Mystery of lost Achaemenid gold tablet still unsolved
Tehran, July 30, IRNA -- Curator of Iran's National Museum (INM) Mohammad Reza Kargar said here on Tuesday that the gold tablet stolen from INM is not listed among ancient artifacts delivered to and registered by the museum. He told IRNA that the stolen tablet, along with two other similar gold and silver tablets, were discovered by an American archeological team while excavating in Persepolis in 1933. He added that once the Achaemenid tablets were discovered, a pair of similar gold and silver tablets were delivered to INM, while the other two were preserved at Marmar (Marble) palace. He said that the two tablets kept at Marmar palace were transferred to Azadi Museum when it was established. According to him, following the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the museum's administrators citing insecurity decided to transfer a number of artifacts to Iran's Archaeological Museum (IAM). The Achaemenid tablets were among the objects which were supposed to be transferred. Given that a specific time was not decided for the transfer of the said objects, their type and specifications were not registered when they were delivered to the IAM. He said that the issue remained unsolved for a long time before
Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization embarked on collecting some information on the objects kept at Iran's museums. He added that INM keeps information on the objects, which were discovered in the process of archeological excavations as a routine. Questions were also raised about the whereabouts of the tablets taken to Marmar palace. Upon investigation, it was found that there was no trace of the said objects. He added that the case was followed up and reported to the judiciary and the culprit was arrested, tried and jailed. The lost silver tablet was found in the museum, he said, but investigations are still continuing to find the gold tablet. http://www.irna.com/
2500-YEAR-OLD ANCIENT GREEK MARBLE HEAD STOLEN FROM BRITISH MUSEUM
London, 2 August 2002 (13:40 UTC+2) A 2500-year-old ancient Greek marble head worth 38,000 euro, was stolen from the British Museum. This was the second theft of Greek antiquities from the museum in less than two years, as in March 2001, it was revealed that part of the frieze of Apollo Epicure had been stolen. Commenting on the event, the new Director of the British Museum, Mr. Neil McGregor, stated: "Unfortunately all museums are vulnerable to theft, and smaller sculptures are in more danger".
It should be noted that the British Museum had fired the guard to that room, due to cutbacks in the budget, during a time when most Britons insist on their position of not returning the Parthenon Marbels to Greece, with security as the main argument.
Minister of Culture Evaggelos Venizelos asked to be briefed on theft by Mr. McGregor in a letter he sent him, because of the historic and cultural interest the incident for Greece. http://www.mpa.gr/
more on this theft: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/2166867.stm
AND:
British Museum reviews security after theft of Greek artifact
Thu Aug 1, 3:13 PM ET
LONDON - The world-famous British Museum, which is suffering funding and staff shortages, announced Thursday that a robber had stolen a 2,500-year-old Greek statue from an unguarded room. Management said the 12-centimeter-high (4.8-inch) marble head was taken sometime on Tuesday, but they could not be more precise because security guards took several hours to notice it was missing. The Greek Archaic Gallery, where the theft took place, had no permanent guard on duty at the time. Instead, staff patrols were watching several galleries that were filled with summer visitors. Curators and dealers across the world have been alerted to look out for the head, which was acquired by the museum in 1922. Experts believe the piece — which has a distinctive damaged nose and face — could now be worth up to 25,000 pounds (dlrs 38,750). The crime highlighted concerns over security and funding at the museum, which will celebrate its 250th anniversary next year. Its most popular exhibits include the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon, Egyptian mummies and Greek sculpture.
