Museum Security Network http://te.verweg.com/pipermail/msn-list/ Dutch Masters in Australia http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/dutchmasters/ _________________________ From museum-security at museum-security.org Wed Jun 1 06:37:01 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 06:37:01 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] French police on trail of smugglers of Jiroft artifacts Message-ID: <20050601043703.DLZX3274.amsfep20-int.chello.nl@cremers> French police on trail of smugglers of Jiroft artifacts Monday, May 30, 2005 - C2005 IranMania.com LONDON, May 30 (IranMania) - In response to a request by Iran's Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization, the French police have begun searching for the smugglers of several artifacts from the ancient Iranian site of Jiroft which were recently scheduled to go on sale in Paris, the Persian service of the Cultural Heritage News (CHN) agency reported. The sale of the items was stopped after Iranian cultural officials sued the institution that had organized the sale. Meanwhile, the relevant documents proving Iranian ownership of the artifacts have been submitted to a French court by Iranian officials, and the French police are conducting an investigation to determine how the artifacts were transferred to the country. CHN did not state how many artifacts were involved. Iran's cultural heritage has been the target of smugglers for centuries. Several other lawsuits have been filed by Iranian officials in courts in Britain, Turkey, Belgium, and Pakistan for the return of smuggled artifacts over the past few years. Iran recently sent an appeal to a Belgian court asking for the return of nine boxes of smuggled ancient artifacts and a 2800-year-old pin stolen from the exposition "7000 Years of Persian Art". In April, Iran also filed a legal complaint in a London court against the owner of an Achaemenid era bas-relief, demanding its return. The artifact, along with a great collection of other historical and ancient Iranian relics, was to be sold at Christie's at that time, but the London-based auction house withdrew the Iranian artifact from the sale pending judicial investigations. On March 7, some 118 ancient artifacts which had been smuggled to Britain from Jiroft were returned to Iran. The items had been confiscated by customs officials at London's Heathrow Airport last summer. http://www.iranmania.com/ From museum-security at museum-security.org Wed Jun 1 06:39:11 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 06:39:11 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] Stolen documents showed up on eBay Message-ID: <20050601043913.DYJ1724.amsfep14-int.chello.nl@cremers> Stolen documents showed up on eBay By Sam Kusic TRIBUNE-REVIEW Wednesday, June 1, 2005 An Ohio resident accused of trying to sell stolen, 200-year-old Indiana County Courthouse records waived his right to a preliminary hearing on Tuesday. Gary E. Saum, 60, of 121 Louise Lane, Athens, Ohio, faces 20 counts of criminal attempt to commit receiving stolen property. The property in this case is old county records that date between 1811 and 1826 and that should be shelved in a courthouse basement storage room. Instead, some of them are, for the time being, in the possession of Trooper Robert W. Erdely, who brought the charges against Saum. The charges are the result of Erdely's investigation, which started when a genealogical researcher found one of the documents listed for sale on eBay. That document, a fornication and bastardy indictment, is dated March 1811. It accuses yeoman William Clark of having a child out of wedlock with a woman named Catharine Lites. At the time, such an act was against the law. It's signed by then Pennsylvania Attorney General Richard Rush, who later became the Secretary of the Treasury under President John Quincy Adams. Kathy Dean, the prothonotary's microfilm office supervisor, said the researcher thought it odd that such a document would be for sale. So, the researcher called the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, which keeps microfilm copies of county records. Dean said commission officials confirmed that the document should be in the possession of the county and not be for sale. The commission called the Indiana County prothonotary's office, which then contacted state police. It fell to Erdely, a member of the state police computer crimes task force, to look into the matter. According to court documents, he found that a company called Ira & Larry Goldberg Coins & Collectibles, in Beverly Hills, Calif., was the seller. Company officials said they were selling the document on behalf of Saum. By way of a court order, Erdely got a hold of records of Saum's transactions over eBay and with the company. Through those, he found 19 other county records that had been or were being sold on eBay between April 2003 and January 2004, according to court documents. Those records are called constable returns, quarterly statistical records that list among other things the number of deer killed, the number of children born out of wedlock and number of slaves taken in all the townships. Nine of the documents were already sold for $9 to $19. Erdely said he was able to recover the others. "Who knew it would be interesting to anybody outside our county," said Dean. "I guess I was surprised anybody would be interested enough in them to take them." Saum is only charged with attempting to receive stolen property, not actually stealing the documents. Dean and Prothonotary Linda Moore-Mack said they aren't sure how the documents were removed from the courthouse. Dean, however, said she thinks she vaguely remembers seeing Saum in the storage room at some point in the past, but she said she isn't sure. "I can't commit to it," she said. The room is open to the public. Dean said she is frustrated that some of the documents she is tasked with preserving were taken. Saum and his attorney both declined comment yesterday. In return for waiving his hearing, Saum will likely be accepted in the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program. The program doesn't require defendants to enter a guilty plea, but it does require that they be on probation for up to two years. At the end of that time, they can apply to have their records expunged. Sam Kusic can be reached at skusic at tribweb.com or 724.463.8742. From museum-security at museum-security.org Wed Jun 1 13:09:25 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 13:09:25 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] Reward for Munch masterpiece recovery Message-ID: <20050601110928.WOTF4821.amsfep12-int.chello.nl@cremers> Reward for Munch masterpiece recovery The City of Oslo on Wednesday offered a NOK 2 million (USD 310,000) reward for assistance leading to the recovery of the stolen masterpieces "The Scream" and "Madonna" painted by Edvard Munch. The reward will be paid after the paintings have been recovered and verified as genuine. The news came from a press release by Oslo police, who took part in the decision to offer a reward. The paintings were stolen in an armed robbery on August 22, 2004, in a shocking raid that forced Norwegian museums and authorities to reconsider security levels and precautions. From museum-security at museum-security.org Wed Jun 1 13:09:24 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 13:09:24 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] Patrol seizes Beanie Babies, comic books from coin shop Message-ID: <20050601110925.WOSG4821.amsfep12-int.chello.nl@cremers> Patrol seizes Beanie Babies, comic books from coin shop June 1, 2005 Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio - The company overseeing the state's investment in rare coins purchased a coin for $123,000 and resold it for 1 cent, an example cited by State Highway Patrol investigators as possible criminal activity. Patrol investigators searched Tom Noe's Toledo-area coin shop last week and seized LeBron James rookie cards, Beanie Babies, comic books and thousands of other collectibles, according to a search warrant and related affidavits filed Tuesday in Lucas County Common Pleas Court in Toledo. The documents said the patrol was looking for evidence of theft, tampering with evidence and obstructing justice. Authorities said they weren't sure how much of the non-coin collectibles were owned by Ohio taxpayers. The search warrant's affidavit, signed by patrol Lt. Howard Hudson, cites a list of transactions as evidence of fraud. The court documents say Noe's Numismatic Professionals Ltd. sold one coin to a customer for a penny after the company bought the coin for $122,990. Hudson says in the affidavit that the transaction constitutes a theft of state property, but the documents don't further describe the sale. Numismatic Professionals was a company created with state money. An attorney for Noe, told the state last week that $10 million to $12 million is missing from the $55 million coin fund owned by the Bureau of Workers' Compensation. From museum-security at museum-security.org Wed Jun 1 13:09:25 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 13:09:25 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] Swiss act to limit traffic of illicit goods Message-ID: <20050601110933.WOVI4821.amsfep12-int.chello.nl@cremers> Swiss act to limit traffic of illicit goods swissinfo June 1, 2005 10:11 AM "Cultural goods are not normal goods ? there?s a difference between having your TV stolen and having a cultural good stolen," Andrea Rasch?r, head of international and legal matters at the Federal Culture Office, told swissinfo. "The subject of illicit trafficking of cultural goods in Switzerland became more sensitive a few years ago with the discussion of looted Jewish property during the Second World War." "This discussion reached a political level and as a result Switzerland now complies perfectly with international standards." Black sheep Under the new legislation, art dealers and auction houses will be obliged to identify who they do business with, bringing an end to anonymous trading. These institutions will have to keep accounts of their dealing activities as well as detailed information on goods exchanged. "It is important that people who deal in cultural goods correctly can be separated from the black sheep," said Rasch?r. Under the new law, the period after which cultural goods of unknown origin ? often stolen ? can legally come onto the Swiss market will increase from five to 30 years. However, the law does not apply to works of art whose purchase price is less than SFr5,000 ($4,000). A specialist unit at the Federal Culture Office will be responsible for monitoring the trade in cultural goods and ensuring it complies with the new legislation. Cultural inheritance This will also play an important role in preserving the world?s cultural heritage and in preventing theft, plundering and the illegal import and export of cultural goods. Extra diligence will be applied to archaeological artefacts. "Import/export is of course focused on archaeological and ethnological goods because they are the biggest problems ? you can?t check what comes out of the earth," said Rasch?r. "These are the main goods for the identity of a nation and this is what most countries ? including Switzerland ? protect very strongly." Trade hub Switzerland ratified the 1970 United Nation?s Unesco Convention only in 2003. This regulates the transfer of cultural objects in 94 nations and encourages international cooperation. The Federal Culture Office says Switzerland is among the art world?s five biggest trade hubs. The import and export of cultural goods is a SFr1.5 billion market in Switzerland. "Internationally, stolen works of art make up the third-biggest illegal market behind drugs and the arms trade," said Rasch?r. The problem has always been particularly acute in Switzerland due to the lack of legislation. Gold star However, Switzerland has notched up some successes regarding illegal trafficking of cultural goods. In 2002 the bronze and gold "Sky Disk of Nebra" caused a global sensation when it appeared from nowhere on the international antiquities market. The 12-inch disk, which dates back to 1,600BC, is the world?s oldest image of the cosmos. Its seller claimed it had been looted in 1999 by illegal treasure hunters with a metal detector from Nebra in Saxony-Anhalt, in the former East Germany. In fact it had been stolen amid the confusion of German reunification and had been on the black market for years with an asking price of up to $10 million. Archaeological artefacts are the property of the state in Saxony-Anhalt and following a sting by Swiss police in Basel, the disk was returned to Germany. swissinfo, Thomas Stephens ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- URL of this story http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=105&sid=5826790 Related Sites Federal Culture Office (German, French, Italian): http://www.kultur-schweiz.admin.ch/ Text of new Swiss law (French): http://www.culture-suisse.admin.ch/arkgt/kgt/files/LTBC_f.pdf Unesco: http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=15006&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION= 201.html Unesco 1970 convention: http://www.unesco.org/culture/laws/1970/html_eng/page1.shtml Unesco - cultural property: its illicit trafficking and restitution: http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=2633&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_S ECTION=201.html The Hague convention of 1954: http://www.unesco.org/culture/laws/hague/html_eng/page1.shtml Interpol: Stolen works of art: http://www.interpol.int/Public/WorkOfArt/Default.asp From museum-security at museum-security.org Wed Jun 1 21:40:35 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 21:40:35 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] =?iso-8859-1?q?Vol_de_peintures_=E0_Paris?= Message-ID: <20050601194037.WFSZ4821.amsfep12-int.chello.nl@cremers> Vol de peintures ? Paris 01 juin 2005 La police a ouvert des enqu?tes apr?s la disparition de trois tableaux, ? Paris, dont deux ont ?t? vol?s dans une ?glise, a rapport? la police mercredi. Deux toiles du peintre mexicain du XVIIIe si?cle Cristobal de Villapando, estim?es chacune ? 60.000 euros, ont disparu d'une ?glise du XIIIe arrondissement. Le conservateur de la ville de Paris a d?pos? plainte mardi, selon la police. Mardi ?galement, le conservateur du mus?e de l'Universit? Paris V-Descartes a d?pos? plainte apr?s la disparition d'un portrait du chimiste et homme politique Jean-Antoine Chaptal, estim? ? 