May 1, 2002

- query: computer chip technology and securing artifacts
- 'Tome raider' convicted of plundering libraries
- Museum chief's art gets look from U.S.; Smithsonian director's collection examined for endangered species items
- art award
- RE: Skateboarders
- Restorers to use modern lasers to clean ancient marbles (Parthenon Marbles at the British Museum)

From: Christine Cross cpp37980@centurytel.net
Organization: Ten Chimneys Foundation, Inc

Subject: query: computer chip technology and securing artifacts

Do you know of anyone who uses computer chip technology in securing museum artifacts. I had heard a rumor about some type of technology where a chip is adhered to an artifact and acts as a theft deterrent system. Do you know anyone who makes this type of system that I could contact for further information? Thank you, Christine Cross Curator of Collections Ten Chimneys Foundation

'Tome raider' convicted of plundering libraries

By Steve Bird
A CAMBRIDGE University graduate who plundered rare antiquarian books worth Ł1.1 million from British libraries was jailed yesterday for masterminding one of the biggest thefts of the country’s literary treasures. William Simon Jacques, 33, stole more than 400 books and pamphlets from collections at the British Library, Cambridge University Library and London Library between July 1994 and May 1999. Jacques, who read economics at Jesus College, sold many of the items through auctions houses and used four bank safe deposit boxes around the country to hoard the remaining books. Among those retrieved were Galileo’s Sidereus nuncius, a work published in 1610 and valued at Ł180,000, Kepler’s Astronomia Nova, published in 1609 and valued at Ł75,000 and Discours de la méthode pour bien conduire sa raison, by René Descartes, 1637, worth Ł30,000, and two copies of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica, published in 1687 and valued at more than Ł130,000. Many of the books were retrieved, but others have not been located. He was found guilty by a majority verdict of ten to one of 19 counts of theft after a trial in March last year, and yesterday admitted two further counts of theft. Twelve other charges of theft were ordered to lie on the file. Sentencing was adjourned to establish compensation claims for the missing books, and those damaged, and to prepare a confiscation order. Judge Derek Inman, sitting at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court, had remanded him in custody after the first trial and lifted reporting restrictions yesterday. Jacques, wearing jeans with his hair tied back in a pony tail, showed no emotion as the judge remanded him in custody for sentencing on Thursday. Throughout the hearing Jacques clutched a paperback Wilbur Smith novel. Jacques, an accountant, from Maida Vale, northwest London, was captured when a London- based book dealer and auction houses in Britain and Germany became suspicious after spotting that books he lodged for sale had been tampered with to disguise the fact that they were stolen. Shortly after being arrested and questioned by police in 1999, he fled to Cuba, leaving a note with his solicitor telling detectives that he had hidden books in safe deposit boxes in London, Cambridge and York. When detectives raided the boxes they discovered more than 60 rare books, a forgery kit and a collection of old yellowing pages that he had used to cover up library markings. Many of the books suffered irreparable damage at his hands. Jacques returned to Britain six weeks later and was arrested. Karim Khalil, for the prosecution, said that Jacques, was a “bright man” who read economics at Cambridge University in October 1987 and got his Master of Arts in 1994. He said that he had used his learning to create a “cloak of respectability” to conceal his “professional life of crime” and gain access to some of the country’s most valuable collections. Mr Khalil said that Jacques was involved in “systematic” theft from libraries and attempted to sell books through Bloomsbury Book Auctions and Christie’s in London, and Zisska & Kistner and Galeria Gerda Bassenge in Berlin. The prosecution did not claim that he personally stole the books from the libraries, but that he obtained them and kept them to sell or horde. “He was looking to make a pile of money,” Mr Khalil said.. “He has effectively plundered these historic collections in our principal libraries,” Mr Khalil added. Yesterday his former tutor at Jesus College condemned Jacques, who obtained a 2:1 degree, for committing a heinous crime against the academic establishment. Ian DuQuesnay, senior tutor, said that Jacques was a “competent, but not outstanding student”. He said: “What he did is equivalent to daubing paint on the Parthenon.” Jacques, who lived alone in his London flat, was brought up on a farm in Cliffe, near Selby, North Yorkshire. His father, William, a farmer, and mother, Elaine, yesterday refused to comment. New security measures are in place at the London Library in St James’s Square and at Cambridge University Library.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/

Museum chief's art gets look from U.S.

