http://museum-security.org/
securma@xs4all.nl
SITE MAP
June 22, 1999
CONTENTS:
- Tools for researching major art works (Jonathan Sazonoff)
- RE: FM200 Fire Suppressant (David Wexler)
- RE: FM200 Fire Suppressant (Jack Watts)
- Britain ready to thwart EU plans for art sales levy
- Ancient Kosovo bazaar reduced to ashes
- product information: EIDETIC art identification system
- Vandals Target Olympic Museum After Sion Lose Bid
- (another motive to make haste with online presence of stolen art database?? T.C.): Art dealers' new opportunity; Amazon-Sotheby's deal will go beyond niche
- Four ancient Cambodian temples pillaged
From: Jonathan Sazonoff saz@kwom.com
Organization: SAZ PRODUCTIONS, INC.
Subject: Tools for researching major art works
Dear Subscribers,
Some of you might, at one time, need to investigate a painting. Here are some internet resources that might be of help on those occasions. Major artists have been the studied by critics and art historians. To wit, the idea of, a catalogue raisonne or list of artists works. See this note from the UCLA Art library to help fix this idea in your head. http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/arts/referenc/raison.htm
Currently, there aren't many catalogue raisonnes that on- line. But have hope, these are still the early days of the internet. Here are two current examples: The Van Gogh Information Gallery http://www.vangoghgallery.com
The Rembrandt project http://www.veritus.com/rembrandt/paintings.htm
Next, the Getty has some marvelous resources. First to identify an artist, in terms of "who's who" a valuable tool is the union list of artists http://shiva.pub.getty.edu/ulan_browser
Additionally, the Getty Provenance Index can yield some very useful information. http://piedi.getty.edu
And finally, there are a host of art history resources on the web. If you want to see the works of "major artists" several of the better resources are:
Web Gallery of Art - Frame Version
http://gallery.euroweb.hu/index1.html
Art Masterpiece Collection - Jim's Fine Art Collection
http://www.spectrumvoice.com/art/index.html
CGFA- Carol Gerten's Fine Art- A Virtual Art Museum
http://cgfa.kelloggcreek.com
Hope you find this information of interest,
Jonathan Sazonoff
Pres. Saz Prod., Inc.
www.saztv.com
Contributing US Ed.
Museum Security Network
www.museum-security.org/saz.html
From: David Wexler david@hollywoodvaults.com
Organization: Hollywood Vaults, Inc.
Subject: RE: FM200 Fire Suppressant
The following is a brief overview of the Halon replacement fire suppression gases which can put out fires in a safe, clean and rapid manner:
HALON being phased out due to its ozone eroding potential. Not yet banned but no longer being made. Recycled gas is available with some 10 million pounds remaining in the U.S.
FM-200 made by Great Lakes Chemical Corp is perhaps the closet to a Halon "drop-in" gas. I will work in Halon tanks but requires additional storage tanks and will require larger pipes and discharge nozzles. It takes 1.7 times the volume of gas than Halon. MF-200 works by cooling and chemical reaction.
It does not deplete oxygen. It does produce harmful decomposition gases when it hits open flame, as does Halon. It has an atmospheric lifetime of 35 years (Halon 1301=100 yrs). Installed cost in the U.S. is about $3.00 per cubic foot of protected space. Recharge cost is about $0.93 per pound. INERGEN made by Ansul Corp. works be reducing oxygen levels too low to support combustion, about 12 percent.
Not too low to support human life, but CO2 it added to help the body absorb more oxygen. Inergen is made up of three common elements, Nitrogen, Argon and CO2. Its atmospheric lifetime is zero. Uses a higher storage pressure and more storage tanks than Halon and has a high-pressure discharge. Installed cost in the U.S. is about $3.50 per cubic foot of protected space. Recharge cost is about $0.37 per pound. Does not need an air-tight room, like the other gases.
FE-13 made by DuPont works by cooling and chemical reaction. It requires special high-pressure storage cylinders and high pressure pipe. Can be use in high ceiling application and in low temperature environments. The gas is a Teflon byproduct. It is non toxic. It has an atmospheric lifetime of 280 years. Installed cost in the U.S. is about $3.15 per cubic foot of protected space. Recharge cost is about $0.60 per pound.
Additional information can be found at the FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEMS ASSOCIATION's web site at http://www.podi.com/fssa.
Here at HOLLYWOOD VAULTS we use only Halon fire suppression systems and hand-held Halon fire extinguishers throughout the entire building, not only in the vault rooms. We feel it is important to protect electrical rooms, phone rooms, elevator machine rooms, janitorial closets and storage rooms, rest rooms and offices, stairwells, hallways and lobbies. In most facilities these are the areas where fires are likely to start, more than in the carefully controlled and monitored vault rooms. That's just our opinion and design philosophy.
Caveat: Data and opinions are from an end-user and facility operator and not a Fire Suppression Systems professional.
