Dear Subscribers,
There is bad news and good news to report when reviewing stolen art web-sites. Aside from the fact that thieves continue to steal art, the bad news is INTERPOL (USNCB) has ceased to publish an indexed list of stolen artworks. Their on-line data had been the best (centralized) attempt to publicize lost art. INTERPOL's General Secretariat does publish a very informative section highlighting recent thefts, but the great depth of their records are still unavailable to the world's on-line community.
Now for the good new; the number of official government web-sites that do post images of stolen art is increasing. Recent additions to our directory of stolen art web-sites include: The Spanish Civil Guard, the UK's Metropolitan Police, Estonia, Norway, and a host of German Police sites. http://www.saztv.com/page9.html
As that list continues to grow it can seems somewhat overwhelming. For clarity sake (or at least another "expanded" perspective) we've added a new "Stolen Art Listings by Continent" section to our web-site. http://www.saztv.com/page43.html
Well, that's enough for information for one note. I don't want anyone to get a headache from staring at the computer screen.
US 'Antiques Roadshow' expert says guilty of fraud
By David Morgan PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - An antiques dealer who specialized in Civil War relics pleaded guilty Friday to swindling the family of Confederate Gen. George Pickett and staging phony televised appraisals on the PBS television series ``Antiques Roadshow.'' Russell Pritchard, 38, of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, admitted in federal court that he also bought relics at artificially low prices from the descendants of other Civil War officers and sold them for large profits to private dealers after assuring family members that they would go to a museum. The most glaring incident involved the great-great-grandson of Gen. Pickett, the Confederate officer famed for leading an ill-fated charge against Union lines in the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, in what became a pivotal clash in the Civil War. Pritchard admitted to buying a trunkload of Pickett memorabilia from North Carolina contractor George Pickett V in 1996 for $87,500 and then reselling the relics to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's National Civil War Museum for $870,000. Pritchard also pleaded guilty to stealing from the same museum a rare Union Zouave uniform, a style of Civil War military dress modeled after the uniforms of 19th century French Moroccan military units. He allegedly sold the uniform for $20,000 to a private dealer. Pritchard regularly appeared on the PBS series ``Antiques Roadshow,'' where members of the public present items for appraisal. Pritchard admitted that he and a co-defendant named George Juno staged at least two phony appraisals in 1996 to enhance the program's viewership. On both occasions, they had friends pose as members of the public to show off antique swords secretly provided by Juno and Pritchard. Federal prosecutors said Pritchard faces a maximum of 135 years in prison and a $5.25 million fine on 20 counts of fraud and related criminal wrongdoing. U.S. sentencing guidelines would call for a prison sentence of 27-33 months. Juno pleaded guilty to similar charges in May. Pritchard also may have to make restitution to his victims, authorities said. Gen. Pickett's descendant won an $800,000 civil jury award against Pritchard in 1999. But the city of Harrisburg was not required to return the family heirlooms. The PBS version of ``Antiques Roadshow'' is patterned after a long-running program on Britain's BBC television. The PBS version is filmed at locations around the United States.
Reuters/Variety REUTERS
Stills From Second Potter Movie Stolen
The Associated Press
LONDON (AP) - Photographic stills from the unfinished second Harry Potter movie were reported stolen from the film's studios in Britain, police said Saturday. The photos from ``Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' were missing from a locked room at Leavesden Studios, north of London, where the film is being shot. The film's production company, Warner Bros., warned the media not to use the stolen pictures, but would not comment further. ``Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' is the second of a projected seven films following the adventures of the boy wizard. It is scheduled for release in November.
Dancing with tomb robbers
By Zahi Hawass
History is disappearing day by day at the hands of tomb robbers. They dig in the dead of night to steal treasures from ancient burial grounds. This is one of the biggest problems facing Egyptologists today. We are in a race against time to excavate and record our history and, more importantly, preserve the great monuments and learn about the amazing ancient Egyptian civilisation before it is ruthlessly pillaged or destroyed by environmental pollution and other causes. Each time we discover an artefact, another piece of the puzzle of ancient history can be set in place, and gaps in our knowledge filled.