Smithsonian director's collection examined for endangered species items
Hearst Newspapers Originally published April 27, 2002
WASHINGTON - Investigators from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have inspected the private collection of Amazonian tribal art owned by Lawrence Small, the head of the Smithsonian Institution, to determine whether he illegally owns feathers or teeth from endangered animals, an agency spokeswoman said. The collection includes headdresses, spears and capes fashioned from the feathers of exotic birds, and inspectors believe some of the items may have been imported in violation of the Endangered Species Act or the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species. That law and treaty bar the purchase or importation of products made with endangered species or the purchase of products made with endangered wildlife in violation of the conservation laws of Brazil, where the items originated. Violations could result in confiscation of the items and criminal or civil charges. Small has said his 1,000-piece collection complies with the law. "Lawrence Small has been cooperative and we have looked at the collection," said Diana Weaver of the Fish and Wildlife Service, a division of the Interior Department. Speaking from the agency's offices in Hadley Mass., Weaver said the service was still investigating the case. Weaver declined to say whether investigators had removed items in the collection. In some cases, items are removed and shipped to agency ornithologists and mammologists. In other cases, investigators take extensive pictures and send those to experts for review, she said. "Both of those options could be done" in the Small case, she said. Inspectors also might confiscate items if they believe the target of the investigation was preparing to move them away or if investigators were close to charging the target with a legal violation. The wildlife service opened the Small investigation in November 2000 and closed it in March last year after receiving copies of import permits and written assurances from Small that the collection didn't contain products from endangered species. The agency reopened the investigation last summer after reviewing additional information from published photographs of Small's collection and reports from ornithologists. Small declined to comment yesterday, steering questions to his attorney, Daniel Squire, a partner at the firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering. Squire said Small has cooperated and opened the doors of his private gallery to wildlife service investigators. "It was a completely voluntary inspection and we are waiting to hear back from them," Squire said.
The Baltimore Sun

From: info@michelvanrijn.com

Subject: art award

Dear Ton,
May I kindly ask you to share the following information about the MvR Art Award with your readers. The members of the jury and myself invite participants for this competition to submit 'their'story about the art world/market by e-mail before Aug 20th 2002. Though the idea is that subjects or experiences within the art world can be freely chosen from, I can imagine by following the MSN letter for several years, that issues dealing with the protection of the worlds cultural heritage, could be a serious addition. In any case, it's a project which should reveal a lot of 'hidden' information, with a jury on which I am extremely proud off and Publishing House Vassallucci has taken a keen interest to turn a selection of the stories into a book.
sincerely yours,
michel van rijn
http://www.michelvanrijn.com/award.htm

From: "Myles Newlove" myles.newlove@aigworldwide.net
To: securma@museum-security.org

Subject: RE: Skateboarders

(Read also the mails about this subject at Museum-L: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/museum-l.html )
I saw a innovative idea by an Australian city council to stop skateboarders from congregating around a shopping centre. They resurface the main walk areas with a course gravel material, which made it impossible for skateboarders to skate on the surface as well as placing obstructions against concert corners etc. The gravel surface was not lose and greatly improve traction for pedestrians walking during the wet season and was still pleasant to the eye as it was formulated in a pattern, which further impeded the skateboarders. Combing this with increase security measures initially, CCTV and security/police patrols. Skateboarders would quickly find other areas to skateboard.
Regards,
Myles
Myles C. Newlove Managing Director Aurora Intelligence Group Pty. Ltd.
Telephone: +61 3 9440 5546 (24hrs) Facsimile: +61 3 9440 5626 Mob: +61 407 226 548 Email: myles.newlove@aigworldwide.net

Restorers to use modern lasers to clean ancient marbles

Tue Apr 30, 7:16 AM ET
By LISA ORKIN, Associated Press Writer
ATHENS, Greece - Experts hoping to restore some of the Acropolis' ancient glory have decided to use modern laser techniques to clean away pollution from the 2,500 year-old Parthenon marbles, they said Tuesday. Using a new technology that combines lasers with microwaves, restorers hope to clean 16 remaining figures that once adorned the Parthenon in time to display the sculptures for the 2004 Olympics. "It will be done with a pioneering method that is being put into effect — maybe for the first time — with lasers, but also with a combination of two microwaves," said Maria Ioannidou, head of the Acropolis monuments restoration team. Ioannidou said it was the first time lasers and microwaves will be used together for such cleaning. "We do this because achieve better color results with the combination," Ioannidou said. After two years of practicing on other marbles, the Central Archaeological Council last week gave approval for the method. Experts hope to begin using it as early as next month. The cleaning will take about one-and-a-half months for each of the marbles in Greek hands. The remaining 17 marbles that once adorned the 160-meter (yard) frieze on the Parthenon are housed in the British Museum. Also known as the Elgin marbles, the rest of the marbles have been long- sought by Greece. Britain has for decades refused to give them back. Greece hopes to repatriate them in time for the Olympics, where they will be housed as a totality in a special wing of a new Acropolis museum. The marbles were taken from the Acropolis in the early 19th century by Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Past attempts to clean the marbles have caused considerable controversy. In 1998, British historian William St. Clair claimed the British Museum had caused considerable damage to the marbles in the 1930's, when they used metal scrapers in an effort to whiten them. That damaged the patina, he said. Ioannidou said the new method was safe and could actually help Greek efforts to bring the marbles home. "This method is absolutely safe. It does not take away material from the surface of the marble ... It is absolutely harmless," Ioannidou said. "It is an answer to the British about the methods which we use to clean our marbles, with an absolutely safe method."