Archive for December, 2010
Thursday, December 30th, 2010
George W. Bush's utterly mendacious ghostwritten memoir contains only one mention of the looting of the Iraq National Museum. It comes in the context of a rare admission that "there was one important contingency for which we had not adequately prepared":
In the weeks after liberation, Baghdad descended into a state ...
Posted in Mailing list reports | Comments Off
Wednesday, December 29th, 2010
Sweden: 3 men convicted of unnoticed art theft
By ASSOCIATED PRESS-Associated Press8:03 a.m., Wednesday, December 29, 2010
STOCKHOLM (AP) - A Swedish court has convicted three men of stealing a valuable painting by Edvard Munch from a museum that didn't realize it was missing.The Malmo District Court says the men, who were ...
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Wednesday, December 29th, 2010
Sotheby's cancels sale of 'looted' Benin maskOnline protests halt auction of 'plundered' 16th-century artefact
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/sothebys-cancels-sale-of-looted-benin-mask-2171125.html
By Rob Sharp, Arts CorrespondentWednesday, 29 December 2010
Sotheby's has scrapped its February sale of a controversial £4.5m mask believed to have been looted by British forces from 19th-century West Africa.A number of private individuals contacted the auction ...
Posted in looting and illegal art traffickers | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, December 28th, 2010
http://www.krone.at/Nachrichten/Vier_Einbrueche_in_Museum_-_500.000_Euro_Schaden-Trio_festgenommen-Story-237613
Ein am Wochenende ausgeforschtes Trio hat bei insgesamt vier
Einbrüchen in diesem Jahr in das Eisenbahnmuseum Strasshof an der
Nordbahn einen Schaden von 500.000 Euro verursacht. Es wurden laut
Sicherheitsdirektion Buntmetallkabel und –leitungen gestohlen. Um der
Bande das Handwerk zu legen, wurde das Gebäude von Bundesheer und
Exekutive verstärkt überwacht - am Sonntag tappten der ...
Posted in Museum thefts | Comments Off
Tuesday, December 28th, 2010
Brunner’s interest in the story was sparked by an article written by young Israeli academic Gish Amit who stumbled across books while researching his Ph.D. According to Mr Amit, the library "collected" the books from the private collections of Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in 1948.
Benny ...
Posted in books and manuscripts, library theft, Mailing list reports | Comments Off
Tuesday, December 28th, 2010
What do thieves do with art once they've stolen it? This is one of the key questions asked in this CNN interview with Chris Marinello from The Art Loss Register. Marinello states these are frequently crimes of opportunity and usually are not done with a specific buyer in mind.
Those who ...
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Tuesday, December 28th, 2010
Posted in Mailing list reports | Comments Off
Tuesday, December 28th, 2010
http://www.welt.de/print/wams/vermischtes/article11828346/Vermisst-Ein-alter-Schaedel.html
Es ist der peinlichste Diebstahl des Jahres: Mitte Januar muss das Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte einen herben Verlust melden. Der Schädel des legendären Freibeuters Klaus Störtebeker ist verschwunden - vermutlich gestohlen. Nach und nach kommen die Details ans Licht. Der Diebstahl ist erst nach einer Woche bemerkt worden. Dann verzichtet man zunächst auf die Polizei, ...
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Monday, December 27th, 2010
Cypriot Corruption Not Like PAS
Cultural Property Observer door Cultural Property Observer:
Archaeo-blogger Paul Barford has put up a story on his blog about wealthy Cypriot collectors getting their collections of antiquities looted from Northern Cyprus "legalized" by the Cypriot antiquities authority. Subsequently, these same collectors purchased materials looted from a cemetary ...
Posted in Cyprus | 1 Comment »
Sunday, December 26th, 2010
By OSAZUWA AKONEDO
Edo State Government under the leadership of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has called on the United Nations as a matter of public importance to intervene in the anticipated plans by the children of late lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry Lionel Gallwey, then Colonial Deputy Commissioner and Vice consul in the Oil Rivers Protectorate to auction the highly valued ...
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Sunday, December 26th, 2010
PARIS — At least this much is clear: the art — 271 previously unknown sketches, watercolors and collages — is indeed the work of Picasso. But despite several weeks of accusations, counterclaims and deepening investigations, the mystery at the core of the case of Picasso and the electrician seems no closer to being ...