"Sadly all museums are vulnerable to theft, and small-scale sculptures are always particularly at risk," said Neil MacGregor, who took over as director of the museum this week. "It is the first duty of an incoming director to review every aspect of security, and I shall be doing so energetically." Outgoing director Robert Anderson told lawmakers last month that the flagship museum was "impoverished." Up to 28 of its nearly 100 galleries are regularly closed to visitors for several hours because of a lack of staff. The museum also has imposed a hiring freeze, which has left it short of its normal number of employees. The staff, including security officers and curators, staged a one-day strike in June after the museum said it will cut jobs over the next two years to handle an expected budget deficit of 5 million pounds (dlrs 7.3 million) in 2004-2005. The museum has a faced number of problems: a sharp decline in tourism following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the failure of government funding to keep pace with expenses, and its policy of free admission. Without admission, the museum depends on government funding, donations and income from its gift shops, restaurants and cafes. Date sent: Fri, 02 Aug 2002 19:35:33 -0500 From: Jonathan Sazonoff
Subject: RE: Paraguay Theft
Dear Subscribers,
For those interested here's a little more information on the recent museum theft in in South America. Paraguay, Asuncion Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes July 30, 2002
Five paintings were stolen from from exhibition at Paraguay's National Fine Arts Museum. Thieves tunneled their way into the museum striking after hours and escaped with five Europen paintings: Tintoretto, a.k.a Jacopo Robusti (Italian, 1518-1594) "Self-portrait" Murillo, Esteban (Spanish, 1618-1682)"The Virgin Mary and Jesus" Coubert, Gustave (French, 1818-1877) "Landscape" Piot, Adolphe (French, 1850-1910) "Woman's head" Unknown (Italian) "Saint Gerome"
And here is the latest Google translation of an updated Paraguay theft story in La Nacion (Spanish Language URL) http://www.lanacion.com.py/noticia2.asp?id=3958
A presumed accomplice of the brains of the construction of the tunnel done for the robbery in the Museum of Beautiful Arts was stopped yesterday in hours in the morning. The same one was exposed by a witness who will be presented/displayed to the office of the public prosecutor in the next days by the National Police.
A man, presumably implied in the robbery of the five pictures of the National Museum of Beautiful Arts, was stopped in the morning of yesterday by agents of the division of Investigations of San Lorenzo. The same one is syndicated like that it had contracted the men directly who rented to the hall the gallery the Mercy and dug the tunnel used for the multimillionaire robbery.
The prisoner was identified like Rubén Darío González Fleytas (36), domiciled in the house located in Athens 630 almost 15 of August, site where the procedure was made that culminated with its halting. The same account with an antecedent by swindle in 1997, informed sources into Computer science of the National Police. The halting of the other two fugitives already identified would be question of hours, according to confirmed official spokesmen.
KEY WITNESS
The report on the procedure indicates that after the discovery of the robbery of the cincos pictures happened during the last weekend and all the strategy used by the thieves, a man whose identity the Police did not provide by security questions but that it will be presented/displayed like witness, it appeared before the police authorities. There it related in detail that months back Rubén Darío González Fleytas it contracted it so that rents to its name the one of the halls the gallery "Mercy" and that it looks for assistants for the excavation of a tunnel. The witness refused and from that moment she did not return to see González Fleytas. Now stopped it would both have a direct connection with citizen Argentineans who paid to the months of rent and the manual labor. The investigators also indicated that Narcissus Ramon Narváez and Wilfrido Alvarez Cuba could be stopped in a matter of days. Both were identified like two of the authors of the tunnel. After the procedures of rigor, González Fleytas and the evidences in his con was put to position Derlis public prosecutor Turfs, indicates the report police.
From: "Klaus Graf"
Subject: Preussische Tafelkultur bei Christie's
Preussische Tafelkultur bei Christie's
Tafelgeschirr aus Schloessern in Berlin und Potsdam kommt am 31. Oktober/1. November bei Christie's in London unter den Hammer. Die Gegenstaende - 12000 Silberobjekte, 2500 zumeist aus der Berliner Koeniglichen Porzellanmanufaktur stammende Teile von Geschirr, 1200 Glaeser - lagerten bislang auf Burg Hohenzollern und wurden vom Haupterben des ehemaligen Hauses Hohenzollern, Georg Friedrich von Preussen zur Auktion freigegeben. Der Kunstberater der Familie Thomas Kemper versichert zwar, es koenne keine Rede von einem "Ausverkauf" sein, aber die Tatsache, dass Experten zufolge (laut ZEIT) immerhin etwa zehn Prozent des Preussen-Hausstandes fuer Museen interessant sein koennten, wirft einmal mehr die Frage auf, in welchem Umfang die nun veraeusserten Kulturgueter als Ensemble schuetzenswert gewesen waeren. So befinden sich unter den Objekten 33 Silberteller fuer Friedrich den Grossen aus der Werkstatt des Berliner Goldschmieds Christian Lieberkuehn (um 1750).