50.000 euros, dans l'antichambre de la salle du conseil de l'Universit?. Ce tableau sign? Gabriel Lemonnier est inscrit au patrimoine national. From museum-security at museum-security.org Fri Jun 3 13:17:11 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2005 13:17:11 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] The Art Newspaper newsletter Message-ID: <20050603111713.RMZN3274.amsfep20-int.chello.nl@cremers> The Art Newspaper newsletter June 2, 2005 >From News: Pinault pulls the plug on Paris The French billionaire has ditched plans for a contemporary art museum on the Ile Seguin and has instead bought the Palazzo Grassi in Venice- By Gareth Harris LONDON. The French billionaire Fran?ois Pinault has abandoned plans to build a E150 million ($191 million) contemporary art museum on the Ile Seguin in Paris. Instead, he has decided to make the 18th-century Palazzo Grassi in Venice, which he recently acquired... go to article >From Museums: Guggenheim opens Prince house to public The New York museum will display works by the artist Richard Prince in his own house in upstate New York- By Jason Edward Kaufman NEW YORK. The Guggenheim Museum has acquired a dilapidated, single-storey house in upstate New York from the artist Richard Prince, who spent three years turning its four rooms and garage into an installation entitled Second house. It includes 11 sculptures fashioned... go to article >From Conservation: Now you see it, now you don?t After 30 years, Robert Smithson?s famous Spiral Jetty has re-emerged from the water, but only intervention will keep it visible- By Jason Edward Kaufman SALT LAKE CITY. Since its creation in 1970 by Robert Smithson, Spiral jetty has become a legendary earthwork? representing the movement that arose in the anti-establishment 1960s to try and escape the realm of commercial galleries by making sculptural interventions directly in the landscape. But if it is one of the most famous earthworks, it is also one of the least visited... go to article >From Books: The UK government must act now The director of the British Museum reflects on the looting of the Iraq Museum, Baghdad, and what now needs to be done- By Neil MacGregor Director, The British Museum Another day, another report of death in Iraq. Or probably, several. As I write this review, the German press has announced that Fuad Ibrahim Mohammed, head of Baghdad University?s Institute of German Studies, who for the last two years has been working to re-build its library, destroyed by artillery when American troops entered Baghdad, has been murdered... go to article >From News: In a Royal Palace, everything you want to know about how to organise an exhibition TURIN. A two-day conference next month in Turin, Italy, is bringing together leading figures from the world of art to discuss what makes for a successful exhibition... go to article From museum-security at museum-security.org Fri Jun 3 13:31:02 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2005 13:31:02 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] =?iso-8859-1?q?Trece_obras_han_robado_del_Museo_de_?= =?iso-8859-1?q?Ciudad_Bol=EDvar_?= Message-ID: <20050603113105.OKQH1724.amsfep14-int.chello.nl@cremers> Trece obras han robado del Museo de Ciudad Bol?var Por: Corresponsalia Ciudad Bolivar 02 de Junio de 2005 Un total de trece obras de arte han sido robadas en menos de tres meses del Museo de Arte de Ciudad Bol?var, mejor conocido como Museo del Correo del Orinoco. Marlene Wulff de Aguirre, directora de la instituci?n muse?stica, cont? que el ?ltimo hurto se registr? durante la madrugada del lunes, cuando antisociales cargaron con tres pinturas sobre ?leos que se encontraban exhibidas en una de las salas de exposici?n. Explic? que el modo de operar de los antisociales en las diferentes oportunidades que han ingresado al sal?n de arte es b?sicamente el mismo, ?usan como escalera una ventana que da hacia la calle Carabobo y suben hasta el techo para lograr ingresar a la casa por el patio interno?, asegur?. Las p?rdidas econ?mica que representan los m?ltiples robos no fueron cuantificadas por Wulff, quien asegur? que cada una de las obras extra?das forman parte de una importante colecci?n de artistas pl?sticos venezolanos, muchos de ellos fallecidos. ?ltimo hurto Trabajadores de la Casa Correo del Orinoco contaron que el pasado lunes se incorporaron a sus puestos de trabajo como todas las semanas; sin embrago el d?a inici? mostrando cierta peculiaridad desde que abrieron la puerta principal de la instituci?n. Observaron que algunos objetos se encontraban fuera de sus lugares habituales, pero lo que llam? a?n m?s la atenci?n fue la puerta de la primera sala expositiva que se encontraba semi abierta. Empleados aseguraron que al observar las irregularidades nunca dudaron que se trataba de otro robo, ?durante el ?ltimo mes hemos sido visitados por los ladrones todos los fines de semana, cada lunes que llegamos nos percatamos que falta alguna obra?, asegur? una trabajadora. En esta oportunidad los maleantes cargaron con las muestras Cachamay, de Ignacio Beaperthuy De Nu?es; Lores, de Feliciano Carvallo y Ma?ana en La Urbina, de Ra?l Molero. Wulff asegura que los responsables de los robos conocen de arte, ya que cada una de las piezas robadas han sido meticulosamente seleccionadas, ?la primera vez que se llevaron seis obras los ladrones trabajaron con una gran delicadeza para sacar las pinturas de los marcos sin da?arlas, adem?s que el tipo de obra que est?n siendo robadas son parte de una selectiva colecci?n?, asegur?. La directora del Museo de Ciudad Bol?var no descarta que los responsables formen parte de un grupo de ladrones de obras de arte a nivel internacional, ?es muy probable que las obras ya se encuentren fuera del pa?s, porque en Venezuela el mercado de compra y venta de arte no es muy amplio?. Trabajadores de la instituci?n manifestaron considerar que se trata de un grupo dedicado al robo de arte, el cual est? haciendo contrataci?n de j?venes delincuentes de la ciudad, ?porque no s?lo se llevan las obras, la ?ltima vez se llevaron la escoba, el envase para la limpieza, tazas para el caf? y una cantidad de objetos de uso de los trabajadores?, aseguraron. Indolencia Al consultar a Wulff sobre la actuaci?n de los cuerpos de seguridad en torno a la cadena de robos registrados, manifest? que el Cuerpo de Investigaciones Cient?ficas, Penales y Criminal?sticas de Ciudad Bol?var se present? cuando robaron las primeras seis obras en el mes de marzo, ?pero los hemos vuelto a llamar con los otros robos y no vienen, el lunes se present? s?lo un funcionario de Ipol Bol?var. Trabajadores de la instituci?n denunciaron el poco inter?s manifestado por parte de los investigadores para resolver los robos ?porque pruebas hay de sobra, inclusive en una oportunidad los ladrones dejaron olvidado un juego de llaves que ten?a el control remoto de una puerta?. El Museo de Ciudad Bol?var o Casa Correo del Orinoco como es mejor conocido, s?lo cuenta con un sistema de seguridad por c?mara, el cual no est? en funcionamiento porque los cables fueron cortados por los ladrones en una de sus tantas incursiones. Wulff asegur? que la instituci?n no cuenta con recursos para cancelar los honorarios de un vigilante privado, ya que cada una de las obras pertenecen a una asociaci?n civil sin fines de lucro. Explic? que han solicitado el apoyo gubernamental para obtener vigilancia nocturna, sin embargo nunca han sido tomados en cuenta, aun cuando el Museo de Ciudad Bol?var forma parte del patrimonio cultural e hist?rico del estado. Es necesario recordar que ese espacio dedicado hoy d?a a la difusi?n cultural fue construido en el a?o 1800 y en sus recintos se imprimi? el primer ejemplar del peri?dico ?Correo del Orinoco? el 27 de junio de 1818. Las p?rdidas registradas por los m?ltiples robos son incalculables para los trabajadores de la edificaci?n muse?stica, quienes aseguran haber entregado su vida a ese espacio dedicado a impartir educaci?n y recreaci?n a todos sus visitantes. Respuesta En horas de la tarde de ayer, antes del cierre de esta edici?n, se conoci? que el presidente del Instituto Aut?nomo de la Polic?a de Bol?var gir? la orden de apostar dos efectivos en las instalaciones del Museo de Ciudad Bol?var, donde permanecer?n brindando resguardo durante todo el d?a y la noche. http://www.nuevaprensa.com.ve/ver_art.php?cod=16381 From museum-security at museum-security.org Fri Jun 3 13:40:05 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2005 13:40:05 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] FW: $11,000 sculpture stolen Message-ID: <20050603114008.SKKI3274.amsfep20-int.chello.nl@cremers> $11,000 sculpture stolen June 03, 2005 From: AAP An $11,000 sculpture has been stolen from a gallery in southern NSW. The wooden sculpture was stolen from its display stand while the Bugendore gallery was open on April 25, police said. Called Temple 4 Two, the sculpture was 40cm tall and made from Mallee wood burl by a South Australian sculptor. Police investigations have so far failed to find any trace of the artwork. Anyone with information can phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15494751-1702,00.html From museum-security at museum-security.org Fri Jun 3 13:40:05 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2005 13:40:05 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] New Zealand: Artist's stolen mural turns up in gallery after nine years Message-ID: <20050603114011.SKLT3274.amsfep20-int.chello.nl@cremers> Artist's stolen mural turns up in gallery after nine years Nigel Brown painted the panel in 1996. Picture / Martin Sykes 03.06.05 By Wayne Thompson A large mural that was stolen from the Auckland Town Hall nine years ago has surfaced in a Parnell art gallery. The mural vanished in October 1996 soon after it was painted on a 2.5m panel, for the security fence put round the town hall during its restoration. The artist, Nigel Brown, said yesterday he was shocked when Ferner Galleries wrote to him saying they had the signed and dated artwork under consideration for their mid-year catalogue show. "I told the gallery it was a stolen artwork," said Brown, who now lives in Southland. "The work was done for the town hall restoration project on a hoarding and was removed in the night before it could be auctioned to raise funds to buy art works for the town hall. "At the time we thought it was a student prank. "A sign was put up asking for return of the work and that was stolen as well. "I'm keen to try and trace the culprits, who I realise may not necessarily be the seller to the gallery." Ferner Galleries chairman Peter Jarvis said he was also interested in determining who actually had title to the panel. Ferner bought the mural in good faith from an Auckland demolition contractor. "He assured us that he had good title to the item and explained that he cleared demolition and building sites, often recovering a wide variety of items left on sites or in buildings he was contracted to clear, and which became his property to sell or dispose of as he saw fit." When supplied with copies of a Herald report detailing when the mural was stolen, Mr Jarvis rang the vendor, who "again stated that he believes he had good title to the work and was entitled to sell it". Brown said the work was estimated to be worth $4000 to $6000 in 1996, but "since then my prices have climbed considerably". Mr Jarvis thought the painting was worth about $5000 but added it could be more because Brown's new work fetched $15,000. Brown said the work belonged to the council as one of the 36 panels donated by artists. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10328844 From museum-security at museum-security.org Sat Jun 4 00:18:40 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Sat, 4 Jun 2005 00:18:40 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] Thousands of stolen Iraqi artifacts found Message-ID: <20050603221842.VADB6651.amsfep15-int.chello.nl@cremers> Thousands of stolen Iraqi artifacts found June 3, 2005 By Betsy Pisik THE WASHINGTON TIMES NEW YORK -- Roughly half of the 15,000 items looted from the National Museum of Iraq in 2003 have been recovered, said its director, who thanked American officials for assistance in restoring the building. Archaeologist and museum director Donny George said law-enforcement and customs officials in the United States had intercepted at least 1,000 artifacts stolen from the museum in the chaotic days after the fall of Baghdad. Another 3,000 or so artifacts have been found and secured in Jordan, Syria, Italy and other nations, said the museum director, an Iraqi-born Christian. However, he said, the governments of Iran and Turkey -- both neighbors with porous land borders -- have failed to respond to legal and diplomatic inquiries. Many stolen Iraqi artifacts or their counterfeits still are advertised on EBay and change hands through channels known to collectors. U.S. law-enforcement and customs agencies say they are on the lookout for antiquities but cannot provide current information on interceptions or prosecutions. U.S. troops, journalists and contractors returning from Iraq are among those who have been caught with forbidden souvenirs -- mostly paintings and small seals and cylinders that can be carved exquisitely and hidden easily. "We are grateful to our friends and dear brothers" for intercepting the artifacts, Mr. George said Tuesday evening during a slide presentation to the National Arts Club in New York. Much of Baghdad was plunged into chaos after U.S. troops captured the capital on April 9, 2003. As Iraqi troops fled, looters and professional thieves quickly overran the museum, which was left unguarded. Mr. George -- like many Iraqis and much of the American press -- blamed U.S. military planners at the time for ignoring the history and culture of the country they had come to liberate. But the museum director was much more conciliatory at the National Arts Club, where he told a well-heeled audience that he was "satisfied" with the level of financial and technical support to rebuild the shattered museum. Asked whether the Pentagon had offered an apology for failing to guard the museum, Mr. George said U.S. assistance allowed his staff to rebuild the museum's offices and galleries, install new security systems and create computer networks where there had been none. "I will take that as an apology," he said. Mr. George, the director of research for the State Board of Antiquities under Saddam Hussein, was installed as director of the National Museum of Iraq by the U.S.