Posted in art fraud, art theft, Art Theft General | Comments Off
Saturday, December 25th, 2010
Knokke geeft kritiek op valse Congokunst toe
Guido Gryseels, directeur van het Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika in Tervuren, reageert negatief op de omstreden tentoonstelling van de ‘Congo Collectie’, waar een loopje genomen wordt met de authenticiteit.
full text:
http://knack.rnews.be/nl/actualiteit/nieuws/cultuur/erfgoed/afrikamuseum-tervuren-bevestigt-vervalsingen-knokke/article-1194895348271.htm
Posted in fakes and forgeries | Comments Off
Thursday, December 23rd, 2010
A colleague brought to my attention Sotheby’s impending sale of yet another piece of Benin cultural patrimony. I read the announcement of the sale and was struck by its brazenness. Sotheby's is trafficking in stolen goods and it is doing so without any concern for the fact of its brazen ...
Posted in Auction Houses and stolen objects, looting and illegal art traffickers | 2 Comments »
Thursday, December 23rd, 2010
Various media, including the Art Newspaper www.theartnewspaper.com, and the Financial Times http://www.ft.com/cms have reported that Sotheby’s, the auction house in London, will be auctioning a re-discovered masterpiece of Benin art, the ivory pendant of Queen-Mother Idia, on 17th February 2011 and other Benin artefacts from the Edo people. The pendant ...
Posted in Dr. Kwame Opoku writings about looted cultural objects, Mailing list reports | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010
http://lootingmatters.blogspot.com/2010/12/medici-dossier-and-minneapolis-krater.html
Lee Rosenbaum has asked the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA) a series of key questions about the Attic red-figured krater acquired in 1983 reportedly on the recommendation of Michael Conforti ("Transparency Gap: Minneapolis Institute Refuses to Discuss Greek Hot Pot", Culturegrrl December 20, 2010). Her starting point is a letter to the New York Times by Kaywin Feldman, director of the MIA and president of the Association of Art ...
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Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010
Firefighters have tackled a blaze in the roof of Blenheim Palace.
More than 40 firefighters were called to the 18th Century country house in Woodstock, near Oxford, which sustained minimal damage.
The fire is believed to have started after staff used a flamed torch to heat pipes frozen due to the winter ...
Posted in Fire in cultural institutions | Comments Off
Friday, December 17th, 2010
Am Pranger stehen die Falschen
http://www.faz.net/s/RubBC09F7BF72A2405A96718ECBFB68FBFE/Doc~EBB41A7739BE04F5B83EB4A8F8FDE990D~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html
Es gibt noch mehr Fälschungen aus der angeblichen Sammlung Jägers als vermutet. Und die Rolle der Gutachter stellt sich anders dar, als manche Kritiker meinen.
Von Rose-Maria Gropp
Fälschung aus der Sammlung Jägers: "Liegender Akt mit Katze" von Hermann Max Pechstein in der Ausstellung "Die Jahre der Brücke ...
Posted in fakes and forgeries | Comments Off
Friday, December 17th, 2010
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-16/berlin-s-lost-treasures-resurface-at-local-flea-market-sotheby-s-new-york.html
By Catherine Hickley - Dec 15, 2010 7:00 PM ET Thu Dec 16 00:00:01 GMT 2010
"Dog With Gray Horse" by William Cole. The work was taken from Berlin by the exiled Iraqi prime minister in 1942. It was returned to Berlin's Alte Nationalgalerie in October this year and is now ...
Posted in WWII | Comments Off
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
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Posted in Mailing list reports | Comments Off
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Spain+and+Thyssen-Bornemisza+Collection+petition+US+Supreme+Court/22138
For the first time, they reveal historical evidence that they say show Lily Cassirer received full payment for allegedly Nazi-looted art at fair market value
By Martha Lufkin | Web only
Published online 15 Dec 10 (News)
The US Supreme Court has been asked to review a court ruling which allowed a lawsuit ...
Posted in WWII | Comments Off
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
The following is a friendly reminder to public and private cultural institutions and to collectors that art theft incidents traditionally peak during the winter holidays...
http://arttheftcentral.blogspot.com/2010/12/holiday-art-theft-warning.html
Posted in Mailing list reports | Comments Off
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
http://www.schwarzwaelder-bote.de/inhalt.lauterbach-bilderschwund-im-kimmich-archiv.a64df64b-52ea-4922-877c-d5bdcd8df0c3.html
Von Schwarzwälder-Bote, aktualisiert am 13.12.2010 um 21:34
Insgesamt 39 Werke des Lauterbacher Künstlers Wilhelm Kimmich sind aus der Galerie der Gemeinde über Jahre hinweg unbemerkt entwendet worden. Zwölf von ihnen konnten von der Polizei ermittelt werden.
