From: "Jackson, Joy" JJACKSON@city.london.on.ca
We constantly struggle with the balancing the cost of insurance protection VS utilizing that money elsewhere. Any comments from other galleries on their rationale for choosing which items to insure, what types of insurance to buy and the amount of insurance to purchase would be appreciated. Joy Jackson Risk Manager City of London phone 519-661-5415 fax 519-661-4631
Mood of criminal intent at museum
+++++++++++++++++ Psst . . . Need historic antiques or artifacts at rock-bottom prices? No problem, just get in touch with certain shady characters working at the National Museum and they will arrange to have the piece of your choice stolen to order. That seems to be the modus operandi at the museum where apparently countless pieces of the nation’s artistic heritage have been flitted way by thieves working from the inside. Just last week an ivory Santo Niño was removed from its glass display case and spirited away in broad daylight. And days earlier three near priceless Ming dynasty blue and white porcelain pieces - bequeathed to the museum after they were excavated by a team of French archeologists working down south - disappeared from a vault just 24 hours after they were placed there. Such is the mood of criminal intent at the National Museum that a high-ranking official appointed there by the Arroyo government, who brought in the National Bureau of Investigation to do a top-to-bottom sweep of the place to flush out the in-house crooks, has been receiving death threats and now moves around town with bodyguards.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/abs_news_body.asp?section=Opinion&OID=5190
Loss Of Artefacts May Diminish Role Of Museums
There is growing concern over the steady loss of priceless materials from Kenya's national museums and archives. Officials confirm that trafficking in material culture is a multimillion industry, second only to trade in narcotics. They say the risk of the museums becoming irrelevant research institutions is high as the loss of the artefacts is likely to cause gaps in history and archaeology.
By Pedro Shipepechero National Museums and archives in Kenya are losing antiquities and historical documents to foreign museums and galleries. A curator at the National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, said recently that the flight of the artefacts from the country to Belgium, France and the US had over the years depleted Kenya of hundreds of artefacts. A former head of the department of ethnography and an anthropology lecturer at the University of Nairobi said that historical material "had been spirited out of the museums by senior museums staff and civil servants". Besides selling national antiquities, he said, the syndicate buys objects from Ethiopia, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo for sale abroad in total contravention of the international convention on illegal trafficking in historical and material culture. The director-general of the National Museums of Kenya, George Abungu, has denied these charges, terming them mere speculation. Abungu, however, acknowledged that trafficking in illegal material culture in Kenya was in the increase as result of the absence of legislation to criminalise the trade in cultural objects.
Despite the director's denials, it was established that the museum still keeps about 100 pieces of Congolese material cultural objects in the department of ethnography. A senior official irregularly bought the objects in the strife Democratic Republic of Congo. Earlier, Swahili grave posts known as vigango were exported out of the country with the help a former official of the museum. The vigango originated at historical sites on the East African coastal regions. They were bought for US $1,300 and resold at US $30,000 a piece in Belgium, a source said. It was not possible to establish the quantity of the graveposts that were said to have originated from Lamu in Kenya, Tanga in Tanzania and Zanzibar. Abungu denied being aware of the trafficking in illegal material culture at the museum, but he acknowledged that Kenya was a transit country for antiquities from countries in the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa regions that have in the past 10 years been war theatres. "Trafficking in material culture is multimillion industry, second only to trade in narcotics," said Abungu, who is also the president of the International Standing Committee on Illegal Trafficking in Material Culture. The risk of the museums becoming irrelevant research institutions is high as the loss resulting from the plunder of the artefacts is likely to cause gaps in history and archaeology, said the curator.
Perturbed by the wanton plunder of the artefacts, some donors are said to have withdrawn support for projects they were funding. Early this year, Ford Foundation withdrew future funding of the African Peace Museums project, citing discrepancies in accounts books. In a detailed account of how ethnographic material are stolen out of the museums, the curator said that once they are identified, senior members of staff use subordinate staff to ferry them out. Where heads of department must clear the objects, they are hushed up with favours. In one such instance, a senior researcher at the museum was asked to present a report on a Peace and Conflict project in Ohio in 1997 on behalf of the director. The researcher was given US $2,000 and travelled in a British Airways Club Class. Reports about some of these irregularities have been made to Kenya's Office of President and Criminal Investigation Department CID. Such reports include claims regarding the importation, during 1997, of "hundreds of artefacts mainly from eastern Congo coming to the Nairobi (National) Museum"
In another report, a researcher said he requisitioned and received KSh60,000 (US $770) for a project, but was never asked to account for the money. For his "obstinacy" the researcher lost KShs 720,000 (US $9,230) he was entitled to in allowances for a three-month Ford Foundation project he was heading. However, when required to write a favourable report on how the money was spent, the researcher was sent a cheque of KShs 150,000 (US $1,923) "with a promise of more money following soon once my report to Ford Foundation was completed". A non-committal Abungu said that he could "comment on issues that touch on the integrity of a former senior employee (of the museum)". He said that if there were any fraud at the museum, "this was before I was appointed the director-general. I should not be held responsible for someone else's sins". A lead provided by museum sources linked the Ministry of Water headquarters in Nairobi, which was used to "warehouse" the materials in transit by former senior museum staff.
