We are trying to keep our clients and the rest of the museum community updated on the Mosler situation as best we can. Here is what we have learned:
1. Mosler Canada is not in bankruptcy but their majority stockholder is Mosler US so they are most certainly affected. They also buy hardware from Mosler US.
2. Mosler Comsec and GMS software is made by Pacom in Australia. See www.pacombell.com.au. They have an announcement on their web site about support for Mosler branded products. Yopu should read it if this affects you. Pacom also apparently, as far as we can tell, oversees the manufacture, in the US, of the Mosler Comsec hardware (RTU's).
3. Pacom has at least three support reps in the US and while things are chaotic now they claim they will support Mosler products as soon as they can. Watch their site at www.pacombell.com.au for details and a future help line.
4. Mosler central station claims they are unaffected and are going to be bought out by someone else since they are a separate corporate entity. While this could well be true and central stations are highly prized as income producers, this may not be possible so if you continue to use the Mosler central station do so with a contingency plan.
5. Industry rumors have it that several groups are forming to support Mosler products, reportedly by senior Mosler people. There is a supply of parts in the supply pipeline and these people and Pacom promise support.
6. Rumor has it that a group, possibly Tyco, is trying to buy the Mosler name. There may be others.
7. Most of the top Mosler people have already had job offers from competitors. This indicates that competitors want the former Mosler market and could lead to service. Pacom alludes in their news release on their website to opening Mosler parts and software to more open and competitive channels (non-proprietary sources) so this is encouraging. We also spoke the three Mosler techs who called us back from various markets. They all have had job interviews and the outlook looks good for them to be working form competitors soon. This indicates that competitors want part of this market.
8. I've given names of my few clients with Mosler branded systems to some people who will try to offer some form of support so they may be in touch with you if you are one of them. If you are not a client of mine but want Mosler support, drop me an email and I will pass your message on to the people who will be trying to support your systems. The more email of this sort they see, the more likely they are to see the service of Mosler equiment as financially advantageous to them and this will help your chances of being supported.
My advice to Mosler Comsec and GMS users is to sit tight but stay in touch with Pacom. I'm guessing that your products WILL be supported when the dust settles. Don't rush into any panic buying of replacement systems. If you use the Mosler central station, develop a Plan B that you can implement in a day. If you are a Mosler Canada customer you should contact them but also contact Pacom.
If you have a service agreement with Mosler, don't waste your time stomping your feet or involving your lawyer trying to get back pre-payments, etc. Resign yourself to the fact that they are gone for good and they have no money to refund. Even the pension fund of Mosler is, we are told, empty. Find another service provider who can deal with issues like replacing non-Mosler equipment like detectors, or troubleshooting power supplies, etc. The vast majority of the things that can go wrong with your system do not involve the Mosler hardware and it appears that except for a possible delay in getting service, the software will not be a problem.
I don't have any more details to offer at this time and remind you that some of the above is based on industry rumors. The Pacom rep was in the air on his way from Australia as I write this, I am told, and because of the time difference we had no one there to speak to but I wanted you to know this before you panic and do something you don't need to do.
Feel free to contact me if you think I can add more information that is specific to your situation.
Steve Keller Museum Security Consultant www.stevekeller.com From: newsletter@theartnewspaper.com Subject:
PARIS. On 6 July the French government seized archives from the Paris-based Giacometti Association in the latest development in a complicated lawsuit between the two. On 30 July the Giacometti Association brought a counter procedure demanding some of the material back because the government had no authority to confiscate it. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=7070
REBELLION IN THE PRADO
MADRID. The Prado Museum, now directed by the president of its board Eduardo Serra, is going through turbulent days. The former Minister of Defence intends shortly to submit to Parliament a draft, that, by law, would turn the foremost art gallery of Spain into a public company, following the recommendations of the report of the Boston Consulting Group. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=7052
THE CA’REZZONICO REOPENS
VENICE. The Venetian palace that houses a museum of 18th-century art, the Ca’Rezzonico, is open to the public after restoration works that have taken 20 years to complete and L23 billion ($10.5 million; £7.3 million) to finance. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=7051
“THERE ARE NO PAINTINGS, JUST DECORATION”
NEW YORK. “Beyond the easel”, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, takes as its bold task the presentation of cycles of paintings by Bonnard, Vuillard, Denis and Roussel, which have long been separated, and, in most cases, never publicly exhibited as a group. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=7050
TOO MANY MUSEUMS, TRYING FAR TOO HARD
TURIN. A leading Arte Povera artist says museums should not be built, but should develop by public acclamation with the works of art, and that they should stop bossing the public about. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=7030
DELAYED LAST JUDGEMENT RESULTS IN SALE
BEDFORD. A most unusual auction has raised funds for the Panacea Society, a Bedford- based millenarian sect which guards the sealed box of writings compiled nearly 200 years ago by Joanna Southcott. Containing God’s Will and Testament, Southcott ruled that the box can only be opened in the presence of all of the Church of England’s (then 24) bishops, who must then study them for three days and nights. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=7013
