July 24, 2000
CONTENTS:
- Re: Security questions (Steve Keller)
- Charges shock Milwaukee art community
- Stolen Koran was offered to Christie's
From: IntlArtCop@aol.com
Subject: Re: Security questions
To: securma@xs4all.nl
In a message dated 7/21/00 1:27:41 AM, securma@xs4all.nl writes:
1. Do you know if any museums use those sonic pest control devices? They're supposed to emit a high pitched frequency that drives away mice. I haven't read anything that proves these actually work, but if anyone has had good luck with them I'd certainly be willing to give it a try.
Sorry I can't help with the pest control device issue.
2. Do any of your museum security pals use battery powered motion detectors in exhibits? Do they make ones that use beam technology or have a narrow cone of detection? I'm using some little Radioshack screamers. They're ok, but I'd love to have something that's fairly inexpensive and portable.
Good Grief! How much more "low end" can you get than the Radio Shack wireless detectors! This is a difficult question to answer. What do you mean by "in exhibits?" The Suggested Guidelines do not yet fully support use of wireless detectors in museums although they are OK in special exhibits or as object protection if they are secondary to hard wired detectors. I could write pages on this subject but basically it has to do with them not being as good from a "supervisory" perspective. Supervision has to do with whether the control panel asks the detectors whether it is still operating and is still in range. Not just whether it supervises but how often it supervises. Also, wireless detectors can be defeated in a number of ways I don't want to publish on a public newsgroup.
I personally feel that all museums should have hard wired systems but I do use wireless for object protection if there is a hard wired system in the building for primary building protection.
Assuming that you understand this distinction and are using the detectors for object protection, you can usually mix and match detectors with alarm control panels. I can't give you an answer unless I know what control panel you are using but you can probably use detectors by Visonic or Sentrol. You can probably find their web iste and they will probably have a catalog online. It may also be possible to buy a wireless transmitter and use a detector that does not have its own transmitter if you can provide power to the detector in the form of a battery or power supply. Mate the detector to the transmitter and it will work. In an exhibit case where the detector theoretically will not activate, there is minimal power draw, usually in the range of .05 milliamps so powering it is not a real problem in an exhibit case.
Also, if the wireless detector has too large a detection pattern, it is sometimes possible to mask it down. Experiment a little.
Feel free to call my office (904) 673-9973 and I can ask a few questions and be more precise with my answer.
Charges shock Milwaukee art community
Original URL: http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/jul00/art23072200a.asp
Karos' associates defend her reputation, express disbelief about allegations By Tom Kertscher and Marie Rohde of the Journal Sentinel staff Last Updated: July 22, 2000 Milwaukee-area art dealers expressed shock Saturday over the arrest of a Whitefish Bay dealer in what they called the first scandal to hit the local art community in a quarter-century. Meanwhile, the arrested dealer, Marilyn Karos, refused to comment on her criminal charges or on a related FBI probe into the theft of million-dollar artifacts from Italy. At home after posting bail, she referred questions to associates such as Bayside antiques dealer Marvin Sokolow, who called her "the most respected person in the area." "She is impeccably honest and there is not a violent bone in her body," Sokolow said.
Karos, 59, was briefly jailed Friday on charges of being a party to a November 1997 beating that took place in her N. Shore Drive home, which also houses her art gallery. Three men are said to have accosted and beaten a 34-year-old Shorewood man who was selling works for Karos on commission. Karos, who had invited the victim to her home, denied any role in the beating. The victim said he was beaten over a dispute about centuries-old artifacts that he was to sell for Karos. According to the FBI, the four pieces had been stolen from an Italian museum and later were in Karos' possession. Karos is charged along with James Kosi, 52, and Richard O'Hara, 58, a Karos associate who runs a Chicago gallery. They have not been charged in the thefts of the artifacts. A federal grand jury in Milwaukee is investigating the thefts and could issue criminal charges. Sokolow, a private antiques seller who has known Karos since 1985, expressed disbelief about the allegations but said he knows nothing about the case. "(Karos) is a very caring person, and sometimes that can get you in trouble," he said. David Barnett of David Barnett Gallery in Milwaukee also was taken aback by the news, saying it was the first scandal in the art community since Milwaukee art dealer John Halvorson was convicted of selling fake paintings in 1975. Barnett said he has had no problems with Karos in more 20 years of doing business with her. She enjoys a wealthy clientele and does business in many types of art, he said. "Anything she thought would be lucrative to her she would get in," Barnett said. Another art dealer, however, found it odd that Karos would deal mostly in paintings and then allegedly become involved with the four stolen objects. The objects were used in the Middle Ages to chart celestial bodies for navigation and are said to be worth at least $1 million each. "It's completely out of her range of specialty," said Michael Tay Goforth, an associate at DeLind Fine Art in Milwaukee. Goforth said dealers such as Karos, who has been in business about 20 years, know they can get burned when handling items outside their expertise. They also know to check with a national art theft registry before trying to sell items, especially if they are highly valuable, he said. Goforth said FBI agents who told him they were following Karos questioned him after she visited his gallery a few months ago. He said he hoped the allegations are not true. "But if she is involved she has to be accountable," Goforth said. FBI agents in Milwaukee announced in December that they had recovered the four items, a globe-like armillary sphere and three astrolabes. They were among 85 ancient instruments taken in a 1984 theft at a Rome museum, the Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma e Museo Copernicano. "Astrolabes are priceless," said Whitefish Bay Det. James Staudacher. "In the East, they were used to determine the time for prayers. They are very significant in Islamic history." The heist appeared to have been the work of professionals, according to the Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society. The thieves seized original sextants, sundials and other items while ignoring reproductions. The four items recovered in Whitefish Bay had surfaced several times, said Marjorie Webster, curator emeritus of Chicago's Adler Planetarium. "There was a French dealer who had been offered them by a German," she said. "Ten years ago the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford was offered them and refused. A woman from Florence had bought them in good faith and had sent a photograph to Oxford." Recovery of the items might have been delayed because most dealers are unwilling to tell police that they have been offered stolen goods, Webster said. "They won't be offered things in the future if they do," she said. The Whitefish Bay items are in good condition, said Webster, who was consulted by authorities in the case. "They had obviously been protected. All the parts were there," she said. Webster said she had heard rumors of the astrolabes being in Milwaukee for some time. Many people in art circles were surprised because Milwaukee is not known as a center for dealers or collectors, she said. "We're just all so very pleased that they've been found and will be returned to the museum. That really is quite wonderful," she said.
Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on July 23, 2000.
Stolen Koran was offered to Christie's
BY MICHAEL THEODOULOU IN NICOSIA AND DALYA ALBERGE
(Times of london: http://www.the-times.co.uk/ )
SCOTLAND YARD is investigating claims that a Turkish gang tried to smuggle a stolen 11th-century gold-embroidered Koran into Britain, to sell at an auction house. A man, one of three arrested in the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus over attempts to export antiquities, was found to have a fax from a director of Christie's inviting him to bring the Koran to its London saleroom. According to police in Northern Cyprus the manuscript was recovered two months ago when a Turkish Cypriot businessman, aged 36, one of the three, was arrested as he boarded a plane to Britain. The case of the missing "Topkapi Koran" shows the increasing dangers facing British art dealers and auction houses in being offered stolen art. Police say it is a fast-growing international crime. The manuscript had been stolen from the Topkapi Palace museum in Istanbul last year. There was outrage in Turkey over the lax security when it was realised there were no alarms on the glass display case. The thief had spent the night in the museum and walked out with the Koran as the museum reopened for business next morning. Art dealers have confirmed that the Topkapi Koran could have fetched hundreds of thousands in a private sale. It is understood that one of the three arrested in Cyprus had contacted Christie's asking them to sell the handwritten Koran. The Yard's Organised Crime Group is studying correspondence between Christie's and the man. There is no suggestion that Christie's behaved in any way improperly. Its London office had been sent photographs of the Koran. A spokesman for Scotland Yard said it was liaising with Christie's, which "has offered their full co-operation during our investigation". A spokesman for Christie's said: "We have consulted and worked with the art and antiques squad from Scotland Yard. We very much co-operated from the outset." Officials at Christie's refused to say what part, if any, they played in the undercover operation in Cyprus to recover the Koran. As well as the three men arrested there a middle-aged man from North London, believed to be a contact of the three, was arrested in Britain on suspicion of handling stolen goods but released on bail. A lawyer on Cyprus, Mentesh Aziz, acting for the three men there, told The Times that an associate of one of them had contacted the auctioneers. A fax was then sent to one of the three on May 24 by William Robinson, director of Christie's Islamic art and carpet department, who noted the seller's wish for a "private sale". Thanking him for two earlier faxes, he added: "From these, I gather that the Koran is under your control." In the next paragraph Mr Robinson wrote: "While I am not able to guarantee a successful sale by the end of this week, I will proceed with the sale as quickly as I possibly can. We have a number of clients who would be interested to own such a spectacular piece. In order to recommend it to them, however, I must see the original. This is partly to be able to know exactly what I am recommending to our valued clients." This fax was forwarded to the Organised Crime Group soon after the operation at Ercan airport. Officials at Christie's would not say last night if their suspicions were raised when first offered the Koran. The North London man has been bailed until later this month as detectives intensify their international investigation. They are co-operating with security chiefs of Northern Cyprus, a republic recognised only by Turkey. Of the three men arrested in Northern Cyprus two have pleaded guilty to illegal possession of antiquities and failing to declare them. Both Muhlis Ciftci, 37, and Metin Karahan, 35. have been jailed, although given lenient sentences instead of the ten years they could have faced. Ciftci received two years for illegal possession of antiquities and another year for failing to declare imported antiquities. Karahan was given 18 months on the first charge and nine months on the second. The third man Gurdal Mehmetcik, who was allegedly caught with the Topkapi Koran in his possession, faces three charges: illegal possession, failure to declare and attempting to export antiquities.He has pleaded not guilty to all three and his trial was adjourned until November. Mr Aziz, for the three suspects in Northern Cyprus, said that Mr Mehmetcik claims he did not know that it was the stolen Koran, had not intended personally to take it to Britain and was the victim of a police attempt to "trap him into an offence". Northern Cyprus has long been regarded as a favourite route for art smugglers. The Koran has been returned to the Topkapi Palace museum. The ornate manuscript was written by Osman el-Huseyin and was a prime exhibit. While referred to as a Koran in the Christie's fax and the Turkish Cypriot media, Mr Aziz said that the rare handwritten text was part of an "encyclopaedia" in 14 chapters explaining verses from the Koran. The book recovered in Northern Cyprus was the tenth chapter, one of three chapters in the world that has survived the centuries, Mr Aziz said. An official from the Topkapi confirmed to police that it had been stolen from the museum, which has the most extensive collection of antique Korans in the world. The document was scripted in 1091 under the Saljuks, a Turkmen dynasty that was a key force in western Asia from the 11th to 13th centuries. A leading British dealer said last night that the case showed the difficulties of keeping check on items stolen worldwide. He said that, even though he specialises in Islamic manuscripts, he had been unaware of this theft. Mark Dalrymple, chairman of the Council for the Prevention of Art Theft, said that there was "a gradually mounting awareness that auctioneers and dealers really do need to ask questions" about a work's provenance before entering into any transaction.