-run Coalition Provisional Authority that governed the country from early 2003 until last summer. He remained in that post under the interim government and has been retained by the transitional government of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. He also has the support of the international antiquities specialists. "He's a real professional, one of the archaeologists in the Middle East," said McGuire Gibson, a professor of Mesopotamian archaeology at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute who visited Iraq's museum and archaeological sites in 2003 for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the National Geographic Society. Mr. George said much of the thievery was done by insiders, but told The Washington Times this week that Iraqi and museum authorities have made little effort to find the culprits. "I am asking [U.S. investigators] to tell me who they have caught," he said with a shrug. The museum is trying to establish a database of the looted artifacts, in part to make them more difficult to sell. The FBI, Interpol and many museums also have put up images of the missing artifacts. In the meantime, Mr. George said, he has asked governments to document and hold on to what they intercept until Iraq is more stable. Thousands of missing pieces are presumed to be inside Iraq, where a corps of mostly untrained volunteers has been scouring markets in search of the missing antiquities. The museum also has been fortified with tall concrete walls and welded gates that enclose the galleries, but Mr. George said it is not safe to reopen the doors to visitors. From museum-security at museum-security.org Sat Jun 4 00:21:29 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Sat, 4 Jun 2005 00:21:29 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] Oslo police make fifth arrest in 'Scream' theft Message-ID: <20050603222131.RONA3274.amsfep20-int.chello.nl@cremers> Oslo police make fifth arrest in 'Scream' theft Reuters Jun. 3, 2005 - Police in the Norwegian capital on Friday arrested a fifth suspect in the hunt to recover the stolen 1893 masterpiece "The Sceam" by the painter Edvard Munch. The latest arrest came two days after the City of Oslo offered a reward of 2 million crowns ($310,300) for information leading to recovery of "The Scream" and another Munch painting "Madonna" stolen from an Oslo museum last summer. But police declined to say if the arrest had any connection with the reward offer for the missing pictures. "We have not yet found the paintings. We are still optimistic, but it can take some time," police attorney Morten Hojem Ervik told Reuters. Police arrested the man in his late 20s in central Oslo, and suspect him of being one of three robbers who took part in the Aug. 22 daylight robbery of the paintings from the Munch Museum, Ervik said. Two armed robbers ran into the museum, threatened staff with a handgun and forced people to lie down before pulling the pictures off the wall and walking out the front door to a get-away car driven by a third man. Ervik declined to say what role the man arrested on Friday is thought to have played. Police have called two earlier detained suspects accomplices, identified another as one of the three robbers and a fourth as the planner of the robbery. Norwegian media have said one of the four was the driver. Those four suspects remain in police custody. All have denied involvement. The fifth suspect will be questioned over the weekend and brought before a court on Monday, Ervik said. "The Scream" shows a terrified waif-like figure clutching its head beneath a blood-red sky. It is an icon of angst for a century scarred by horrors such as the atom bomb and the Holocaust. The less well-known "Madonna," also from 1893, depicts a mysterious bare-breasted woman with long black hair. Munch painted several versions of his best-known paintings, all of them priceless. Munch, a founder of modern expressionism, lived from 1863 to 1944. From museum-security at museum-security.org Sat Jun 4 00:37:49 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Sat, 4 Jun 2005 00:37:49 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] =?iso-8859-1?q?Buchexperten_diskutieren_=FCber_Rest?= =?iso-8859-1?q?aurierung?= Message-ID: <20050603223751.BHEH4821.amsfep12-int.chello.nl@cremers> Buchexperten diskutieren ?ber Restaurierung Leipzig. Die bei der Brandkatastrophe im vorigen Jahr schwer besch?digten B?cher der Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek Weimar sind seit gestern Thema einer internationalen Tagung in Leipzig. F?r die Restaurierung der durch Feuer und Wasser besch?digten B?cher gebe es keine Routineverfahren, sagte der Bibliotheksdirektor J?rgen Weber. Typische Sch?den seien Ascheablagerung zwischen Buchseiten, geplatzte Pergamentr?cken sowie verbrannte Ledereinb?nde und Buchdeckel, die sich kaum oder nicht mehr ?ffnen lassen. Bei den bislang bekannten Behandlungsmethoden sei mit weiteren Verlusten zu rechnen. Auch eine schonende Technologie, den scharfen Brandgeruch der B?cher zu tilgen, ohne die Materialien zus?tzlich anzugreifen, sei noch nicht gefunden, hie? es. 100 Experten aus mehreren europ?ischen L?ndern wollen bis Sonnabend M?glichkeiten einer Restaurierung und Konservierung der Weimarer Buchbest?nde diskutieren. Vor allem geht es um neue Methoden zur Restaurierung von hitze-, wasser- und brandgesch?digten Materialien. (dpa) www.anna-amalia-bibliothek.de From museum-security at museum-security.org Sat Jun 4 00:42:49 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Sat, 4 Jun 2005 00:42:49 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] The director of the British Museum reflects on the looting of the Iraq Museum, Baghdad, and what now needs to be done Message-ID: <20050603224251.ZWFE87.amsfep17-int.chello.nl@cremers> The UK government must act now The director of the British Museum reflects on the looting of the Iraq Museum, Baghdad, and what now needs to be done By Neil MacGregor Director, The British Museum Another day, another report of death in Iraq. Or probably, several. As I write this review, the German press has announced that Fuad Ibrahim Mohammed, head of Baghdad University's Institute of German Studies, who for the last two years has been working to re-build its library, destroyed by artillery when American troops entered Baghdad, has been murdered by unknown killers on his way to work. It happens all the time. It is hardly even news. The human cost of rebuilding Iraq's cultural patrimony is, and will be, immense and is shamefully under-reported in the outside world. This is the context in which readers of The Art Newspaper must address The looting of the Iraq Museum, Baghdad, which tells once again the familiar events and gives some idea of what will one day need to be done as a consequence. As the museum itself is still closed, this book takes us on an imaginary stroll through its rooms and through Mesopotamian history. Our guides are a team of distinguished scholars-Iraqi, Italian, American and British, most of whom have worked for decades in Iraq. Using works from the museum's collections, they lead us from the Stone Age to Alexander the Great, pausing every now and then to look in detail at an outstandingly beautiful object. It is a serious general guide to the museum we cannot visit. At intervals, to vary the pace, an excursion-with superb photographs-is made to the great sites, archaeological, Islamic, Ottoman, led this time by those who have dug and studied there and can tell us why the places matter. But the purpose of this beautiful book of easy scholarship is, of course, not pleasure, but a call to action, and its scope is far wider than its title suggests. The story of the looting of the museum is by now well known. There can be no questioning the loss of thousands of objects from its collections, especially cylinder seals, and there is little more now to say. The damage wilfully inflicted on the historic site of Babylon by American and Polish troops who chose to use it as a transport hub has been widely publicised and internationally condemned. But the aerial photographs showing the continuing organised looting of many other archaeological sites will shock most readers, as will the account of the systematic failure of the coalition forces to protect them, in spite of the unequivocal obligation that international law imposes on occupying powers. It is hard to see how the current Iraqi government can soon succeed where the coalition with its huge international resources so signally failed, and site-looting is now a staple of the local economy in many areas. On any realistic view, this destruction of knowledge will continue for years to come. It is unlikely we shall ever be able to measure our loss. A portion of the royalties from this book will go to the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage. But every reader of The Art Newspaper is bound to ask what they, as individuals, or working with institutions, can do. For the situation is far worse than even this book suggests. Focussing on the Iraq Museum and the great sites, it does not address the loss of libraries, the destruction of most of the archives of Ottoman Iraq, or the damage inflicted on towns and cities which are still inhabited. Since the change of regime in Baghdad, the Iraq Museum has been opened for only one half day: for a press conference to show that the gold of Nimrud prudently stored in the vaults of the Central Bank by the staff, was indeed still safe. It was, but the ivories from Nimrud had suffered serious damage because their store had flooded and they still await conservation. As electricity is intermittent and unpredictable, there is neither dependable air conditioning nor light in the museum. So conservation work is impossible, and the slow checking of objects in the underground store rooms is out of the question. In such circumstances the museum can do virtually nothing. Even if staff risk travelling across the city, they cannot work when they get there. Colleagues from abroad are eager to help, and have done so in the past, but with foreigners having become targets of hostage-taking or assassination, it is hard to see how institutions can responsibly allow expert staff to travel to Iraq. Serious engagement of foreign specialists with the archaeological sites cannot even be considered. The British government committed itself shortly after the invasion to helping with the cultural reconstruction of Iraq. It has brought a number of Iraqi colleagues to the UK for training; three archaeologists from Babylon are at the moment in the British Museum, but there has been no concerted campaign of assistance. By the time this review is published, there will be a new government in both London and Baghdad. The new Secretary of State for Culture in the British Government must seize this opportunity. Working with Iraqi colleagues, the British government must construct a plan of co-operation, training and investment over several years, beginning with an intensive programme of training for Iraqis in Britain, and preparing for the moment when it will be possible for us to offer help of all sorts on the ground in Iraq. Throughout the UK, individuals and institutions are eager to do whatever they can, if the government will only provide the resources and the framework. It is hard to see what task could be more urgent for the new Secretary of State, or where more good will and energy could be counted on to produce results. But with things as they stand, nothing can happen unless the government will play its part. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/ From ellie at bruggemansolutions.com Sat Jun 4 10:17:35 2005 From: ellie at bruggemansolutions.com (Ellie Bruggeman) Date: Sat, 04 Jun 2005 10:17:35 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] =?iso-8859-1?q?Alemania_-_Descubierto_un_cuadro_des?= =?iso-8859-1?q?conocido_de_Munch_detr=E1s_de_otro_lienzo_con_el_que_compa?= =?iso-8859-1?q?rt=EDa_el_marco?= Message-ID: <42A1639F.8020401@bruggemansolutions.com> Descubierto un cuadro desconocido de Munch detr?s de otro lienzo con el que compart?a el marco Un cuadro desconocido del pintor Edvard Munch fue encontrado por restauradores alemanes oculto detr?s de otro lienzo, con el que compart?a el mismo marco. La pintura fue hallada en el principal museo de Bremen, el Kunsthalle, detr?s del ?nico lienzo de Munch que hasta entonces pose?a la instituci?n, titulada "La madre muerta". El nuevo cuadro, que abarca tres rostros masculinos distorsionados y una ni?a desnuda, ha sido bautizado por el museo como "Ni?a con tres cabezas de hombre" y fue pintado seg?n los expertos en 1898. El director del museo, Wulf Herzogenrath, se?al? hoy que el cuadro llega en un buen momento para el mundo del arte, que todav?a no se ha recuperado del robo de dos pinturas de Munch, que fueron sacadas de un museo de Oslo en 2004. Ninguna de dichas pinturas, valoradas en decenas de millones de euros, ha sido recuperada. Herzongrath dijo que el nuevo cuadro, que no hab?a sido visto en m?s de 100 a?os, "no tiene precio". http://www.europapress.es/ From museum-security at museum-security.org Sat Jun 4 13:30:04 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Sat, 4 Jun 2005 13:30:04 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] A bust of Buddha today triggered speculation that it was the one that had been stolen from the Indian Museum on December 29 last year Message-ID: <20050604113006.PADW3274.amsfep20-int.chello.nl@cremers> RESCUE OF THE BUDDHA June 3, 2005 Mystery over true identity Express News Service Kolkata, June 3: A bust of Buddha - bearing an inscription claiming it belonged to 5th Century, AD - today triggered speculation that it was the one that had been stolen from the Indian Museum on December 29 last year. The bust was recovered in a police raid at the residence of a travel agent in North 24-Parganas. However, after the first round of examination, experts ruled out the possibility of the bust being the one that had been stolen fro the museum as it was not made of the same sandstone. But they will examine the recovered piece again tomorrow. The travel agent from whose Belghoria residence police seized the bust today said during interrogation that it had been gifted to him by a Thai national last year. The agent claimed that the Thai national was an art student who used to frequent the Indian Museum. Addressing the media, deputy commissioner (Central) Ajay Kumar said: "We recovered a Buddha bust today from the residence of one person in Belghoria in North 24-Parganas district." He, however, refused to divulge any details of the person from whose residence the Buddha bust was seized. The inscription at its bottom reads: "5th Century AD, Saranath, UP, Indian Museum, Calcutta". The bust bears a striking resemblance to the sandstone piece that was stolen from the archaeology section of the Indian Museum on December 29. "Indian Museum sells replicas of many statutes and busts. We did not, however, have any replica of the Buddha bust which was stolen last year. The nose of the stolen bust was broken. But the nose of the one seized today is alright. The seized bust will be brought to the museum tomorrow and our experts will examine it. An first appearance, the seized bust seems to be a fake," said director of Indian Museum S.K. Basu. From museum-security at museum-security.org Sat Jun 4 13:30:04 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Sat, 4 Jun 2005 13:30:04 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] USA: Indian museum burglarized Message-ID: <20050604113011.PAFN3274.amsfep20-int.chello.nl@cremers> Friday, June 03, 2005 Indian museum burglarized An estimated 2,500 artifacts on display at the Wolf Creek Indian Museum in Bland County were stolen in a break-in that apparently happened early Sunday morning. About half of the museum's collection was taken, Linda Bradshaw, museum executive director, said Thursday. "We don't know what kind of people would do this," Bradshaw said. "We're devastated that someone would come in here and do what they have done." The county sheriff's office and state police are investigating. The museum is near Bastian, close to where construction on what is now Interstate 77 uncovered remnants of a prehistoric American Indian village, which led to the museum's being built. Arrowheads, spear points, axes and stone pipes were among the items stolen, many from the original site. Many of the other items were on loan to the museum, Bradshaw said. It would be hard to put a monetary value on what was taken, she said. More than a dozen display cases, more than half of those