Quellen: Claudia Herstatt, Preußen-Nippes, DIE ZEIT 25.7.2002 Nr. 31, S. 28
Ausfuehrliche Pressemitteilung von Christie's http://www.christies.com/presscenter/pressread.asp?pressId=426 Zum Kulturerbe auf dem Hohenzollern siehe auch die offizielle Homepage der Dynastie: http://www.preussen.de/index.php?c=burghohenzollern
Klaus Graf
Moderator's note:
Mr Graf is wondering whether this applied art being auctioned at Christie's as a collection should have been safeguarded for Germany. T.C.
Two Maxfield Parrish murals stolen from California gallery; each painting worth dlrs 2 million
Thu Aug 1, 6:56 AM ET
WEST HOLLYWOOD, California - Two murals by renowned American painter Maxfield Parrish, valued at dlrs 2 million each, were stolen from a gallery, authorities said. The paintings, measuring 5 feet by 6 feet (1.5 meters by 1.8 meters), were believed taken from the Edenhurst Fine Art Gallery in West Hollywood sometime Monday, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Neill Murchison said Wednesday. He declined to disclose other details. The oil paintings were being offered for sale through the gallery and were part of a collection of six. They are known as the Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney murals, named for their former owner. Dubbed panel 3A and 3B, they depict two couples and an urn set against the backdrop of the Colorado mountains. "They're nearly national treasures," said Houston-based art collector J.P. Bryan, who was selling them. Gallery attorney Tom Nunziato said sheriff's investigators told him the theft had to have been the work of professionals. Alma Gilbert, a Parrish expert and curator of the Cornish Colony Museum in New Hampshire, said carting the paintings away would have been no easy task.
"This is unprecedented; you would need a moving truck and four people," Gilbert said. Parrish, one of the most widely reproduced artists in the world, is known for his use of bright colors, including what has come to be known as Maxfield Parrish Blue. Works by the Pennsylvania native, who died in 1966 at age 95, have been exhibited worldwide. Bryan said he chose to sell the paintings in the Los Angeles area because it contains an active community of Parrish collectors http://story.news.yahoo.com/
Subject: Symposium on Problematic Paintings
Date: Fri, 2 Aug 2002 0:20:10 +1000 From: "Sally Williams"
The Ian Potter Art Conservation Centre and Melbourne University Private are jointly running a Symposium on Problematic Paintings on 26 and 27 September 2002 at the University of Melbourne, in Melbourne, Australia. The Symposium will examine the major issues currently engaging police, legal professionals, art collectors, dealers and galleries in relation to fraudulent, problematic and poorly provenanced artworks. Speakers will include representatives from the Victorian Police Fraud Group, Australian Commercial Galleries Association, the legal profession and the press.
Dear Subscribers,
The tunneling theft of five paintings from Paraguay's Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes just goes to remind one of the many MO's of art thieves. To instill a little paranoia in the lists security managers -
remember thieves can come from the roof, floors, windows, walls and doors. I'd assume more advanced alarm systems could have helped detect the intrusion but I'll leave security commentary to others on the list.
Other than that, here are a couple of brief items to share, before the entire summer slips by. First, Argentina's INTERPOL bureau is now publishing stolen art listings in their web-site under: "Programa de Protección del Patrimonio Cultural" (in Spanish) see http://www.interpol.gov.ar/
Next, the US Archives changed their URL several months ago. For those following Holocaust art recovery efforts, their newer URL is http://www.archives.gov/research_room/holocaust_era_assets/bibliographies/bibliographies.html
Next, the Italian police art theft squad have changed their URL. The new address with entry to their database of stolen art (in Italian) Arma dei Carabinieri - Il Cittadino http://www.carabinieri.it/cittadino/Info/TPC/TPC_main.html
And finally, INTERPOL has released their biannual stolen Works of Art Poster http://www.interpol.int/Public/WorkOfArt/Search/Poster.asp?Poster=32A
Hope you find this of interest.
Jonathan Sazonoff SAZ PRODUCTIONS, INC. http://www.saztv.com Contributing US Ed Museum Security Network
Swiss To Crack Down On Stolen Art
Gaia Regazzoni for The Art Newspaper
Switzerland, a country which lies at the heart of the global trade in illicitly excavated artifacts and looted art, is moving towards ratification of the 1970 Unesco Convention designed to stem the illegal trade in archaeological goods and stolen works of art.
