November 10, 2000

- Police crack $5 million art theft ring - IFCPP Committee Participation
- Austria Moves on Stolen Jewish Property
- 2000/01 DISASTER-RECOVERY SOURCEBOOK
- Way off subject, but..... (Steve Keller explains elections for friends from abroad the USA)
- Invaluable Newsletter No 5 (Recovery of the Month)
- United Farm Workers Sue Over Murals
- After 6 years, battle for stolen artwork ends

Police crack $5 million art theft ring

NEW YORK, Nov. 9 (Reuters) - New York City police cracked an international art theft ring on Thursday, arresting two Israeli citizens who were allegedly connected with the theft of more than $5 million in bronze art work from a Paris gallery two years ago.
Solly Sinay, 46, of Tel Aviv and Albert Shaul, 50 of Holon, Israel, both face charges of possession of stolen property. Sinay was indicted on Thursday; Shaul will be indicted next week, said a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. If convicted, both men face up to 15 years in state prison.
Police said that more than 120 bronzes worth $5 million were stolen from the Fabius Freres Antiquaries Gallery in Paris in June 1998. Seven of the bronzes, worth $750,000, were recovered in New York City. They were all by Antoine-Louis Barye and date from the early to mid 1800s.
Seven other bronzes were recovered in London where other Israelis were arrested.
"Suffice it to say, we got information which led us to set up a sting operati on and we were able to recover these bronzes," said William Allee, the chief of detectives, in announcing the arrests at police headquarters. Allee said that other art work that was not part of the $5 million bronze heist was also recovered as a result of the investigation, including silk screen paintings depicting French aristocrats frolicking, carved ivory horses, silver vases and antique tapestries.
The origins of these art works are unknown. Police do not know their values or who made them.

From: LayneCnslt@cs.com
Subject:

IFCPP Committee Participation

The 2000 Conference, Seminar, & Exhibits of the International Foundation for Cultural Property Protection wound up it's 2nd International Conference with the awarding of certification honors for 82 Certified Institutional Protection Managers and Specialists. More than double that number attended Emergency Exercise I, simulating a terrorist takeover of a public facility. Erroll G. Southers, CIPM was selected as Chairman of the Advisory Board for the coming year. Mr. Southers is Assistant Vice President for Visitor Services at the LA County Museum of Art, and currently chairs the ASIS Standing Committee for Museum, Library, and Cultural Properties Security.
At the opening of the conference, Colorado Ocean Journey security officers Jason Teribery, Arthur Gutierrez, and assistant security manager Jason Aragon shared recognition as "Security Officer of the Year" for their roles in the diversion of an attempted kidnapping during a domestic dispute. The IFCPP announces formation of special interest committees within the organization, with the following voluntary chairpersons:

Persons interested in learning more about IFCPP educational programs, certification, or committee participation may contact the respective committee chairs as shown. Host sites for the 2001 International Conference are being discussed, with an announcement expected shortly.
Stevan P. Layne, CPP, CIPM
Founding Director - IFCPP
Steve@IFCPP.com

Austria Moves on Stolen Jewish Property

Story Filed: Wednesday, November 08, 2000 9:24 PM EST
VIENNA (Reuters) - After 55 years of delay, Austria is finally trying to lay to rest the issue of compensation for Jewish Holocaust survivors whose homes and property were seized by the Nazis during World War Two.
Critics say the planned payments are pitifully small and represent no more than a gesture to the victims, many of whom were prevented from returning to their former homes after the collapse of the Third Reich.
``Austria should really be ashamed,'' Ariel Muzicant, president of Vienna's Jewish Community, told Reuters.
Jewish victims had to fight to get their property back and many failed to prove ownership, he said.
Successive post-war governments preferred to ignore the issue but the country's current leaders want to make amends, however belatedly.
``We Austrians are finally facing up to the historical truth -- the entire truth,'' President Thomas Klestil said last month after Austria and the United States signed a landmark agreement compensating Nazi-era slave laborers, most of whom were gentiles.
The two countries immediately began negotiations on restitution for dispossessed Austrian Jews and hope to conclude a deal by the end of the year.
http://library.northernlight.com/HD20001108280000019.html?cb=0&dx=1006&sc=0#doc

From: "steven Lewis" dryp@mediaone.net
Subject:

2000/01 DISASTER-RECOVERY SOURCEBOOK NOW AVAILABLE

Contact: Steven Lewis 617-332-3496
DRYP@Javanet.com
http://www.DISASTER-HELP.com
DISASTER-RECOVERY SOURCEBOOK:
New, 9th EDITION FOR 2000/01 OF THE DISASTER RECOVERY YELLOW PAGES(tm) BEGINS SHIPMENTS - - -

Way off subject, but:

Steve Keller tries to explain MSN subscribers and friends from abroad what is happening at the USA elections at the moment. I realize this is off subject for our list, but in my view Steve has enough credit to be allowed to offer his opinions at: http://museum-security.org/keller.htm
Ton Cremers

From: register@invaluable.com
Subject: Invaluable Newsletter No 5

INVALUABLE NEWSLETTER No 5 (Abbreviated)

Invaluable are pleased to introduce the sale of a great salvage discovery.... China's Titanic - the world's greatest treasure sale The world's largest collection of antique Chinese porcelain; recovered in 1822 from the wreck of the Tek Sing, is now available in the world's greatest auction. With lots, forming antique dinner services, created to appeal to everyday investors, you could dine off a story steeped in treachery, heroism, arrogance and greed.
http://www.ibidlive.tv/teksingauction.htm

Recovery of the Month

The Bretby Busts

In July 1997, Ł25,000 worth of collectable Bretby pottery was stolen from the museum in the Bretby factory in Woodville, near Stoke on Trent. The Bretby Art Pottery factory was founded by Henry Tooth in 1883 and was bought by the Parker family in 1933, who have run it ever since.
Burglars got into the museum via the factory and, although the alarms sounded, police arrived too late. The thieves were obvious very adept at their crimes, since they either successfully cleared 10ft gates or else carried the heavy pottery across very uneven ground.The crime was reported in two local newspapers and appeared in Invaluable magazine (called 'Trace' in those days) in August 1997, Issue 103. Apparently, after the magazine appeared, the loss adjusters were contacted by someone who offered to gi Nothing happened then until Spring 2000, when a man telephoned the police and the museum to say he had seen a Bretby bust of Henry Tooth in a Derby antique shop, an unique item which had been stolen in the raid. Although the shop was closed by the time the Parkers and the police arrived, they saw in the window a Bretby vase over 4ft high. On returning with the police the next day, Mrs Parker found that the Henry Tooth bust had been sold the day before, in good faith, to a man from Burton on Trent. However, Two weeks later, a Nottingham auction house let Mrs Parker know their suspicions about a pair of Bretby pheasant busts which had been consigned for sale. They were idenftified as being from the museum and the consignor was investigated.
However, although the Henry Tooth bust, the vase and the pheasants have been found and seized by police, they are still not back in the museum, where they belong. The Parkers had already been paid out by the insurers and so the pottery belongs to the insurance company. Unfortunately, all the pieces were found to have been slightly damaged and adjusted value has still to be agreed so that the Parkers can buy them back for the museum.
http://www.invaluable.com/forum.asp?L=51&M=1265&P=1&F=51

UFW, Artists Sue Over Murals

By RON HARRIS
Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Colorful murals that cover several walls in the city's Mission District are at the center of a legal dispute between the United Farm Workers and an Internet retailer.
A federal suit filed Thursday by UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta and artists claims Corbis Corp. is selling digital photos of their works without permission.
http://biz.yahoo.com/apf/001109/mural_laws.html

After 6 years, battle for stolen artwork ends

By Francie Latour, Globe Staff, 11/9/2000
In the world of modern American painting, Beauford Delaney was a naive modernist. In the world of modern art collecting, Brandeis University was simply naive.
For 25 years, the Waltham school couldn't crack the 1971 theft of a valuable painting by the Harlem Renaissance master, who honed his early notions of line and shadow at Boston art schools in the 1920s.
Then, six years ago, university officials learned the painting, ''Greene Street,'' had mysteriously surfaced in a New York art exhibit. They alerted authorities, produced proof of ownership, and concluded the $25,000 treasure would be returned to them in short order.

Imagine that.

What unfolded was a six-year marathon of correspondence to the New York Police Department's art theft squad while the painting languished in an evidence locker - apparently along with a collection of Buddhist statues, bronze sculptures, and a Marc Chagall work.
''It seemed there were numerous transferences of documents and pleas, a lot of banter going back and forth, and a lot of pleas that were getting nowhere,'' said Ed Callahan, director of the Brandeis campus police, who last month made the bold pronouncement that he would retrieve the painting himself. His words generated good-luck wishes and outright laughter from the general counsel's department. But after pulling some strings with New York's finest, Callahan got word this week that the painting was on its way back. It arrived Tuesday - hand-delivered by a retired New York officer.
''I told them I was going to get it, and I don't usually promise things I can't do,'' Callahan said, miffed. ''But they were kind of ecstatic.''

Indeed.

''We're absolutely delighted that it's finally back,'' said Judith Sizer, who worked for six years trying to retrieve the painting.
Asked what took so long for the New York Police Department to return the work, Sizer was ... diplomatic.
''They were very busy,'' she said.
This story ran on page B01 of the Boston Globe on 11/9/2000.
http://www.boston.com/