in the museum, were smashed open. The thief or thieves disconnected the power at the top of the building and made a hole in a window to get inside. An inventory is under way, but Bradshaw said the thieves apparently never got to the pottery. In fact, the museum is back open, cleaned up and back in business with school groups and other visitors, she said. From museum-security at museum-security.org Sat Jun 4 13:31:46 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Sat, 4 Jun 2005 13:31:46 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] True or false? Message-ID: <20050604113148.PBTK3274.amsfep20-int.chello.nl@cremers> True or false? Julia Tanski-Gilbert Weekend: June 4-5, 2005 Finding truth in art can be a Platonic task. A long process of comparing technique, tracing the methodology of the painter and a reading of any correspondence about a painting is often needed to give a precise idea of its provenance. It is not only in China that concern surrounds auctioned art. International houses Christie's and Sotheby's are at the crux of a controversy concerning paintings by Raden Saleh, a noted 19th century Indonesian artist. In an intriguing twist of events, lot number 21 at Christie's May 29 sale at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, an oil on canvas signed Raden Saleh, 1849, entitled A family promenades along a path with two tigers in wait and the Borobudur in the background was withdrawn two days before the auction. When the painting was catalogued and previewed, it evoked a strong reaction from the specialized art community of Southeast Asian painting. Its resemblance to a work sold in 1999 by Sotheby's is striking. A Singaporean businessman owns this painting, entitled Lying In Wait , and is questioning the authenticity of one or both pictures. With a price tag of S$2.4 million (HK$11.15 million) - the second highest price ever commanded in Singapore for an artwork - a second look at both paintings seems warranted. And this is exactly what Christie's is going to do. It withdrew its painting "for further confirmation of the provenance,'' explained Victoria Cheung, from Christie's Hong Kong. Christie's expert WF Rappard, curator of 19th century art at the Netherlands Institute for Art History, said the painting was an original, but did not back his claim in writing as he felt an investigation should be done to give a "more definitive answer.'' Amir Sidharta, curator of The Museum Pelita Harapan outside Jakarta where three paintings by Raden Saleh are housed, came to the same conclusion. "There is quite a difference in technique, particularly in the brush strokes and in the way the figures are formed, particularly the anatomy of the man and the horse in the [Christie's] picture,'' he said. "Of course, it is possible the artist painted two paintings of the same scene but I would really like to know what other experts think. I don't think a simple judgment of `original' or `fake' is what we need. We need to know the reasoning behind it. That is most important toward our comprehension of art.'' The price of these pictures is what may draw our interest but this is not the only impressive aspect. Saleh's overall composition, use of color and technique also merit attention. Born in 1807, Saleh studied with Dutch and French masters of the period, including Antoine Payen and Horace Vernet, first in Indonesia and then in Europe. His figures are painted with delicate skin tones and an expressiveness in the eyes that comes directly from the Dutch tradition, whereas the precise animal musculature in movement that he depicts is close to that of the French Romantic masters. Saleh's landscapes are inspired by his homeland, however, with local architecture in the background. In all, it is a rich, well-executed combination, that has made his works "landmarks in the development of Indonesian art appreciation,'' says Sidharta. The Saleh paintings in question are an excellent example of Saleh's style. In the foreground, a pair of hungry tigers are ready to pounce on an unsuspecting man walking while his wife and child ride on a delicate horse. In the background, is Java's famous Borobudur monument and a sunset filtered through a cloud-scattered sky. "The painting echoes the timeless, dreamlike vision of an illusory reality, heavy with paradoxical symbols like shadow and light, innocence and danger, man and animal, divine spirituality and human materialism,'' writes Marie-Odette Scalliet, who wrote the catalogue entry for Christie's. "The ambitious artist, gifted with an insatiable greed for knowledge, had reached his full maturity.'' Christie's catalogue for its May Southeast Asian and Modern Indian Paintings sale dedicates a long entry to the Saleh painting, underlining the exceptional nature of the work and states that "since experts and analyses confirm, however, that the authenticity of the present lot is beyond doubt, it cannot be excluded that Raden Saleh painted the same composition twice, one being commissioned by the Duke of Saxony-Coburg-Gotha, another being acquired by an unknown person. "This hypothesis is reasonable when one bears in mind that Raden Saleh also painted Deer Hunt twice.'' Deer Hunt sold for S$2.8 million at Christie's March 1996 auction in Singapore. "The price achieved a record for Southeast Asian painting while marking the peak of the Indonesian art boom,'' states Sidharta. This boom also encouraged the theft of more than 25 paintings from the National Museum of Jakarta in 1995, five of which turned up for auction at Christie's a year later in Singapore. Two were by Raden Saleh. The stolen works were withdrawn from sale and returned to the museum. Even with the withdrawal of this latest picture, the May Christie's Hong Kong Southeast Asian sale brought in almost HK$36.4 million and Christie's series of six just-concluded Asian art sales here reaped more than HK$698.4 million, a record for any Asian art auction series. Hopefully, the mystery surrounding A family promenades will soon be resolved. From museum-security at museum-security.org Sun Jun 5 08:23:06 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2005 08:23:06 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] =?iso-8859-1?q?Police_close_in_on_=A320m_Caravaggio?= Message-ID: <20050605062308.EXYP4821.amsfep12-int.chello.nl@cremers> Police close in on ?20m Caravaggio John Follain, Rome June 5, 2005 ITALIAN police believe that they may be close to tracking down one of the world?s most valuable missing artworks ? a Caravaggio not seen since it was stolen from a Sicilian church more than 30 years ago. The fate of the Nativity with Saints Francis and Lawrence, painted in 1609 and worth an estimated ?20m, has been the source of rumour since 1969 when two petty thieves cut it from its frame in the Oratory of San Lorenzo in Palermo. The art squad of the carabinieri, Italy?s paramilitary police, immediately launched an investigation. But the mafia is believed to have got to the painting first. Colonel Fernando Musella, who has been on the painting?s trail for nine years, said last week that a source in an unspecified eastern European country had indicated that he knew of the painting?s whereabouts. ?We are verifying this lead and we hope to meet this person,? Musella said. ?Our information is that the painting is still in Italy and that it is intact save for some slight damage in a corner.? The new lead is the fruit of years of discreet approaches to the men of honour. ?I tell them the theft was so long ago that nobody can be jailed for it today and all that interests me is recovering a work of art,? Musella said. ?Sometimes that gets them to open up a little.? http://www.timesonline.co.uk/ From museum-security at museum-security.org Mon Jun 6 06:17:38 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 06:17:38 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] Book review: A lesson on how (not) to steal art Message-ID: <20050606041740.TREV9831.amsfep14-int.chello.nl@cremers> A lesson on how (not) to steal art By David Kirby Special Correspondent June 5, 2005 The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece. Edward Dolnick. HarperCollins. $25.95. 288 pp. It's hard to imagine a story, real or fictional, that contains more fundamental human qualities than this one: greed, impulsiveness, stupidity (on the part of thieves); lack of foresight, tightfistedness, boneheaded decision-making (museum directors); cunning, imagination, patience (the police). Throw in the element of luck and the fact that the crimes involve the theft not of cash or diamonds but fragile, one-of-a-kind paintings, some hundreds of years old, and you have a book you'll hang onto more tightly than some museums do their objets d'art. The last sentence refers to plural crimes because the 1994 theft of Edvard Munch's The Scream is too slight a story to justify an entire book: boneheaded museum officials leave painting where anyone can grab it, stupid thieves snatch same, patient cop gets it back. So Dolnick uses the Scream story as a textbook example of art theft and retrieval and then writes the textbook around it. Depending on which category you fall into, The Rescue Artist will tell you everything you need to know to be a crook, curator, or cop. The facts of the Scream theft are these: at 6:29 a.m. on Feb. 12, 1994, two men lean a ladder against the wall of Norway's National Gallery in Oslo, smash a second-story window, snip the wire that holds the Munch painting to the wall, and sail it down the ladder the way a parent would send a kid down a sliding board. The theft could be seen on the museum's security monitors, but the guard was tending to paper work, allowing the thieves to make off with a $72 million masterpiece in less than a minute. Enter Charley Hill, an undercover member of Scotland Yard's Art Squad on loan to the Norwegians and a master of his trade. Deeply knowledgeable about art, Hill himself listed for Dolnick the unattractive character traits ("arrogance, bullying, self-importance") that enabled him to play a loud-talking American wheeler-dealer eager to buy a hot painting. Ultimately, though, it's Hill's patience that gets the painting back. In addition to being stupid and greedy, art thieves are not especially polite, and Hill is stood up frequently before he meets the guy who knows the guy who introduces the guy who got the painting from the guys who stole it. Over time, an incredible amount of art has gone missing, and most of it stays that way; 551 Picassos, 43 van Goghs, 174 Rembrandts, and 209 Renoirs are out there somewhere. But not in the collection of some Dr. No figure: thieves persuade themselves that a billionaire collector will snap up a hot C?zanne at a fraction of its price, but only because they've been watching too many James Bond movies. The plutocrat cackling in a basement gallery stuffed with stolen masterpieces is a figment of Hollywood's imagination (rich people like to show off their possessions, not hide them). The lessons of The Rescue Artist are these: if you're a crook, don't steal art, because nobody wants it. If you're a curator, for heaven's sake, put some bars on the windows, will you? Nobody wants that masterpiece, but stupid crooks are going to grab it anyway. And if you're a cop on the Art Squad, think about taking up Buddhism or some other practice that cultivates calm: if the latest theft of The Scream is any indication, crooks and curators are going to be up to their old tricks for a long time to come, and you're going to need all the patience you can muster. Poet David Kirby lives in Tallahassee, where he teaches English at Florida State University. His latest collection is The Ha-Ha. From museum-security at museum-security.org Mon Jun 6 18:59:55 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 18:59:55 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] Sotheby's, Bakalar Entangled in Dispute Over Nazi-Era Artworks Message-ID: <20050606170004.WIIN18699.amsfep12-int.chello.nl@cremers> Sotheby's, Bakalar Entangled in Dispute Over Nazi-Era Artworks June 6 (Bloomberg) -- What started out as a battle over a 1917 watercolor by Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele has escalated into a legal tug-of-war over artwork that may be worth more than $100 million. The dispute involves Sotheby's Holdings Inc., the world's largest auction house, Boston philanthropist David Bakalar, several prominent art dealers, and the heirs of a popular Viennese cabaret singer who died in a Nazi concentration camp. The legal tussle started on March 21 when Bakalar filed a complaint in New York federal court against Leon Fischer and Milos Vavra, who claim to be the heirs of singer Fritz Grunbaum. Bakalar, 80, contends that Fischer and Vavra sabotaged his effort to sell the 1917 Schiele watercolor by claiming they were the rightful owners of ``Seated Woman with Bent Left Leg (Torso),'' an erotic picture of a headless woman brushed on paper with opaque paint. Bakalar, founder of Transitron Electronic Corp., sold the artwork for 400,000 pounds ($726,000) on Feb. 10 at a Sotheby's auction in London. Sotheby's later voided the sale and told Bakalar it would hold the piece until the ownership issue was decided. ``Because of the defendants' reckless and inaccurate last- minute claims, plaintiff has been substantially harmed,'' Bakalar's lawyers say in the complaint, which asks the court to declare that Bakalar is the rightful owner of the watercolor and award him an unspecified amount in damages. Nazi Inventory Last Wednesday, Fischer and Vavra filed a counterclaim in federal court in New York, saying they should gain possession of all artworks that once belonged to Grunbaum. The request is based on an inventory of Grunbaum's collection made by the Nazis in 1938, when he was sent to a concentration camp and his collection was placed in a warehouse. Fischer and Vavra say those works, including 55 large, colored drawings and five oil paintings by Schiele, are now scattered in public and private collections throughout the world, such as the Leopold Foundation in Vienna, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Forced Sale? In their counterclaim, Fischer and Vavra say the ``art was either stolen from Grunbaum's estate or the subject of an illegal `forced sale' and that no subsequent transfer was valid, legal or made in good faith.'' Fischer, a 64-year-old New York stamp dealer, and Vavra, who lives in Prague, say that Sotheby's knew before the sale that questions had been raised about ownership of the watercolor. They cite a Feb. 7 letter to Sotheby's from Erika Jakubovits, executive director of the Jewish Community Organization of Vienna, in which she asks that the work be withdrawn from the auction because of doubts about its proper owner. ``We reviewed with Ms. Jakubovits the research we had done and the reasons why we felt comfortable offering the work for sale,'' John Olsoff, Sotheby's North American general counsel, said in an interview. Fischer and Vavra also say that two days after the sale, they notified Sotheby's that the Austrian government ruled in 2002 that they were Grunbaum's rightful heirs. (Fischer's grandfather was the brother of Grunbaum's widow, and Vavra is a descendant of Grunbaum's sister, Elise. Court