Last November the Swiss Federal Council submitted to the Federal Chambers official approval of the 1970 Unesco Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. Signatories to the treaty are obliged to prevent the export and import of cultural property without license and assist in the repatriation of stolen assets. A Federal draft bill on the international transfer of cultural property--the proposed national legislation required before the Unesco Convention can be implemented--was also submitted.
The law on the international transfer of cultural property aims to establish a legal framework to help fight the smuggling of cultural property; to incorporate the Unesco Convention of 1970; to support and strengthen international cooperation in the transfer of cultural property; to bring statutory regulations up to an internationally acceptable minimum standard; and to promote the international exchange of cultural property in a spirit of openness and legality. Switzerland's pivotal role in the underground network that moves illicitly excavated artifacts from so-called source countries-- nations with rich archaeological heritages such as Italy, Turkey and Greece, among others--to countries like Britain and the U.S. where the demand and the market for art is strong, has long been acknowledged. In 1995 police raided four warehouses in the Freeport of Geneva and discovered some 10,000 unprovenanced antiquities collectively valued at around $40 million. And a number of works of art returned to source countries in recent years from collectors and museums in the U.S. were shown to have passed through Switzerland on their way to American buyers. Unesco, as well as archaeologists and investigators, has lobbied long and hard for Switzerland to clean up its act.
Loopholes In Swiss Law
Swiss law currently categorizes artifacts and works of art with other moveable property: There is no distinction made between art and other consumer goods. Works of art are covered by the generic regulations of the civil and penal codes. This deficiency not only affects the movement through Switzerland of artifacts and works of art, it also affects the protection of the Swiss cultural heritage. In the case of stolen goods, the civil code makes a distinction between acquisitions made in good faith and those made in bad faith. Anyone acquiring stolen property knowing that it is stolen, and assuming, therefore, that the object is the product of a criminal offence, is not entitled to assume legal ownership of the object in question and may also be required to return it to its rightful owner. For acquisitions made in good faith, the previous owner who has been robbed may reclaim the property within five years, after which time the good-faith purchaser becomes the legal owner. Should there be contentious jurisdiction, it is for the purchaser to demonstrate his good faith, but for the claimant to establish the purchaser's bad faith.
In their submission to the Chamber, the Federal Council noted that five years is too short a time for claims on cultural property. Given the lack of import and export controls in Switzerland, and the fact that once five years are up one can become the legal owner of stolen property if good faith can be proved, it was noted that international art smugglers may be using Switzerland as an "intermediary deposit." Items with dubious provenance could be stored in the country for five years, at the end of which time they can be freely sold in other countries such as the U.S. or Great Britain.
Limitation Period To Be Extended To 30 Years From Five
The time limit of five years on the acquisition and restitution of stolen cultural property has been extended in the draft legislation to 30 years; this change will entail a modification of the terms set out in the Swiss civil code. The maximum time is limited, however, by the principle according to which the law can be applied for one year from the moment when the owner of the property becomes aware of the location of the property and the identity of the unlawful holder. The law is designed to control the import of cultural property into Switzerland, and its transit, export and repatriation; it also sets out new regulations relating to the marketing of such property, and it gives the State from which the property has been illegally exported the right to prosecute the possessor of this property in Switzerland and to have the works in question repatriated. The draft law also states that the property can be transferred only when the person who proposes to transfer it is in a position to presume that it has not been stolen, miscarried or otherwise removed against the wishes of its owner, or imported illegally. No less important is the principle which states that anyone who has in good faith acquired cultural property illegally imported into Switzerland and is ordered to return the property, has the right to adequate compensation based on the purchase price and on the expenditure incurred in the safeguarding and conservation of the property. Compensation shall be paid by the government involved; until the compensation is paid, the person obliged to return the property has the right to retain it.
Neither this new law nor 1970 Unesco Convention will have retrospective effect. The ratification of the convention and of the national legislation required to implement it has been approved in the great majority of cantons, and by cultural and ecclesiastical organizations. Also in support are the Socialists and the Christian Democrats, while those opposing the new law include the Radicals and the Populists. Dealers, collectors and museums are also strongly opposed to both initiatives. It will still take some time before the new legislation is finally approved and implemented. Once it goes into effect, it will make the transfer of art and artifacts in Switzerland more transparent, and it will deal a severe blow to international art smuggling networks. http://www.forbes.com/