--
David Wexler, Pres, HOLLYWOOD VAULTS Inc
Preservation-Quality Storage
742 Seward Street, Hollywood CA USA 90038
323.461.6464, 800.569.5336
Mailto:david@hollywoodvaults.com
http://www.hollywoodvaults.com
From: Jack Watts firesafe@middlebury.net
Organization: Fire Safety Institute
Subject: Re: JUNE 20, 1999 Sturt Park - FM200
Stuart - You need to talk with a fire protection engineer. There are several good ones in NZ. I recommend Caldwell Consulting Ltd ccfire.co.nz and have forwarded them your message. You may also want to talk to the people at BRANZ.
-- Jack Watts
-------------------------------------------------------------
John M. Watts, Jr., Ph.D., Director
Fire Safety Institute, P.O. Box 674, Middlebury, VT 05753 USA
voice/fax: (802) 462-2663 email: firesafe@middlebury.net
URL: http://middlebury.net/firesafe/
-------------------------------------------------------------
Daily Telegraph London Britain ready to thwart EU plans for art sales levy
By Will Bennett, Art Sales Correspondent
A EUROPEAN Union attempt to impose an artists' resale rights levy on Britain's £2.2 billion-a-year art market looks likely to be resisted successfully at a crucial meeting today.
There had been fears that the EU's Internal Market Council would force Britain to adopt the droit de suite levy. But Germany, which holds the EU presidency until the end of this month, hinted on Friday that it would not force a vote on droit de suite at the meeting in Luxembourg. This change of heart follows intensive lobbying by Britain and the British Art Market Federation which represents auction houses and dealers.
Droit de suite, which already operates across most of the EU, is a sliding scale levy the seller pays to the artist or the artist's family for 70 years after their death. Its supporters, including many British artists, argue that the originators should get a share of the rising value of their work. Opponents say that the British art market would lose 5,000 jobs and £68 million in revenue a year because the levy would drive business away to the United States and Switzerland. Until recently, only Ireland, Holland and Luxembourg supported the British position. But now Austria may join the levy's opponents which would leave Britain only two votes short of the number needed to block the measure.
Neil Smith, secretary of the British Art Market Federation said: "Austria is now being much more supportive and may well back our view that the present directive is not acceptable. There is a chance that the Germans will agree to further talks. We are much more hopeful than we were a month ago." The current EU directive is a watered down version of the original droit de suite proposal.
Ancient Kosovo bazaar reduced to ashes
By Douglas Hamilton
(........................................)
Rampaging Serb troops and armed civilians turned on Cana's section of Djakovica two days after they had torched its 400-year-old bazaar, said to be one of the finest of its kind in the Balkans.
The intricate warren of small, wooden-fronted boutiques, workshops and tiny cafes, built around a mosque that opened in 1594, went up like a burning haystack after the first night of NATO bombing on March 24. It now lies in ashes, the tottering scorched brick walls seemingly held together by fried electrical power cables and set in whorls of melted glass.
Kosovo Albanian owners who tried to rescue their property were shot. ``The Serbs were outside on the street, running up and down and screaming and swearing and shooting,'' said Bujar Xerxe. ``It would have been certain death to go outside.''
The pogrom that was visited on the Old Quarter was watched by NATO surveillance craft. ``We saw a spreading ring of fire around the mosque,'' a U.S. military source said at the time. ``We figure they were trying to make it look like NATO had bombed the mosque.'' Faton Haxhiavdyli, 31, saw the ring of fire from the inside. His roomy house was burnt to a fine crisp, like scores of others in virtually every street of the district.
(.....................................)
The bazaar used to be one of Kosovo's few tourist attractions. ``But never mind, this is the best view in town,'' one ethnic Albanian said, pointing to the blasted concrete shell of a five-storey police building hit by NATO bombs.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.
Product information: the MSN is not responsible for the content of the following message.
http://www.euronova.co.uk
EIDETIC art identification system.
A uniquely coded, minature, security chip covertly installed, by approved installers, means that treasured art and antiques can be rapidly identified. On installation the code number is logged on a secure database. If your possessions should ever be lost, the identification system will aid the authorities in tracing them. This is a real deterrent to the art thief who knows offloading the painting will be so much more difficult and improves the chances of your property being returned tenfold. The system is being sold across Europe and property identification is supported by all major police forces.
Even if your collection is modest, the extra peace of mind having your art and antiques Eideticked, plus possible insurance discounts make the system good value for money. There is or soon will be an approved installer in your area.
If you run a gallery or museum, Eidetic can help track art movements in the building or around the globe. And now there is software available as well.
EIDETIC picture alarm.
Especially helpful to "high street" galleries where opportunist theft is prevalent. Once set, attempting to move the painting will set off the in-built alarm. It is simple to attach (covertly), disable and no wiring.
Vandals Target Olympic Museum After Sion Lose Bid
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - Supporters of the Sion Olympic bid took out their anger at losing the 2006 Winter Games to Turin Saturday by vandalizing the Olympic museum.
