August 25, 2000

Re: Sotheby's Response

Dear Ton,
As you know I and other subscribers really appreciate the great service that you provide via this network by sharing information about issues of protection that are of major importance to the art community. On the other hand, I am distressed that this forum has lately given so much time and attention to the accusations of one individual against several organizations and individuals. I don't think that it benefits the network to promote positions of certain individuals or to accuse parties of wrong doings. There are appropriate channels such as the legal system which is best suited for evaluating validity of claims and settling disputes. Making the network a forum for accusations, gives credence to the accusation and compromises the objectivity of the network. I hope that we can all move on to other topics.
Dorit Straus

Hello Dorit,
Thank you very much for this feedback. I understand your opinion about this thread. However, all of this might have received much less attention if all those supposedly involved had shown a little bit more cooperation in answering my numerous and reasonable requests for information (with which I did not bother the list until yesterday). It is rather disturbing that Sotheby's, neither of the others responded this far, did not react until I decided to publicly show all my efforts of the past six weeks.
Our forum must be protected against baseless accusations. The refusal to comment, I must admit, finally gave me the impression that these accusations are much less baseless than those supposedly involved declare. I can not accept responsibility for subscribers' very challenging statements. It is my task as moderator of this forum to try and present the opinions of all parties, and, whenever possible, to do some investigations myself. Which I will continue to do.
Best regards
Ton

Rare firearms stolen from traveling museum

By Hector Gutierrez
Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
http://insidedenver.com/news/0820guns5.shtml
Denver police were searching Saturday for vintage firearms that were stolen from a traveling museum.
Among the collectible weapons stolen Friday from the Greater Museum of Military and Period Antiques Inc. were 12 rare rifles, shotguns and automatic rifles manufactured during the 1800s and early 1900s and used by troops during World War I and WWII.
The thieves also took seven Magnum handguns, including a .44-caliber Ruger black powder, a .44-caliber Colt Anaconda, a .45-caliber Ruger Blackhawk and an 1847 .44-caliber Colt Walker.
The guns still can be fired, which worries Todd Von Bender, the museum's curator.
"Whose hands are they going into?" Von Bender said. "Most handguns are designed to handle modern cartridges."
Von Bender said at least one of the stolen weapons, a Lefever shotgun, could pose a danger to the person firing it. Modern ammunition would cause the gun to explode, Von Bender said.
The Lefever 12-gauge, with a 30-inch barrel, is the most expensive antique stolen from the collection. It is valued at $3,500.
Some of the firearms were foreign-made and would be extremely hard to replace, Von Bender said. They include rifles and guns manufactured in Germany, Belgium, Chile, Venezuela and Argentina.
The stolen guns are valued at more than $20,000.
Von Bender's museum is offering a reward for information leading to the return of the gun collection or the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
Information: (303) 363-6000.

British Museum 'mugged' in scam

by Keith Dovkants
The British Museum was the victim of a scam over a crucial part of the Ł97 million millennium project to open up its great courtyard, an Evening Standard investigation has revealed.
English Heritage, Lord Foster's architect practice and several experts were taken in by a flamboyant Dorset stonemason who put in a cheap tender to build the south portico. The Queen is to open the new courtyard in December, and the museum and stone experts are frantically trying to correct the portico's mis-matched colour and texture.
The museum believed the portico was being built in Portland stone, to match the original material of Sir Robert Smirke's Great Court of 150 years ago. But Easton Masonry, the company which won the contract, mixed samples of Portland stone with a cheaper French limestone to get approval - and then secretly went ahead with building in the French stone. The result has appalled experts. The portico is dazzling white and stands out from the Portland stone that surrounds it. "We were mugged," said the museum's managing director Suzanna Taverne.
Today, a crisis meeting between the museum, English Heritage and Camden council - which must give the ultimate planning approval for the Grade 1 listed building - is being held to try to solve the problem. When the museum confronted Easton Masonry's owner, Geoff Smith, he denied using foreign stone. Then, after a series of scientific tests he admitted the switch that had the potential to save him tens of thousands of pounds.
The museum, English Heritage, Foster and Partners decided not to reveal the deception, which has been known about by insiders for more than a year. But inquiries by the Standard uncovered the scam.
Ultimately Camden could order the portico to be pulled down and rebuilt. Easton Masonry refused to comment.