FITZWILLIAM GETS HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND GRANT FOR COURTYARD DEVELOPMENT
CAMBRIDGE. The Fitzwilliam Museum, the art museum of the University of Cambridge, has been looking for a solution to its space problem ever since 1998. It receives 250,000 visitors per year, attracted by its range of antiquities, paintings, drawings and prints, yet has no dedicated education space, no reception or orientation spaces for large group and not even a public lift. The Courtyard Development plan will add 3,000 square-metres on four floors, utilising a redundant courtyard formed by post-war extensions. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=7012
SITE FIXED FOR PRINCESS OF WALES MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN
LONDON. A fountain in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales is to be erected on the shore of the Serpentine lake in Hyde Park. The site is currently occupied by the redundant Lido pump house building, which will be demolished. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=7011
MONEY MUST BE RAISED FAST TO KEEP WORKS IN THE UK
LONDON. Arts Minister Tessa Blackstone has placed temporary export bars on seven works of art, and the government is awaiting offers for purchase which may be from institutions or private buyers based in the UK, to enable these pieces to stay in the country. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=7010
Anna Somers Cocks, Editor contact@theartnewspaper.com
The Art Newspaper 70 South Lambeth Road London SW8 1RL UK tel +44(0)207 735 3331 fax +44(0)207 735 3332 http://www.theartnewspaper.com
Exploratory dig allowed on Lenape site
Wednesday, August 8, 2001 By MATTHEW BROWN Staff Writer
VERNON -- A state judge Tuesday gave permission for an exploratory dig on a milleniums- old Leni-Lenape Indian site that the township wants to turn into a sprawling sports field complex. The Lenape, New Jersey's original inhabitants, have joined a local archaeologist's lawsuit to block Vernon from building the 180-acre complex. The lawsuit contends the project would destroy a 35-acre site along Black Creek that hosted a string of thriving native villages over a 10,000-year period. State Superior Court Judge Kenneth MacKenzie in Newton, who issued the order allowing a township-hired company to dig, imposed an injunction last month blocking the complex until the lawsuit is resolved. The planned dig, known as a geomorphological study, entails 10 8-foot-by-8-foot test pits to be excavated by a backhoe -- a detail that has angered Lenape arguing for the site's preservation.
Lenape leaders from across the state -- in South Jersey and the Ramapo Mountains of Bergen and Passaic counties -- have rallied around protection of the Black Creek site in recent months. Backing them are Lenape from Oklahoma, where the largest concentration of the Indian tribe now lives after a forced migration in the 1800s. Previous studies along Black Creek and adjacent lands have yielded thousands of arrowheads, spear tips, crude tools, and other signs of longtime occupation. Most of those investigations were done on the soil surface. But township officials reject those studies as incomplete -- including one Vernon itself commissioned last year. The township contends the site may have been occupied only sporadically. "We all know there are surface artifacts," Township Attorney Joseph Ragno said. "The issue is not whether there is history there, but whether the site has an integrity that makes it archaeologically valuable." Eager to feed the recreation needs of Vernon's booming population, officials have designed a complex with a pool, fieldhouse, and more than two dozen playing fields, rinks, and courts, where youths would play soccer, lacrosse, baseball, football, tennis, basketball, and roller hockey.
The site would be large enough to host regional tournaments, Ragno said. No Lenape live in Vernon today, having been uprooted by European immigrants and inter- tribal warfare in the mid-1800s. The farmers who took their place also are increasingly rare in the Sussex County community, which is on the westward edge of the metropolitan area's expanding suburban ring. The Warwick firm conducting the township's dig, LaPorta and Associates, will not focus on actual artifacts. Instead, the firm will examine the soil structure to see if it could potentially yield an archeological site as described by the Lenape. Walter Van Dunk, chief of the Ramapo Lenape, said the use of the backhoe in the study was "ridiculous." "What is he expecting to find with a backhoe?" Van Dunk asked, referring to Philip LaPorta, the leader of the study. "The only thing they're trying to do is destroy what's in there so that they can say nothing's there." Greg Werkheiser, who represents the Lenape in their lawsuit, said that despite the use of the backhoe, he was eager to see the dig's results.
"The township will now have the opportunity to satisfy itself as to what everyone in the archaeological community already knows, that this site is undoubtedly historically significant." Ragno said the study will start Monday and finish the next day. Besides the lawsuit, those hoping to stop the project have also applied for a listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The nomination will be heard Sept. 12 before the New Jersey Review Board for Historic Sites. The township's study must be submitted to the review board at least 14 days before that meeting. If the historic designation is granted, the state Department of Environmental Protection could force the township to alter its sports field complex so it would not affect the Lenape site. Richard Grubb, whose firm conducted the prior Black Creek study for the township, said he expected the dig to yield just what his team found: more artifacts from the Lenape and their predecessors. "They don't want anybody to find anything, but it's there," Grubb said. "It's not going to go away." http://www.bergen.com/
Massive Madrid art heist
Thieves in Madrid have stolen more than 20 famous works of art from
the house of a Spanish businesswoman.
Among the paintings taken are two by the Spanish artist Francisco de
Goya The Donkey's Fall and The Swing, a painting by the French
impressionist Camille Pisarro Eragny landscape, and one by the Dutch
master Pieter Brueghel St Anthony's temptations.
The owner, Esther Koplowitz, is a major shareholder in Spain's biggest
building company. http://news.bbc.co.uk/