documents don't mention Vavra's age or occupation.) `Speculative' Claim Their counterclaim also calls Bakalar's suit ``a frivolous legal proceeding'' filed ``without the most minimal factual inquiry.'' Attorney James A. Janowitz, who is representing Bakalar, said the claims made by Fischer and Vavra are ``speculative'' and that his client wants to ``have any cloud'' over his ownership removed. When Bakalar bought the Schiele watercolor in 1963 from New York's Galerie St. Etienne, similar works were selling for $1,200 to $3,000, according to Jane Kallir, granddaughter of the gallery's owner. ``This is not about the Holocaust,'' Bakalar's complaint says. ``It is about a voluntary sale by a close relative of Fritz Grunbaum, which occurred years after the war and which remained unchallenged for decades.'' Janowitz said Bakalar, who was president of Transitron Electronic for 30 years, wasn't available to comment. Bakalar retired 20 years ago to devote himself to philanthropy and has endowed art galleries at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Wellesley College and the Massachusetts College of Art. Times Reporter While no official value has been placed on the Schiele collection, art dealer Andrea Crane of New York's Jan Krugier Gallery estimated that the works are worth more than $100 million. ``The market for Schiele is stronger than ever, and judging from the piece which sold at Sotheby's London, it's not hard to figure out the potential value of the collection,'' Crane, who has sold many German and Austrian artworks, said in an interview. This is not the first controversy over artworks that once belonged to Grunbaum. In 1998, then-New York Times writer Rita Reif and her sister Kathleen claimed ownership of ``Dead City III,'' a 1911 Schiele painting that was loaned by the Viennese Leopold Foundation to the Museum of Modern Art. Because both sisters had married relatives of Grunbaum, they contended they were among the heirs to the collection. Death in Dachau Although the New York district attorney's office issued a subpoena preventing MoMA from returning ``Dead City III'' to the Viennese foundation, a New York appeals court later ruled that the painting could be returned under a law that prevents seizure of artworks. The outcome of Bakalar's complaint and the counterclaim by Fischer and Vavra hinges on what happened to Grunbaum's collection after he was sent to Dachau in 1938. Grunbaum died there in 1941 and his wife, Elisabeth Grunbaum-Herzl, died in another concentration camp the following year. The Grunbaum collection didn't surface again until the 1950s, when many of the works were exhibited by the Swiss gallery Klipstein & Kornfeld and then sold to art dealer Otto Kallir for 650 francs. Kallir died in 1978. In their court filing, Fischer and Vavra accuse Kallir's granddaughter, Jane, of concealing the stolen history of the Grunbaum collection when she wrote a comprehensive catalog on Schiele's works in 1990. Stolen Art Jane Kallir, who now runs the family gallery on 57th Street, said in an interview that she didn't know at the time that the Schiele works were once owned by Grunbaum. She also said her gallery has helped families recover artworks that were stolen by the Nazis. ``Decades after the fact, it is almost impossible to document what happened,'' she said. ``This should have been done years ago. All the people who really knew about these pictures are dead.'' The counterclaim by Fischer and Vavra also contains accusations against Eberhardt Kornfeld, who was a junior partner at the Swiss gallery when it sold the artworks to Kallir in 1956. In a letter included in court papers, Kornfeld says he bought the artwork from Mathilde Lukacs, a sister-in-law of Fritz Grunbaum. Lawyers for Fischer and Vavra say in court documents that Kornfeld's account is ``fabricated'' and ``patently incredible'' because Lukacs wouldn't have had access to the storage facility where the works were kept. Kornfeld is now 82 and living in Switzerland, according to his son-in-law, Wolf Weiler, who declined to comment on the case. Better Salad After German courts ruled in 1998 that the Reif sisters weren't entitled to the Grunbaum collection, Germany's Hoerner Bank AG launched a campaign to find the rightful heirs. Viennese genealogist Herbert Gruber and Dennis Langel, a Long Island-based private detective, helped the bank track down Fischer and Vavra. In 1999, Fischer received a letter from Langel with information about his family ties to Grunbaum. Although the letter suggested he might be entitled to some money, Fischer said he was ``suspicious'' and ignored it. Langel persisted, though, and eventually convinced Fischer to meet with him at a lawyer's office, where he learned more details. ``I only know vaguely that relatives in Austria had met a bad fate,'' Fischer said in an interview. ``That's all I knew until six years ago.'' Fischer said he's not banking on a windfall from the case. ``The wheels of justice move very slowly,'' he said as he ate a salad at a diner on the Upper East Side. ``Win or lose, not much is going to change. I may get a better apartment or have more money, but I doubt I'll be able to get a better Cobb salad.'' The case is Bakalar v. Vavra and Fischer, No. 05 CIV. 3037, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Last Updated: June 6, 2005 00:09 EDT From museum-security at museum-security.org Mon Jun 6 18:59:55 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 18:59:55 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] Detective zeros in on art thieves Message-ID: <20050606165959.WIGC18699.amsfep12-int.chello.nl@cremers> Detective zeros in on art thieves By Josh Kleinbaum, Staff Writer When about $100,000 worth of jewelry once owned by Elvis Presley disappeared from the wall-to-ceiling safe of a Los Angeles-area auction house, it seemed like the perfect crime, perpetrated by a master criminal. For Detective Don Hrycyk, it's just another whodunit. "To an outsider, it looks like the crime of the century," said Detective Don Hrycyk. The crime of the century, Hrycyk learned, was really a crime of stupidity. Hrycyk has recovered more than $62 million in stolen art in 11 years heading the LAPD's art theft detail. He is believed to be the only full-time art detective working for a municipal agency. In many of his cases, the key to the crime lies in the patterns of the victim, not the crook. At the auction house, only six people -- all loyal, longtime employees of the company -- had the combination to the safe. But they couldn't remember it. Instead, they kept the combination on a piece of paper in an unlocked drawer in the same room as the safe. "Every time someone needed something from the safe, they'd see this guy walk over, open up the drawer, pull out the combination, go over (to the safe), read the combination, and then put the combination back into the drawer," Hrycyk said. "There was a part-time employee who had just been hired. He saw how easy it would be to get in there. "The problem is not clever thieves. For the most part, the problem is careless victims." Since 1994, Hrycyk has helped recover, among other things, Picasso paintings, Peanuts animation cells, a $3.5 million Stradivarius cello and an $850,000 Sanctus Seraphin violin and bow. He's searching for much more than he's recovered. He maintains an extensive database of stolen art on the LAPD's Web site, which includes listings for two Marc Chagall lithographs, an Andy Warhol silk screen of Arnold Schwarzenegger, an alligator costume and the mask and spear from the movie "Predator." "Don is an excellent resource because he knows a lot about art and a lot about the law," said Katherine Dugdale, operations manager of the Art Loss Registry, a London-based firm that screens art for major auction houses to make sure they're not selling stolen goods. "We refer other police offers from around California and other Western states to Don whenever they have an art crime, simply because he's able to convey a wealth of information on how to respond to a situation." The LAPD created the art theft detail in 1983, realizing that expensive artwork accounted for a large chunk of the stolen goods in Los Angeles. Bill Martin, the city's first art cop, launched the beat. At the time, Hrycyk was working homicides in the LAPD's 77th Division, one of the most violent parts of the city. "The city was having over 1,000 murders a year," Hrycyk said. "There were certain weekends when I would have three separate murder calls. It was a really tough time. "Some of those murders were just because somebody was wearing the wrong shoelaces. The suspect didn't even know who the victim was. They just perceived that they were some sort of rival and blew them out of their socks." By 1987, Hrycyk was ready for a change. He heard of an opening in the LAPD's commercial crimes division -- then called the burglary and auto theft division -- and applied, not knowing the specifics of the job. When he got the job, he was paired with Martin on the art theft detail. "It was really a fluke," he said. In 1994, Hrycyk permanently gave up the world of murders for the world of whodunits, becoming the LAPD's lead art detective. Instead of chasing gang members, he chases "Clue"-type characters -- the butler, the chauffeur and the handyman. In one of Hrycyk's cases, the butler of oil tycoon Howard Keck stole a painting from the card room of the Keck mansion, replacing it with a photographed replica. He sold the painting in Sweden for $527,000. Yes, the butler did it in the card room with a photograph. In many art thefts, Hrycyk said, the crook knows the victim well enough to have some inside information -- they're familiar with the security system, they know when the victim won't be home, things like that. In one case, the crook installed the security system. Carol Neal, a vice president for Bill Melendez Productions, which owns the original animation cells to Charles Schulz's Peanuts, noticed in 1998 that some cells were missing. She figured they were misplaced, not stolen. To be safe, she asked the company's handyman to build shelves in a vacant room, install a new lock and give her the only key, turning the room into a safe. She moved all of company's most valuable artwork into that room. The next year, she was shocked to discover hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of art missing from the safe room. That's when she met Hrycyk. "He's very much the gumshoe detective," Neal said. "He has a dry sense of humor. We talked the same language. He understood how a production studio works, and how art should be handled." In his investigation, Hrycyk discovered that Perry Gilfoy, the handyman who installed the lock on the safe room, stole the animation cells. Gilfoy eventually pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property. Hrycyk has a clear passion for the whodunit, which comes through on the LAPD's art theft detail Web site. He includes information about his favorite cases, and gives them names like, "The Butler Did It" and "The Chauffeur Did It." His title for the Peanuts case is "It's a Sad Day, Charlie Brown." In the 20 years since the LAPD created the art theft detail, other organizations have begun to catch on. The New York Police Department has a detective who focuses on art-theft cases, but he handles other cases, too. The FBI formed the Art Crimes Team in November, with special agents spread around the country. "The value of art has gone up significantly in the last 10 years," said Special Agent Christopher Calarco, a member of the FBI's Art Crimes Team. "Any time things go up in value like that, it attracts crooks into the business." Calarco, who is based in Los Angeles, said he met with Hrycyk when he was assigned to the Art Crimes Team, and consults with Hrycyk on Los Angeles-area cases. "He's been doing it for so long, and he has such excellent relationships with a lot of people in the Los Angeles art community," Calarco said. "He's a really good detective, he's smart, and he knows how to work a case. When you combine those things, it makes him very effective." Hrycyk considers himself an expert on art theft, not art itself, but he's developed plenty of art knowledge through the years. When he took the job, he jokingly referred to himself as an art Neanderthal. He would enter art galleries and be drawn to certain colors or shapes, but he knew little about artists, techniques or styles. Now, after 11 years as a full-time art cop, Hrycyk knows the jargon of the art world. He can sometimes identify an artist just by looking at a painting. Art experts say he can spot a fake at first glance. The expertise comes in handy. Those in the art world laud his work, saying his knowledge and understanding of fine art makes it easier to recover stolen art. And he knows how to treat fine art once it's recovered. "He always checks with people like me and others before he checks for fingerprints," said Robert Cauer, a violin expert who repaired the Stradivarius cello and the Seraphin violin after they were recovered. "A policeman who doesn't know will inadvertently wipe dirt into cracks, which doubles the intricacies of the work. He's is already way off that." Now, after 31 years with the LAPD and 11 years covering art theft, Hrycyk is considering retirement. But he's worried about leaving without getting the chance to train a replacement. After cycling through partners for most of his time on the art theft beat, Hrycyk has been going solo for nearly four years, a victim of LAPD budget cuts. "This is the type of job where it takes years in order to get it under your belt and do it effectively," Hrycyk said. "There's no college, no school, to learn how to do this. "In the last 11 years, we've recovered more than $62 million worth of art. It's a good investment, but it's viewed by most departments as a luxury. I think it's one of the best jobs in any police department." --- Josh Kleinbaum, (818) 546-3669 josh.kleinbaum at dailynews.com From museum-security at museum-security.org Mon Jun 6 19:05:02 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 19:05:02 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] Police stretched by online fraud. Fraudsters have targeted online auction site TradeMe in a surge of internet crime. Message-ID: <20050606170505.OAEX24432.amsfep19-int.chello.nl@cremers> Police stretched by online fraud 06.06.05 Fraudsters have targeted online auction site TradeMe in a surge of internet crime. The police identity intelligence unit manager, Detective Senior Sergeant Neil Hallett, who also deals with e-crime, said internet fraud was increasing, and police were "challenged" by the trend. "It's all changing and police are having to adapt," he said. "New Zealand police will evolve and develop the expertise to combat it." Police had no idea how widespread the problem of internet fraud was because it had emerged only in the past 18 months, Mr Hallett said. One of the biggest internet fraudsters caught so far, 19-year-old Dimtri Nemkine, pleaded guilty in Auckland District Court in April to 10 fraud charges that involved hacking into bank accounts and using funds to buy $35,000 worth of jewellery, computers, cellphones and computer games on TradeMe between last December and February. This