July 7, 2001
CONTENTS:
- Dealer guilty of handling Nazi art
- Fire suppression
Dealer guilty of handling Nazi art
A British art dealer has been found guilty by a French court of handling a Nazi-looted painting. Adam Williams, 49, who is currently in the United States, was given an eight- month suspended prison sentence. It will be a precedent that will apply to museums and galleries
Pierre-Francois Veil, lawyer The court in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre heard that Williams bought the painting, Portrait of Pastor Adrianus Tegularius by Frans Hals, from the London auction house Christie's for 1.2m francs (£110,000) in 1989. Williams denied knowing that the painting had been stolen. The court ordered that the 17th Century painting be returned to its rightful inheritors, the Adolphe Schloss collection. It was seized during a Paris exhibition in 1990 when Schloss's descendants recognised the work and brought an action against the dealer, a buyer for the prestigious Newhouse Galleries. 'Important'
The decision was welcomed by Pierre-Francois Veil, a lawyer acting for the Schloss estate. "It's important in so far as it shows that art professionals can no longer claim that they are
holding in good faith artworks stolen during the war, which are well known and catalogued," he said. "Today the judgement is against a private dealer, but tomorrow it will be a precedent that will apply to museums and galleries." Williams's lawyer, Michael Brooke, said that his client was considering an appeal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
From ConsDisList:
From: Robert E. Schnare schnarer@nwc.navy.mil
Subject: Fire suppression
The following dialog is reproduce with permission.
From: "Robert, Prof. Schnare"
schnarer@nwc.navy.mil 06/12-01-08:24AM
Dear Sir: The people at Great Lakes gave me your email. On the
Conservation DistList, I noticed a question about FM-200.
The question stated was a major university is interested in
using FM-200 in its Art Museum. The individual has hear that
FM-200, when burned, emits hydrofluoric acid. He wondered if it
was true? A number of us concerned with the preservation of
library, archival and art items are concerned.
To: schnarer@nwc.navy.mil
Subject: Re: FM-200
Dear Professor Schnare;
Thank you for your interest in our FM-200 fire fighting agent. FM-200 provides effective fire knockdown and extinguishment for a wide range of applications--including large flammable liquid hazards, such as naval machinery spaces; sensitive, high-value telecommunications facilities; and irreplaceable artifacts and artwork, such as the Star-Spangled Banner. These applications all have very different fire situations--and different thresholds of damage allowances.
FM-200, like halon 1301, is an active fire fighting agent. It reacts with the surface area of the flame, removing energy from the fire reaction and chemically interrupting the combustion process. Like halon 1301, one result of this reaction is the degradation of the FM-200 molecule to form HF. As a non-ozone depleting substance, FM-200 contains no bromine, and therefore unlike halon 1301, does not produce any HBr.
The amount of decomposition products generated in a fire event will depend on several things. When protecting against fires, speed is critical. FM-200 systems discharge in 10 seconds, or less--extinguishing the fire before it grows to a significant size. Often FM-200 systems extinguish the fire before the completion of the agent discharge. Rapid extinguishment reduces the potential damage from the fire. as well as reducing the degradation of the agent. Detection also plays a very significant role in catching fires at their earliest point, before there is significant damage to the items being protected. Many clients in very high value sites, such as yours, choose advanced detection technologies to insure very early detection of a fire threat--often long before any flame damage occurs. The smaller the fire, the less damage and very little decomposition products are formed. Further these are localized to the flame and fire area, not spread throughout the facility.
The fire source also impacts the generation of decomposition products. Class A fuels and electrically generated fires are much lower in energy and slower to grow than flammable liquids. These low energy fires do not generate large quantities of decomposition products and are more readily extinguished by the gaseous agent. Much of the historical research on decomposition products, for both FM-200 and halon 1301, centers on large flammable liquid fires in machinery spaces. In these situations, FM-200 still provides the best environmentally sound solution for fire protection and life safety, even though the generation of large amounts of HF requires further precautions on space re-entry. The amount of HF generated by a low energy fire source is appreciably less than what one experiences in a large flammable liquid hazard.
FM-200 clean agent has been the choice for many cultural resource treasures throughout the world. Due to it's rapid effectiveness, environmental profile, and compatibility with people, it continues to be the premier method of protecting these sites without water.
If I can answer any further questions, please let me know. Best Regards,
Al
Al Thornton
International Sales Manager
Great Lakes Chemical Corporation
+1 817 735 1281
Fax: +1 817 735 1172
athornto@glcc.com
Prof. Robert Schnare
U.S. Naval War College Library
401-841-2641
Fax: 401-841-6491