Von Stephan Wegner
Lauterbach. In den Jahren von 1998 bis 2008 verschwanden aus dem Tresor im alten ...
Posted in insider theft | Comments Off
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
martes, 14 de diciembre de 2010
03:02 p.m.
http://www.primerahora.com/robanbastondebetancesdelmuseodelasamericas-452842.html
El pasado domingo, 12 de diciembre fue hurtado de la sala 9 del Museo de Las Américas el bastón perteneciente al prócer Ramón Emeterio Betances y propiedad del Museo de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, informó mediante comunicado de prensa María Angela López Vilella, ...
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Wednesday, December 8th, 2010
http://www.todayonline.com/BreakingNews/EDC101208-0000075/Police-nab-suspect-in-French-art-theft
MARSEILLE, France (AP) - French prosecutors say the main suspect in the theft about 30 works of art, including a Picasso, has been arrested.
The prosecutor's office in the southern French city of Marseille says the suspect in last year's theft is a 25-year-old with a police record who was arrested ...
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Monday, December 6th, 2010
Historical texts and artifacts have been plundered and are kept all over the world. Officials are trying to bring them back.
Hwang Pyung-woo sometimes lies awake at night cataloging in his mind South Korea's missing national treasures — the historic texts and stolen artifacts displayed in a Tokyo museum, a home ...
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Monday, December 6th, 2010
Washington, DC - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton presented 21 historical documents to the Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak of the Russian Federation to the United States, in a ceremony at the Russian Embassy in the nation's capital. The documents, many of them signed by czars and ...
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Monday, December 6th, 2010
A FIFTH man was remanded yesterday for six days after being implicated in the theft of religious artefacts from two Limassol churches.
A police spokesman said: “after acquiring a testimony we have proceeded to arrest a 31-year-old man, he has been remanded for six days and investigations are underway to get ...
Posted in theft religious objects | Comments Off
Monday, December 6th, 2010
AIDONE, Italy — They came in throngs. On Friday afternoon hundreds of residents from this tiny hilltop town in eastern Sicily excitedly trekked up the steep slope to the town’s archaeology museum to celebrate the return to Aidone of a treasure trove that was buried nearby some 2,200 years ago ...
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Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
Historical relics stolen from Kerala church
The theft was reported at the Holy Cross Church in Mapranam, Thrissur where thieves broke open the doors and gained entry into the sacristy.
The relics included a part of the Holy Cross on which Jesus Christ was believed to have been crucified, the blood stain ...
Posted in theft religious objects, theft reports | Comments Off
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
Today, the AP broke the news that on Saturday there was an art theft of 28 works from a moving van parked in a warehouse on the outskirts of Madrid. Among the art stolen were works by Colombian artist Fernando Botero, Spanish artists Pablo Picasso, Eduardo Chillida, Gonzalo Gonzalez, Julio ...
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Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
Artworks worth an estimated €5 million (£4.2m) have been stolen from a transport lorry in Madrid in what police described as the "biggest robbery of contemporary art in Spain" to date.
Around 30 pieces were taken, including artwork by Pablo Picasso, during transportation from galleries in Cologne, Germany to Madrid in ...
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Wednesday, December 1st, 2010
PATERSON — Three of four antique firearms stolen from the Paterson Museum a dozen years ago were recovered Monday by detectives who said the weapons had been offered for sale on the Internet.
Police in the major crimes unit recovered two Colt revolvers — a .28-caliber Colt Paterson Baby model and ...
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Wednesday, December 1st, 2010
Aus einer Ausstellungsvitrine des Tübinger Museums Schloss Hohentübingen wurden 44 antike Gold- und Silbermünzen gestohlen. Dies wurde am Montag in der Universität bekannt.
tol
Tübingen. Mitarbeiter des Aufsichtspersonals bemerkten den Verlust am vergangenen Mittwochmorgen. Aus „ermittlungstaktischen Gründen“ hatten Polizei und Universität den Diebstahl jedoch noch nicht öffentlich mitgeteilt. Die Diebe hatten es ...
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