year, Canterbury book thief Lee John Simpson was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison for the theft and selling of precious volumes on the internet. And last month TradeMe banned three people for selling reproductions of other people's photographs as original paintings. Mr Hallett said internet fraud ranged from people who sold items on TradeMe and failed to deliver to sophisticated hackers such as Nemkine. A million people - one in four people - are registered users of the TradeMe site. The expansion of internet trading sites had given scammers new targets, Mr Hallett said. "Fraudsters will be attracted to anything where there's a chance to make a quick buck," he said. "People think they are quite anonymous on the net, but what they forget is that they leave pretty big footsteps." Mr Hallett said a police unit focusing on e-crime and identity theft was established nearly a year ago. He would not say how many officers worked for the unit. Detective Constable Tim Traviss, who headed the Auckland fraud squad's Nemkine investigation, said about 10 per cent of all fraud now involved computers. This type of fraud had been almost non-existent two years ago, he said. "It's becoming more and more prevalent." Another policeman, who did not want to be named, said police were increasingly involved in fraud investigations where people had been ripped off over the internet. "It's easier for small-time crooks to commit fraud now because they don't even have to leave home," he said. "In the old days, you had to present a stolen cheque over the counter at a shop or a bank. Nowadays, they can sit at home and create new identities and have access to far more victims than they ever had." The policeman, who is involved in fraud investigation, said members of the public using internet trading sites were more vulnerable now because of the technology. "People are willing to send their money at the chance of what they see as a bargain," he said. The most common form of internet fraud was when someone collected money for an item sold on TradeMe but never delivered the product. The fraudster would then change his TradeMe login and email address to avoid detection or being identified as a "bad trader", the policeman said. Aucklander Forrest Tan was one of Nemkine's 16 victims. He said he felt really angry when he learned the money he received for a laptop sold on TradeMe was stolen by a hacker. When the bank account owner found funds missing, the money was debited from Mr Tan's account by the bank. Mr Tan's computer was recovered when Nemkine was arrested. He said he would use TradeMe again, but is now more cautious. TradeMe business manager Michael O'Donnell said the website had many features to protect customers from fraudsters. One such system was Safe Trader, where people could deposit money for goods with TradeMe. The funds would be released once the product had been delivered in satisfactory condition. Feedback about which traders were honest was also available on the site, Mr O'Donnell said. TradeMe tried to verify sellers' identities by sending a letter to their address, which required the seller to return it, he said. TradeMe also had an investigation team that collected information for police prosecution of scammers using the site. - NZPA http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10329208 From museum-security at museum-security.org Mon Jun 6 19:05:30 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 19:05:30 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] Disagreement swirls around Pollock finds Message-ID: <20050606170533.YEOU11463.amsfep13-int.chello.nl@cremers> Disagreement swirls around Pollock finds Sunday, June 05, 2005 Steven Litt Plain Dealer Art Critic At first, it was a joyous artistic discovery. Now it's one of the hottest controversies in the art world. Three weeks ago, with great fanfare, New York art dealer Mark Borghi announced the discovery of 32 hitherto-unknown paintings and studies by Jackson Pollock, the raging bull of 20th-century American art. Cleveland art historian Ellen Landau, an expert on Pollock, added luster to the announcement by stating that the works are authentic. "As soon as I took a look, I was amazed," Landau said at the time, recalling the moment in August when Borghi first showed her the paintings. "The provenance is impeccable. When you look at these works, you know they're by Jackson Pollock." Since then, however, Eugene Victor Thaw, a famous art dealer and highly respected expert on Pollock, has cast doubt on the paintings. In comments published in The New York Times, Thaw said that at best, the paintings are works in the style of Pollock, possibly by the artist's friend, Mercedes Matter, and/or her students. And at worst? Thaw made it clear he didn't think the paintings were authentic. The Times, in promoting its article, employed the red-flag term "fakes," which implies fraud as opposed to an innocent mistake in attributing authorship of a work of art. In the article, however, Thaw was not quoted using the term "fakes" himself. Thaw, reached at his home in New Mexico last week, declined to comment further. "I have said all I'm going to say on this matter, and I really don't want to be interviewed again," he said. "Say what you have to say. I'm an old man now and not really interested in getting mixed up any further in this. Let these pieces be seen, and let the art world make its own judgment." Landau, reached at her home in Shaker Heights last week, declined to comment on Thaw's statements. A look at the paintings The dispute has cast a shadow, at least temporarily, over the paintings. And it has exposed a rift in the small, normally harmonious world of Pollock experts. Landau is the author of a book on Pollock and has published a catalogue raisonne -- or complete catalog -- of the works of Pollock's wife, Lee Krasner. She has worked cooperatively in the past with the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, a nonprofit organization formerly presided over by Thaw. "I'm saddened," Borghi said. "I wished this wouldn't have happened. I think it's unfortunate." He called Thaw's statements "prejudiced, biased and baseless. All one has to do is stand in front of these [paintings], and you see it's baseless." In his gallery on East 76th Street in Manhattan, Borghi displayed two of the Pollocks in a private viewing 11 days ago. One, titled "No. 9," was a small galaxy of white swirls and droplets over turbulent undercurrents of black and silver. Flecks of reddish-orange sparkled across the image, like sparks of energy. The pigment rested on the surface of the painting in thick layers, with each rivulet creating its own ridge of paint. "It's really dazzling," Borghi said. The other work, "No. 6," featured streaks of yellow against a turbulent backdrop of black and blackish green. The dealer also brought out photographs of a dozen other works from the discovered bundle. They included images of thick, red splotches of paint on a white background; large gray swirls on a yellow background; and a turbulent, jazzy composition of rich blues and violets painted in a dense thicket of splatters. Studies done in a New York apartment Borghi said that filmmaker Alex Matter discovered the paintings in late 2002 or early 2003 in the Long Island town of East Hampton, N.Y., in a storage unit that had belonged to his father, photographer and graphic designer Herbert Matter, a close friend of Pollock's. They were wrapped in brown paper, with a note scribbled by the elder Matter saying the works were experimental studies painted by Pollock in Matter's Tudor City apartment in Manhattan, opposite the present site of the United Nations. Matter had allowed Pollock to work in the apartment on and off from 1946 to 1949, years that coincide with his breakthrough as a painter of mural-size drip-and-splatter paintings. Pollock tacked large canvases to the floor of his barn in Springs, N.Y., also on Long Island, and used sticks and brushes to hurl paint from cans onto the surface. Apparently, though, Pollock was working simultaneously in Matter's apartment, making richly colored paintings with the same technique, but on a far smaller scale. The paintings saved by Matter measure from 5-by-7 inches to 15-by-18 inches. A meeting with Thaw After discovering the paintings, Alex Matter approached Borghi, who was already representing the estate of Mercedes Matter, Herbert's wife and Alex's mother, who died in 2001. Alex brought small groups of works to Borghi, over many months, while Borghi advised him to take the works to New York art conservator Franco Lissy to have them cleaned. "I was salivating," Borghi said. "[Alex Matter] never really told me how many there were. I was at least 10 months into it before I understood what I was dealing with." In August, Borghi invited Landau to a private viewing. Together, they started to plan a national touring exhibition, to be organized by Landau, in which the paintings would play a central role. Borghi says at least half a dozen art museums are interested. Two months before announcing the discovery of the paintings publicly, Borghi flew to Santa Fe, N.M., with five of the works. He wanted to show them to Thaw as a courtesy to one of the art world's reigning experts on Pollock. "When I met him, he looked at them for five minutes and just sat down to talk to me about them," Borghi said. "The balance of the time was just discussing when we were going to publish them. He was curious about whether there were others." Borghi said he didn't ask Thaw to authenticate the works, and Thaw didn't offer to do so. Then, as Borghi put it, "Mr. Thaw decided to weigh in and decide he was king" by debunking the paintings. The disagreement raises an age-old question about works of art: How do you tell what's real? In the case of the Pollocks, the facts are likely to emerge slowly. Borghi said he's enlisting scientific experts to analyze the pigments in the paintings, which could prove whether they match the age and chemistry of other pigments Pollock used. Matter's scribbled note on the wrapping around the paintings indicated that Pollock had used an experimental paint developed by a Swiss manufacturer. The composition of the paint could provide a chemical fingerprint to prove authenticity. Borghi was also recruiting artists who knew Mercedes Matter to offer testimony about Thaw's contention that she could have painted the pictures stored on Long Island by her husband. Graham Nickson, a former associate of Mercedes who has been contacted by Borghi, said he had no opinion on the authenticity of the paintings. But he strongly doubted they could have been painted by Mercedes, a former friend of his. Nickson is dean of the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, a job formerly held by Mercedes. "She was very much unlikely to copy somebody else's style," he said. "She never made drip paintings." As for the works championed by Borghi and Landau, Nickson's view is likely one shared by most observers. "They should get the paintings out and let the sides be drawn and make some new educated observations," he said. "The thing to do is to keep an open mind until it's all sorted out." To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: slitt at plaind.com, 216-999-4136 http://www.cleveland.com/ From museum-security at museum-security.org Mon Jun 6 19:20:28 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 19:20:28 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] How to steal history Message-ID: <20050606172031.NMEJ18602.amsfep20-int.chello.nl@cremers> How to steal history June 6, 2005 ONE morning in the early 1960s, the cultural and historical community of Manila woke up to a nightmarish newspaper banner headline - the original manuscript of Jose Rizal's Ultimo Adios was missing from its frame. It was one of those priceless historical documents at the National Museum then located on Taft Avenue, near Herran St. Many were aghast over the loss or maybe the theft. They thought the government was negligent and did not provide adequate security to such a vital document, certainly part of the country's history. Manila police believed it was stolen but even the best sleuths of Manila's Finest could not provide a lead, much less a suspect. Everybody was resigned to the loss and bade farewell to ever seeing the Ultimo Adios again. Then one day, after almost two weeks since museum officials reported the loss, Sen. Salvador Laurel received a call from an anonymous caller. The stranger said he was bothered by his conscience and was returning the document to the senator. The manuscript was recovered all right. A disgruntled janitor in the museum admitted having stolen the original from its frame. It was fortunate that not a single centavo was spent by the government in recovering Ultimo Adios. A couple of years ago, there were reports in media that important documents, books, manuscripts, maps, and original copies, were just lying in one corner of a government office. Certainly, they were an invitation to burglary by callous persons with an eye to selling those vital records to private collectors here and abroad. In a parallel incident, the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities admitted that Egypt is one of the most vulnerable places on earth for theft of artifacts. "Seventy percent of our relics remain buried," an official of the museum told the National Geographic TV channel a fortnight ago. One episode featured in Interpol Investigates narrated how one British national took the head of the statue of a pharaoh and smuggled it out of Egypt without being detected by customs police at the Cairo airport. What the thief did was to paint the face of the detached head with crudely fashioned colors to make it appear as if the head was just a replica or a mask. The British smuggler was not able to sell the relic to some London collectors because of a British law that prohibits the buying of foreign artifacts from unregistered sources. A sly fortune-hunter, the Britisher instead sold it to a licensed dealers in South Africa who in turn offered it to the British Museum. The prospective sale never materialize because Scotland Yard was alerted and promptly arrested the thief. http://www.mb.com.ph/ From museum-security at museum-security.org Mon Jun 6 19:05:02 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 19:05:02 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] New Tech Protects Ancient Torahs Message-ID: <20050606170508.OAGS24432.amsfep19-int.chello.nl@cremers> New Tech Protects Ancient Torahs By Kevin Poulsen 02:00 AM Jun. 06, 2005 PT BURLINGAME, California -- In an empty chapel at Peninsula Temple Sholom south of San Francisco, James Carlson breathes a heavy sigh and searches his chain for the right key. In front of him is the sanctuary's Holy Ark, a cabinet found in every synagogue that houses and protects Judaism's most revered instruments of worship: the Torah scrolls, by tradition the word of God as received by Moses. This ark is wood, inlaid with a design of Hebrew letters arranged like a lamp's flame. It looks old, dignified -- except for a shiny deadbolt door lock so new you can almost smell the sawdust where the locksmith bored the hole. "There was