Stealing antiquities is not a syndrome of the modern era; it has been happening since the time of the Pharaohs. The ancient Egyptians protected the mummified remains of their ancestors and their funerary treasures in their burial chambers by blocking the entrances. The entrance to the Great Pyramid was so well hidden that it was not found until the ninth century AD, when the soldiers of Ma'moun, son of Haroun El-Rashid of Arabian Nights fame, opened it; this entrance is now known by his name.
As for the entrance to the subsidiary pyramid of an unknown queen of King Menkaura -- grandson of Khufu, the builder of the third pyramid at Giza -- this was cut into the rock and extends for about 19 metres, but is only about 15cms wide. At the end of the passage the pyramid builders put a granite slab to block the entrance to the burial chamber.
When I entered this pyramid I found myself launched on an adventure. I was accompanied by an American television anchorwoman, Suzy Gilbert, who was filming a live documentary on the pyramids of Giza. The film was a FOX TV production being shown on prime time in the United States. One scene was devoted to entering the pyramid.
Suzy and I crawled down the passage, but when I reached the granite slab and tried to squeeze into the burial chamber I got stuck. I could not move because I had a camera attached to my back. There I was, stuck, on live TV, and many of my friends who were watching the programme told me later they were worried. Luckily for me, Suzy came to my rescue. She removed the camera so as to enable me to enter the burial chamber unhindered.
I was not the first to enter the pyramid of the unknown queen. It had been opened in 1881, as was clear from the date written on the wall of the burial chamber, and George Reisner from the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston later excavated the pyramid. The amazing thing about it is that it was never used for the burial of a queen. I could not find any evidence that anyone had ever been buried in it.
Despite all attempts by the ancient Egyptians to protect their pyramids and tombs, they were broken into. The robbers usurped objects, and desecrated and stole the mummies of the Pharaohs and their funerary equipment. Only a few tombs have ever been found intact. Among them were King Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings and the royal tombs of the 22nd Dynasty at Tanis in the Delta.
Another intact tomb that was saved from destruction or pillage by robbers was the tomb of Queen Hetep- Heres, Khufu's mother. The story of this discovery is very interesting. In the absence of expedition director Reisner, the photographer of the expedition of Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts was working on the east side of Khufu's pyramid when he chanced upon an intact shaft. He immediately sent a telegram to Reisner in Boston.
As soon as Reisner arrived, excavation proceeded and the treasures of the queen were found buried in a 30-metre shaft but, surprisingly, there was no body. Reisner believed that the queen was originally buried in Dahshur, beside her husband, and that when the tomb was robbed during the reign of her son Khufu, he immediately sent officials to transfer her body and the contents of her tomb to Giza. The officials went to Dahshur at night and moved all the contents of the tomb to Giza as instructed, but could find no trace of Queen Hetep-Heres' body. Had thieves already stolen the royal mummy? The officials did not tell the king about the missing body of his mother. They simply sealed the shaft.
It is amazing that the tomb of Queen Hetep-Heres should have been robbed at Dahshur during the reign of the powerful King Khufu, the builder of the one of the greatest tombs ever, the Great Pyramid of Giza. This story reveals that the officials were somewhat scared to tell the king about the missing mummy of his mother. They simply dug the shaft and stored the treasure brought from Dahshur. Now in Cairo's Egyptian Museum, these were so remarkable and so numerous that Reisner spent 10 years in Egypt excavating the shaft and documenting its contents.
The ancient Egyptians were well aware of the activities of tomb robbers. They tried to protect their mortal remains by writing curse inscriptions. These texts were inscribed at the tomb's entrance and acted as warnings to thieves. In one of the tombs that I found in Giza, the owner, a certain Petty who was one of the artisans involved in building the pyramids, wrote: All the people who enter this tomb Who will make evil against this tomb and destroy it May the crocodile be against them And the snakes against them on land May the hippopotamus be against them in water The scorpion against them on land
We are still dancing with tomb robbers. http://www.ahram.org.eg/