According to a curator who insisted on anonymity, the theft of antiquities takes place soon after collecting them from the field and usually before they are accessioned. The former head of the ethnography department said that stocking museums with material illicitly acquired from other countries is likely to land Kenya into problems because the country is a signatory to the convention on illegal trafficking in cultural material and documents. Among other things, the convention requires that the transfer of artefacts from museum to another be undertaken with the consent of the institution where the material originated. A researcher at the museum, Mzalendo Kibunja said that Kenya had ratified the convention and therefore trafficking in antiquities was legal. The curator confirmed that the Ford Foundation suspended the KShs16 million (US $205,000) annual funding when the fraud involving senior staff at the museums. A Christian organisation that was also funding the traditional conflict resolution project withdrew from the initiative when it became public that a senior staff at the museum used the money to buy artefacts from museums in Bukavu, Kivu and Bunia in eastern Congo for a song and later resold them in Europe. "The trafficking in antiquities is immoral especially for Africa, which has been demanding Europe and the US to repatriate the cultural objects that were stolen during the colonial era," the curator said. During the period when Ethiopia was at war with Eritrea, insiders at the museum revealed that artefacts with high value on the international market were smuggled from Ethiopia with the help of fleeing refugees from the two countries. They were then delivered to a link-person, who in turn ferried them to Nairobi. http://www.wfn.org/2002/10/msg00057.html
Charges dropped in library case
NICHOLE MONROE BELL, Staff Writer
ROCK HILL - Charges have been dropped against a Rock Hill public library employee who was accused of stealing donated library books and selling them on the Internet for a profit. Phyllis Davis, the library's public relations director, said she was grateful prosecutors dropped the charges against her. She and her lawyer, Thomas McKinney, questioned why police didn't do a more thorough investigation before filing charges.
full story: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/local/4201173.htm
Florida marine explorers reach agreement with Britain to try to recover gold-laden ship
Sun Oct 6,10:02 PM ET (AP)
TAMPA, Florida - A U.S. salvage company has struck a deal to try to recover what may be the richest shipwreck ever: a British warship laden with gold and silver potentially worth an estimated $4 billion. A storm sank the HMS Sussex in 1694 off Gibraltar in the Mediterranean Sea, killing most of the 500 men aboard. Its treasure was intended to be a political payoff to Spain, an ally during Britain's conflict with France. Odyssey Marine Exploration's 20-year deal with Britain allows it to claim a share of any booty recovered. By international law, the 157-foot (47-meter) Sussex and its cargo belong to its home country because it was a warship. The project will begin next year. Tampa-based Odyssey will spend three to six months using robotic vehicles to explore an area a half-mile deep where company researchers in 1998 found what is believed to be the Sussex. Experts in marine salvage and history say the public-private agreement could be a new model for locating and salvaging shipwrecks — one that values archaeology and the cultural value of wrecks as much as simple treasure hunting. Odyssey is covering the initial costs, which could be more than $5 million. Odyssey would claim 80 percent of the first $45 million made from selling coins from the ship. The next $455 million would be split evenly between the company and Britain, which would get 60 percent of any additional proceeds.
Italy to loan Greece 'lost' antiquity
ROME, Italy -- Italy says it will return a fragment of the 5th century B.C. Parthenon Marbles to Greece.
The return of part of the statue of Peitho, goddess of persuasion and seduction, could take place within weeks, officials say. The fragment, currently held in a museum in Palermo, Sicily, depicts Peitho's foot peeking out from under her elaborate tunic. It was originally located on the eastern side of the Parthenon in Athens. It was purchased by the University of Palermo between 1818 and 1820 from the widow of Robert Fagan, the British consul for Sicily and Malta. It's not known how Fagan, an amateur archaeologist, acquired the piece. Italy's offer to lend the fragment to Greece for 99 years could reopen the controversy over ownership of the Parthenon Marbles, including the famed Elgin Marbles. The statues are a series of sculptures in a frieze that once adorned the upper sections of the Parthenon. The bulk of the statues were excavated by Lord Elgin in 1806 and sold to the British Museum in London in 1816, where they are on display. Other pieces of the Parthenon frieze, carved by Phidias in the 5th century B.C., are disseminated throughout various European museums. Greek authorities are hoping to reassemble the frieze in time for the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Greek Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos has said that Greece would accept a long-term loan of the Elgin Marbles from the British Museum. But the museum and British government have opposed such a move. Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi may hand the fragment to Greek authorities during his state visit next month. Ciampi has spearheaded the initiative to return the fragment, although final approval will be necessary from the autonomous Sicilian government, which has sovereignty over the island's cultural heritage.
Staff at the Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum in Palermo, which houses the fragment, oppose handing it over. Agata Villa, director of the classic archaeology department at the museum, said: "We are always ready to lend exhibits or to allow copies to be made, but this kind of initiative can only impoverish our museum and deprive us of a piece that is part of our collection's identity. "I believe this to be an anti-cultural initiative. An archaeological find is valuable only when it's part of the history and identity of the museum." http://asia.cnn.com/