no other way to deal with it," says Carlson, executive director of the temple. Until a week ago, the ark didn't have a lock, and the small chapel -- an annex to the synagogue's main sanctuary -- always remained open and available to worshipers. Then sometime between May 16th and May 21st, a thief entered the chapel and stole one of the two Torahs, leaving behind an empty scroll case and a baffled congregation. Now Temple Sholom is boosting security, which means more than adding locks. The synagogue is looking at two technologies that manage the tricky task of assigning unique serial numbers to Torahs without running afoul of strict Jewish laws keeping the scrolls ritually pure. Occupying a central role in Jewish worship, ritual Torahs don't just roll off the printing press like yesterday's newspaper. Under Judaic law, a new Torah must be meticulously copied from an existing scroll by a trained scribe, who pronounces each Hebrew letter aloud -- for accuracy -- before writing it on squares of animal skin. The pieces are later sewn together and reeled onto giant wooden rollers. The process takes a year, and a single letter broken or out of place renders a Torah unusable. Like many Torah scrolls in active service, the one stolen from Temple Sholom last month is an antique, and is believed to have been crafted in the Middle East several hundred years ago. The local police suspect an inside job, but they have no clues, and aren't sure where to look -- a scroll isn't a stolen car or a necklace, and it's probably not on its way to the Mexican border or the local pawn shop. "I've never seen an item like this taken in my 30 years here," says Sergeant Peter Tokarski of the Burlingame police department. For now, the department is checking with antiquities dealers and monitoring eBay. Carlson says he can't even form a theory as to why someone would swipe one of the scrolls. "We can't get the equation to work," he says. "Who's going to buy it? If you start backward from that, it's hard to figure out." But experts say Torahs are stolen more often than you'd think. Geoffrey Haber, rabbi at Temple Emanu-El, learned the hard way in 1998, when a burglar swiped two scrolls from his synagogue in Englewood, New Jersey. They were recovered by an NYPD Torah-theft task force in a sting operation after the thief, a maintenance man working in the neighborhood, tried to sell the scrolls to a New York rabbi, claiming they were part of an inheritance. "We were very blessed that our Torah scrolls were recovered," says Haber. "Oftentimes they are not, because there is an underworld, or a black market, in Torah scrolls." "It's so easy to steal a Torah from the synagogue," says Yitzchak Shteiner, a rabbi at Machon Ot, a Jerusalem-based non-profit Torah preservation center. "Nobody says when you enter a synagogue, 'What are you doing here?' You're praying there." In 1994, a New York burglar confessed to stealing scrolls from 10 synagogues and fencing them with a Chasidic silversmith in midtown Manhattan. With a fair market value of around $50,000 for a new scroll, $9,000 for a used one, Judaism's sacred text is in some ways a perfect underground commodity. Like precious metals, the scrolls have independent value that can be determined without evidence of their provenance -- an experienced appraiser can establish a Torah's age, learn something of its history and determine that it's kosher for ritual use by visual inspection. A Torah scroll is also universal: always written in Hebrew, it's accepted everywhere in the world Judaism is practiced. Thieves and their fences have been known to exploit this by shipping hot Torahs between the United States and Israel, or to eastern Europe, where they're sold to unsuspecting congregations of newly built synagogues, says Haber. But perhaps most attractive to a thief, and vexing to law enforcement, Torah scrolls are inherently anonymous. Jewish law dictates that not one character can be added to the 304,805 letters of the Torah's text. That means no "property of" stamps, no serial numbers, no visible identifying marks of any kind. The Burlingame Police Department circulated a bulletin to other law enforcement agencies listing their stolen Torah's vital statistics -- 40 pounds, 175 feet, 600 to 800 years old, "contains the five books of Moses" -- but nothing that would help a cop pick it out of a lineup. That anonymity spawned a biblical plague of Torah heists in the '70s and early '80s, when by some estimates thieves made off with 200 Torahs a year in the United States and Israel. If you include Long Island and northern New Jersey, the New York City area contains one third of the United States' 3,700 synagogues, and was at the center of the outbreak. "It was virtually an epidemic," says David Pollock, associate executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. Building a Safer Torah Pushed by the crime wave, in 1982 the Council responded with the first advance in Torah technology since the invention of parchment: a method of assigning Torahs globally unique identifiers without violating rabbinic law. Called the Universal Torah Registry, the system works like this: A synagogue mails in a form with their contact information and the number of Torahs they want to place in the system, and the registry sends back a computer-coded template for each scroll. The 3.5- by 8-inch template resembles an IBM punch card, with eight holes arranged so their position relative to one another describes a unique identification number in a proprietary code. A rabbi uses the template to perforate the coded pattern into the margins of the scroll with a tiny needle. To keep an enterprising thief from swapping the perforated segment with a section from another stolen scroll in some kind of twisted Torah chop shop, the registry recommends applying the code to 10 different segments of the scroll. Pollack says the code contains self-authentication features that keep a thief from invalidating it by just adding an extra hole in an arbitrary location. Now if a crook tries to sell the Torah, the pattern can be mapped back to the ID number, which is linked to the rightful owner in a database. "It makes it harder to fence," says Pollock. "If your car has a VIN number, it's harder to sell illegally." The system is legal under a rabbinical ruling issued in the 1980s that says it's kosher to make small perforations in a Torah. "Punctures are already used to sew different panels of the parchment together," explains Rabbi Haber, who entered his synagogue's 14 Torahs into the registry after the 1998 burglary. In all, the database now tracks 10,000 Torahs, mostly in the United States, and Pollock credits it with turning Torah theft into a relatively rare occurrence. "There are now only a couple thefts a year," says Pollock. But not everybody is a fan of the punch-scroll method, and Machon Ot runs a newer, competing registry that's capturing its share of the Torah registration market with an entirely passive system that generates a digital fingerprint of each scroll. Machon Ot's system, the International Torah Registry, takes advantage of the handcrafted nature of the Torahs. Though the content is always the same, the position of the lettering varies from scroll to scroll, making each Torah as individual as a halachic snowflake. By measuring the distances between letters at certain standardized points, and entering them into a computer program, Machon Ot generates a 20-digit number that uniquely identifies each Torah. The organization also has about 10,000 registered Torahs in its computer, about half in Israel and half in the United States, where the group sends experts several times a year to enter new scrolls into the system, and perform inspections and evaluations of Torahs. Both registries charge a fee. Machon Ot says its method is superior to its New York rival, because it leaves nothing for thieves to tamper with or try to remove. "If you can see the holes, everyone can see the holes," says Machon Ot rabbi Yitzchak Shteiner. "We are not doing anything inside the Torah scroll. Nothing with invisible ink, no dots, no holes, nothing." Pollock concedes that the Macon Ot system works, but he says its passivity is a drawback if you want to bring Torah thieves to justice. "Prosecutors told us they wanted to be able to easily convince a jury without the use of experts," says Pollock. With the perforation system, jurors can hold the template up to the light and see for themselves that it's a match for the holes in the Torah. "You can't do that with a passive system," he says. "You have to convince the jury that no two scribes write the Torah the same way." Peninsula Temple Sholom didn't use either system, but they probably will now. "We hadn't done that, and we'll start checking with the agencies that make the technology available for identification," says Rabbi Gerald Raiskin. Even then, they may find it's not enough. After his Torahs were recovered and registered, Rabbi Haber says he didn't feel safe until he'd added several layers of physical security at his synagogue. "There was a horrible sense of being violated," says Haber. The Holy Ark at Temple Emanu-El now boasts an interior steel compartment, with a deadbolt, a second key lock and an alarm pad, under the watchful eye of a video camera. "I think I lost a sense of naivet? and trust when the theft occurred, and that's reinforced for me when I open the ark now," said Haber. "That nothing is sacred. Literally." http://www.wired.com/ From museum-security at museum-security.org Tue Jun 7 06:39:09 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2005 06:39:09 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] Sotheby's, Bakalar Entangled in Dispute Over Nazi-Era Artworks Message-ID: <20050607043916.YUYM11463.amsfep13-int.chello.nl@cremers> Sotheby's, Bakalar Entangled in Dispute Over Nazi-Era Artworks June 6 (Bloomberg) -- What started out as a battle over a 1917 watercolor by Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele has escalated into a legal tug-of-war over artwork that may be worth more than $100 million. The dispute involves Sotheby's Holdings Inc., the world's largest auction house, Boston philanthropist David Bakalar, several prominent art dealers, and the heirs of a popular Viennese cabaret singer who died in a Nazi concentration camp. The legal tussle started on March 21 when Bakalar filed a complaint in New York federal court against Leon Fischer and Milos Vavra, who claim to be the heirs of singer Fritz Grunbaum. Bakalar, 80, contends that Fischer and Vavra sabotaged his effort to sell the 1917 Schiele watercolor by claiming they were the rightful owners of ``Seated Woman with Bent Left Leg (Torso),'' an erotic picture of a headless woman brushed on paper with opaque paint. Bakalar, founder of Transitron Electronic Corp., sold the artwork for 400,000 pounds ($726,000) on Feb. 10 at a Sotheby's auction in London. Sotheby's later voided the sale and told Bakalar it would hold the piece until the ownership issue was decided. ``Because of the defendants' reckless and inaccurate last- minute claims, plaintiff has been substantially harmed,'' Bakalar's lawyers say in the complaint, which asks the court to declare that Bakalar is the rightful owner of the watercolor and award him an unspecified amount in damages. Nazi Inventory Last Wednesday, Fischer and Vavra filed a counterclaim in federal court in New York, saying they should gain possession of all artworks that once belonged to Grunbaum. The request is based on an inventory of Grunbaum's collection made by the Nazis in 1938, when he was sent to a concentration camp and his collection was placed in a warehouse. Fischer and Vavra say those works, including 55 large, colored drawings and five oil paintings by Schiele, are now scattered in public and private collections throughout the world, such as the Leopold Foundation in Vienna, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Forced Sale? In their counterclaim, Fischer and Vavra say the ``art was either stolen from Grunbaum's estate or the subject of an illegal `forced sale' and that no subsequent transfer was valid, legal or made in good faith.'' Fischer, a 64-year-old New York stamp dealer, and Vavra, who lives in Prague, say that Sotheby's knew before the sale that questions had been raised about ownership of the watercolor. They cite a Feb. 7 letter to Sotheby's from Erika Jakubovits, executive director of the Jewish Community Organization of Vienna, in which she asks that the work be withdrawn from the auction because of doubts about its proper owner. ``We reviewed with Ms. Jakubovits the research we had done and the reasons why we felt comfortable offering the work for sale,'' John Olsoff, Sotheby's North American general counsel, said in an interview. Fischer and Vavra also say that two days after the sale, they notified Sotheby's that the Austrian government ruled in 2002 that they were Grunbaum's rightful heirs. (Fischer's grandfather was the brother of Grunbaum's widow, and Vavra is a descendant of Grunbaum's sister, Elise. Court documents don't mention Vavra's age or occupation.) `Speculative' Claim Their counterclaim also calls Bakalar's suit ``a frivolous legal proceeding'' filed ``without the most minimal factual inquiry.'' Attorney James A. Janowitz, who is representing Bakalar, said the claims made by Fischer and Vavra are ``speculative'' and that his client wants to ``have any cloud'' over his ownership removed. When Bakalar bought the Schiele watercolor in 1963 from New York's Galerie St. Etienne, similar works were selling for $1,200 to $3,000, according to Jane Kallir, granddaughter of the gallery's owner. ``This is not about the Holocaust,'' Bakalar's complaint says. ``It is about a voluntary sale by a close relative of Fritz Grunbaum, which occurred years after the war and which remained unchallenged for decades.'' Janowitz said Bakalar, who was president of Transitron Electronic for 30 years, wasn't available to comment. Bakalar retired 20 years ago to devote himself to philanthropy and has endowed art galleries at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Wellesley College and the Massachusetts College of Art. Times Reporter While no official value has been placed on the Schiele collection, art dealer Andrea Crane of New York's Jan Krugier Gallery estimated that the works are worth more than $100 million. ``The market for Schiele is stronger than ever, and judging from the piece which sold at Sotheby's London, it's not hard to figure out the potential value of the collection,'' Crane, who has sold many German and Austrian artworks, said in an interview. This is not the first controversy over artworks that once belonged to Grunbaum. In 1998, then-New York Times writer Rita Reif and her sister Kathleen claimed ownership of ``Dead City III,'' a 1911 Schiele painting that was loaned by the Viennese Leopold Foundation to the Museum of Modern Art. Because both sisters had married relatives of Grunbaum, they contended they were among the heirs to the collection. Death in Dachau Although the New York district attorney's office issued a subpoena preventing MoMA from returning ``Dead City III'' to the Viennese foundation, a New York appeals court later ruled that the painting