San Antonio Mission Plagued by Thefts

Centuries-old statues disappear at night

Ross E. Milloy, New York Times
Tuesday, August 22, 2000
Š2000 San Francisco Chronicle
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/08/22/MN12478.DTL
Thieves have broken into the 300-year-old San Juan Capistrano Mission near here and stolen three hand-carved 18th century statues from the church's altar, including one made in 1731 that depicts the mission's namesake, Giovanni de Capistrano.
``This is somebody who knew exactly what they were doing,'' said the Rev. James Galvin, the mission's pastor. ``They studied the church's routines, they brought their own equipment to enter the building and hoist out the statues. This was not a casual thing, but very well planned.''
It was the fourth theft from one of San Antonio's five Spanish missions since June, when a 2-foot-tall statue of the Virgin Mary disappeared from the nation's oldest church, Mission Conception. Later that month, an antique thurible -- an incense-burning device -- was taken from the same church. And last month, four paintings on wood of Our Lady of Guadalupe were chiseled from their frames at San Juan Capistrano.
``We've obviously got a pattern here,'' said Msgr. Larry Stuebben, the vicar general of the Catholic archdiocese. ``Someone is targeting the missions, and the entire city feels as if we've been punched in the stomach.
``There are people living around those missions whose families have lived there for 250 years,'' he said. ``The symbolic presence of those churches and those artifacts in their midst is a very important thing. Generations have grown up among these things, and when they are taken, it seems as if nothing is sacred.'' Even in a city like this, where legends seem to inhabit every street corner, the Spanish missions have always held a special status.
In equal parts forts, churches and social centers in the early 1700s, they rest today like a string of faded Old World pearls on a 23-mile Mission Trail that meanders along the banks of the San Antonio River into downtown, ending at the most famous mission of all, San Antonio de Valero -- better known as the Alamo. ``The missions are also national parks,'' Stuebben said. ``It would be as if someone chipped the nose off one of the presidents on Mount Rushmore. They are seen as part of the heritage and life of the whole community, not just the Catholic community, and that just adds another awful element to the whole tragic thing.''
Officials of the National Park Service said that although they operate information booths at the missions during the day, the properties are owned by the Catholic church, which is responsible for their security. But Stuebben said: ``Just keeping the buildings up is an enormous expense. We can't afford to provide around-the-clock security.''
Until now, church officials had kept silent about the robberies, fearing that more attention would encourage copycat thefts. But after last week's theft, Stuebben said, it was decided to go public to prevent the sale of the artifacts in the international art market, although he would not speculate on their monetary value.
``These are not sculpted by Michelangelo or anyone famous, and they are not intrinsically valuable as art,'' he said. ``Their value is in their history and their importance to the people of the missions. What is 300 years of tradition and culture worth?''
Gregoria Gaitan, 72, who says her family members have been parishioners at Mission San Juan Capistrano for centuries, believes money may not have been the object of the thefts.
``It has to go deeper than that,'' she said. ``This is someone who was out to hurt the church. This is a poor church, not a rich one. The statues are much more valuable to the people as history than anything that someone could buy.'' Ernest Gaigenmillar, a member of the church for more than 50 years, agreed. ``It's sickening. These statues aren't worth much money; it's just a way of striking out at the people in the church,'' he said, although he could offer no explanation for why someone would do so.
``Who can figure the mind of someone who would steal from a church?'' Gaigenmillar said.
Sandy Gutierrez, a spokeswoman for the San Antonio Police Department, said police are investigating but have no suspects.
Most church members and officials seem resigned to their loss, and they are shaken by what the thefts say about contemporary society.
``It makes me sad that people do these things,'' Galvin said. ``The statues belong to the people. They are history itself. Someone is taking lovely art out of people's lives, art that everyone should be able to enjoy.''

August 25, 2000

CONTENTS:

Re: Sotheby's Response

Rare firearms stolen from traveling museum

British Museum 'mugged' in scam

San Antonio Mission Plagued by Thefts

Centuries-old statues disappear at night