Shortly after International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Juan Antonio Samaranch made the announcement that Turin had won early Saturday, a statue in the Olympic museum's garden in Lausanne was defaced.
Vandals spray-painted the word 'mafia' on the statue, with one letter inside each of the Olympic rings, and scrawled 'Torino 2006' underneath. Flags with anti-IOC slogans were found scattered across the museum's grounds.
The IOC said it would increase security at the museum and at its headquarters, also located in Lausanne less than 100 kms from Sion, which had been considered the favorite to win the right to host the Games.
Protesters are expected to demonstrate in front of the IOC headquarters Sunday, voicing their outrage over the decision that has sparked bitter anger across Switzerland.
(another motive to make haste with online presence of stolen art database?? T.C.):
Art dealers' new opportunity; Amazon-Sotheby's deal will go beyond niche
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
moderator's comment:
Wouldn't it be nice if both Amazon and Sotheby's, and all other (online) auctioneers committed themselves to make a link from their online catalogues to the -not yet existing- online database of stolen art? The Interpol/Jouve undertaking I sent you information about yesterday is a giant step in the right direction. However finally there must be an online database, updated day-by-day in the same manner as Amazon is updating it's one million items database for some two years now. I know there are plans to create an extensive online database of stolen art. In fact there are already some minor online databases of stolen art. The only way to really fight the trade in stolen art and the only way to disable buyers and dealers to hide behind a facade of ignorance is free and easy accessibillity to information about stolen art.
Ton Cremers
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
By Stephanie O'Brien, CBS MarketWatch
PHILADELPHIA (CBS.MW) -- The partnership between Sotheby's and Amazon.com is sure to change the way art dealers do business, boosting Web traffic to galleries that supply Sotheby's with art and collectibles.
Seattle-based Amazon -- already with e-tailing interests ranging from books to sundries to antiques -- said Wednesday it's buying a $45 million stake in Sotheby's Holdings in an effort to broaden its offerings to include more-expensive merchandise with a guarantee of authenticity.
"It's a tremendous opportunity," said Jay Arnold, a partner and owner of Philadelphia-based gallery Works on Paper, who's had a professional relationship with Sotheby's for about seven years. "It creates the ability to reach millions of people. It also gives them the ability to educate themselves, start small and build" a collection, he said.
Now millions of people will have the opportunity to see what's until now been well-known in a tiny niche," Arnold said. The average price of a print from Arnold's gallery, which specializes in contemporary prints from the 1960s on, is about $2,500. Prints range from about $1,000 to $20,000, he said.
Arnold believes the partnership will increase traffic significantly and will foster greater communication between buyers and sellers. "This will be a huge opportunity for us as a gallery and a seller -- and also as a buyer," he said.
Arnold said that Sotheby's provides reassurance to sellers, too, because of its ability to guarantee authenticity. "Sotheby's gave me a level of comfort that allowed me to peel $2,500 out of my pocket to pay for something," Arnold said of his initial dealings with the auctioneer.
"Other galleries and other Sotheby's associates will share inventory. The new partnership will allow dealers to see inventory, buy inventory and sell inventory," Arnold said. It will also enable dealers to offer works they might not have in the past, because they didn't fit with the gallery's focus or couldn't be stored, for example. "We can broaden the base of the inventory we might bring into the gallery," he said. Is he concerned about keeping up with demand? "No way," Arnold said. "Turning more inventory faster gives us the ability to buy more."
Stephanie O'Brien is a reporter for CBS MarketWatch.
CNews Four ancient Cambodian temples pillaged
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- Looters have pillaged four ancient temples in Cambodia's fabled Angkor complex in recent weeks, stealing 800-year-old statues and chipping away delicate reliefs, a newspaper reported today.
Ten people, including two police officers, have been arrested since late May in connection with the looting, and authorities suspect that at least 30 more people are involved in an artifact smuggling ring, the Cambodia Daily reported.
"They live around the Angkor area. But it is hard for police to arrest them, because they lack proof," Pich Sokhin, a deputy governor of Siem Reap, was quoted as saying.
The newspaper reported that more than a dozen pieces of ancient art have been seized in the arrests, including 10 statue heads, a full statue and a bas-relief carving of an elephant. The artifacts were robbed from four temples.
Scores of stone temples are scattered in the northern jungle complex, built during the Angkor empire, which ruled Cambodia and parts of present-day Thailand and Laos between the 9th to 13th centuries. The biggest temple, Angkor Wat, is one of the world's great monuments and is the national symbol of Cambodia.
The Angkor ruins have long been easy pickings for thieves and corrupt officials and soldiers. The pillaging was aided by the chaos of decades of civil war, which sputtered to a halt only last year. A special unit of 400 police patrols the sprawling temple complex, but authorities admit that thieves -- many of whom are members of the provincial police and military -- can slip through security.
Angkorian art is generally smuggled to Bangkok in neighboring Thailand, where antique shops are known to sell pieces that are looted-to-order.
Main Indexpage