could be returned under a law that prevents seizure of artworks. The outcome of Bakalar's complaint and the counterclaim by Fischer and Vavra hinges on what happened to Grunbaum's collection after he was sent to Dachau in 1938. Grunbaum died there in 1941 and his wife, Elisabeth Grunbaum-Herzl, died in another concentration camp the following year. The Grunbaum collection didn't surface again until the 1950s, when many of the works were exhibited by the Swiss gallery Klipstein & Kornfeld and then sold to art dealer Otto Kallir for 650 francs. Kallir died in 1978. In their court filing, Fischer and Vavra accuse Kallir's granddaughter, Jane, of concealing the stolen history of the Grunbaum collection when she wrote a comprehensive catalog on Schiele's works in 1990. Stolen Art Jane Kallir, who now runs the family gallery on 57th Street, said in an interview that she didn't know at the time that the Schiele works were once owned by Grunbaum. She also said her gallery has helped families recover artworks that were stolen by the Nazis. ``Decades after the fact, it is almost impossible to document what happened,'' she said. ``This should have been done years ago. All the people who really knew about these pictures are dead.'' The counterclaim by Fischer and Vavra also contains accusations against Eberhardt Kornfeld, who was a junior partner at the Swiss gallery when it sold the artworks to Kallir in 1956. In a letter included in court papers, Kornfeld says he bought the artwork from Mathilde Lukacs, a sister-in-law of Fritz Grunbaum. Lawyers for Fischer and Vavra say in court documents that Kornfeld's account is ``fabricated'' and ``patently incredible'' because Lukacs wouldn't have had access to the storage facility where the works were kept. Kornfeld is now 82 and living in Switzerland, according to his son-in-law, Wolf Weiler, who declined to comment on the case. Better Salad After German courts ruled in 1998 that the Reif sisters weren't entitled to the Grunbaum collection, Germany's Hoerner Bank AG launched a campaign to find the rightful heirs. Viennese genealogist Herbert Gruber and Dennis Langel, a Long Island-based private detective, helped the bank track down Fischer and Vavra. In 1999, Fischer received a letter from Langel with information about his family ties to Grunbaum. Although the letter suggested he might be entitled to some money, Fischer said he was ``suspicious'' and ignored it. Langel persisted, though, and eventually convinced Fischer to meet with him at a lawyer's office, where he learned more details. ``I only know vaguely that relatives in Austria had met a bad fate,'' Fischer said in an interview. ``That's all I knew until six years ago.'' Fischer said he's not banking on a windfall from the case. ``The wheels of justice move very slowly,'' he said as he ate a salad at a diner on the Upper East Side. ``Win or lose, not much is going to change. I may get a better apartment or have more money, but I doubt I'll be able to get a better Cobb salad.'' The case is Bakalar v. Vavra and Fischer, No. 05 CIV. 3037, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Last Updated: June 6, 2005 00:09 EDT From museum-security at museum-security.org Tue Jun 7 06:52:38 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2005 06:52:38 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] Burma rebuilding risks Pagan jewel Message-ID: <20050607045240.YGCY9831.amsfep14-int.chello.nl@cremers> Burma rebuilding risks Pagan jewel By Andrew Harding BBC News, Burma The sunsets are still spectacular - a golden glow brushing the curves of 2,000 ancient temples and pagodas clustered on the edge of the Irrawaddy River in central Burma. But today some of the world's leading experts have accused Burma's military regime of waging "archaeological blitzkrieg" against the legendary Buddhist treasures of Pagan. "They're ruining it," said Richard Engelhardt, regional advisor for the UN's cultural arm, Unesco. "It makes me feel hopeless and helpless and angry and disappointed," he said. I went to survey the damage, posing as a tourist. Burma is one of the world's most repressive dictatorships and foreign journalists are not welcome. "We are the richest archaeological site in Asia," said my guide proudly as we drove around the site in a horse-drawn carriage. But almost everywhere I saw signs of the "false" and "misguided" restoration work which Unesco and other experts have so bitterly condemned. These included: Hundreds of brand new pagodas built with brick and concrete on top of ancient ruins A half-built "palace" being constructed from poured concrete at the heart of the site The widespread use of bathroom tiles, concrete and other unauthentic materials A 200ft (65m) observation tower and hotel complex under construction on the site "I'm horrified by the tower," said Mr Engelhardt, who is concerned that the isolated regime's hunger for tourist dollars is responsible for the changes. "The archaeology destroyed during excavation for its foundations can never be recovered. The [Burmese] government is gussying up the site... commodifying it for mass tourism. "But it's a loss for everyone. It's becoming less and less a real document of the glory of Pagan's past and more an un-understandable book of nonsense," he said. Local impact So what do the locals make of the building work? Well, remember Burma is a military dictatorship. "I cannot tell you," said one souvenir seller with a nervous glance around us, "there are spies everywhere." "We all hate the tower," said another man. "But if we say the government is not very good, we get in trouble." Although some locals have found work in the new hotels opening up - built with an eye on luring mass tourism from neighbouring China - many feel they are being pushed out by a regime anxious to monopolise all tourist revenues. "All the businesses in town are owned by the military," said one man. "They want to stay on their throne forever." For decades Unesco has sought to arrange World Heritage status for Pagan. But disagreements with the Burmese regime have blocked progress and prevented the UN funding programmes to help train local archaeologists to maintain the site. "The generals have no room for other voices, for constructive criticism," Mr Engelhardt said. "There really aren't the people in [Burma] with the skills to do the job right, to rescue the site. And to me that is the most frightening thing." Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4606759.stm Published: 2005/06/04 01:19:16 GMT From a.cremers3 at chello.nl Sat Jun 11 10:09:59 2005 From: a.cremers3 at chello.nl (MusSecNetworkCulPropProtNet) Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2005 10:09:59 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] Statement by lawyer of the Minsa Craig Burri estate (art owned by the late Minsa Craig Burri has by no means "disappeared") Message-ID: <20050611081001.SIAH3736.amsfep15-int.chello.nl@cremers> _____ From: Michel Distel [mailto:micheldistel at micheldistel.com] Sent: 10 June 2005 17:08 To: moderator at cpprot.net Subject: Dear Sir, You seem to have taken the piece published under Bernhard Warner's by-line in the issue of Time Magazine Europe dated May 9 at face value. This article is unfortunately an instance of sloppy and one-sided journalism. It would appear that Mr. Warner has accepted as fact a list of unfounded allegations that have no bearing on the true situation and never checked his sources. As a result the article misrepresents the true status of the art referred to and the legal rights of the Albizzini foundation. A number of the statements found in this article are false and defamatory. The art owned by the late Minsa Craig Burri has by no means "disappeared". It has not been "smuggled" out from France but legally exported by the Executors of the Estate representing its legitimate owner, Minsa Craig Burri's sole heir, her brother, after all the custom filings had been effected. It has furthermore been inspected by the curators of the Centre Georges Pompidou who have selected one piece fit to be accepted by the French Treasury in lieu of estate duties. This very piece was reproduced in the Time article. It has not been "stolen" but transferred to the US by the Executors on behalf of the owner. The foundation has no standing to claim any part of the estate of Minsa Craig Burri. Soon after the death of Alberto Burri, Minsa Craig Burri realized that the foundation created by her late husband had betrayed the Maestro's wishes and was under the control of schemers whose sole intent was to live off the great legacy of Burri by selling art from the foundation to fund the budget of an institution that has, by its own admission, less than 10 visitors a day, but continues to pay fees and salaries to various members of the Sartenanesi family. The mishandling of the assets entrusted to the foundation by the late Alberto Burri has warranted the intervention of the Italian government in the foundation's affairs. >From the very day of Burri death the foundation has attempted to dispossess his widow of her rightful share of his estate. She never had any wish to bequeath any part of her estate to the foundation ; on the contrary, until her demise, she bitterly fought the foundation and its claim to be the Maestro sole heir to have her own rights vindicated. The litigation in the Italian courts has been resumed by the estate of Minsa Craig Burri and remains pending ; it has not been finally decided upon. The foundation is now trying, in the same manner, to dispossess her heir and has initiated a number of frivolous lawsuits in France where Minsa Craig Burri had been a resident for the last fifteen years of her life and where she died. French law applies to the devolution of her estate and a French court of appeals has very recently decided that the foundation has no legal existence in France, and as a result has no capacity to claim to be her heir. The statement that the foundation has "kept quiet" for fear of hurting ticket sales, virtually non-existent due to abysmal management, is ludicrous. Mr. Sarteanesi, who seems to be the sole source for this piece of "reporting" knows full well that the foundation has no right whatsoever to the property of the estate of Minsa Craig Burri reported as "stolen". Yours faithfully Michel Distel Avocat au Barreau de Paris Counsel to the estate of Minsa Craig Burri -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://duvel.te.verweg.com/pipermail/cpprot/attachments/20050611/aaeefcc0/attachment.htm From a.cremers3 at chello.nl Sat Jun 11 10:18:01 2005 From: a.cremers3 at chello.nl (MusSecNetworkCulPropProtNet) Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2005 10:18:01 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] HeritageWatch Cambodia Message-ID: <20050611081803.NDIY24432.amsfep19-int.chello.nl@cremers> Dear Colleague, I am pleased to announce that HeritageWatch has launched a new web site. We would be pleased to have you visit us at www.heritagewatch.org. Our thanks to Gordon Candelin for his volunteer effort with this large undertaking. HeritageWatch continues its efforts to reduce the impact of cultural heritage destruction in Southeast Asia and we are happy to announce that our organisation has been selected to receive the prestigious United States Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation for the second year in a row. If you are concerned about the destruction of Cambodia's heritage I would like to take this opportunity to encourage you to consider a donation to HeritageWatch. Should one of our initiatives interest you please specify which one you would like to support and we will use the donation specifically for that project and keep you apprised of our progress. Donations may be made through our web site using PayPal, TeleTransfer or by mail. Best wishes, Dougald Dr Dougald O'Reilly HeritageWatch, GPO Box 1395 Phnom Penh, Cambodia www.heritagewatch.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://duvel.te.verweg.com/pipermail/cpprot/attachments/20050611/55b998dc/attachment.htm From museum-security at museum-security.org Sat Jun 11 10:51:54 2005 From: museum-security at museum-security.org (MSN CPPnet) Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2005 10:51:54 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] 'Lara Croft' sculpture stolen from Canal Walk Message-ID: <20050611085157.QXSW8168.amsfep14-int.chello.nl@cremers> 'Lara Croft' sculpture stolen from Canal Walk June 10, 2005 By Emily Goligoski A sculpture worth R30 000 that resembles Tomb Raider character Lara Croft has been taken from a Canal Walk art gallery and remains missing. Amanda Collins, owner of the Beauty of Africa Art Gallery, said yesterday she had reported the theft to police. Milnerton police, however, say they have no record of the report. Collins said the bronze statue, Hotshot, by Cape Town sculptor Louis Chanu, stood a metre high, weighed between 40kg and 50kg, and had perfect proportions. It had been taken from the gallery between Friday and Tuesday, but she did not know how, Collins said. She said two constables from the Milnerton police station had visited at 3pm on Tuesday to investigate the theft. Milnerton police, however, said they could find no record. Inspector Daphanie Dell said no such case had been reported on Tuesday. The gallery, on the upper level, mainly sells oil paintings and has had the sculpture on sale for six or seven months. A clerk at the gallery told Collins she had dusted the sculpture on Friday. A student who works there said she had not noted on Saturday whether the piece was in the gallery. A saleswoman, who asked that her name be withheld, said she had noticed on Sunday morning that Hotshot was missing and assumed the piece had been sold. It was not until Collins came in on Tuesday that the staff realised the sculpture had been taken, she said. "We dart in and out all the time and we're jolly quick, but only one person works at a time. We have no idea how it was taken," said the saleswoman. Collins said the two constables had told her the statue had probably been taken by someone who had come into the gallery before to see the piece. "People admired it daily and the person who stole it could have talked to us about the sculpture before they took it," said Collins. She said although the figure was not modelled directly on Croft, many people thought that because it had a long plait and carried a gun, which pointed down, it resembled the Tomb Raider heroine. Video footage from surveillance cameras at Canal Walk exits will take a few days to transfer to videotape and could show who took the sculpture. The artist and gallery owner said the piece could not be resold, even on the internet, because it would be so easily recognisable. Chanu said he was devastated the sculpture had disappeared. He said he had been inspired by Croft, but had not based the sculpture on pictures of her. "I like to use strong women like that who look quite cool," said Chanu, who described his work as "investment art". He said he would use the mould to cast another figure if the first one was not recovered. The statue, with its granite base, was a substantial thing to steal, he said. Neither he nor the shop had insurance. Two of Chanu's small