I would recommend the advice and support of specialists such as paper and book conservators. More damage could be done when there is no proper strategy for recovering the material. One "book" (sorry if the sound of this word hurts..) that I would recommend is the follwoing: - Mary E. Candee and Richard Casagrande, ed., Prep Planning for Response & Emergency Preparedness. A Disaster Preparedness/Recovery Resource Manual, Austin, Texas Association of Museums, 1993. Best wishes for good recovery, Fotinie Efstratiadou-Wisner
Austrian Decision Ends Hopes for Restitution on Klimt Works
By DIANE HAITHMAN, Times Staff Writer
A decision by the Austrian government this week dashed the hopes of a Los Angeles resident that restitution might finally be made to her family for art plundered by the Nazis during World War II. The collection included several important paintings by artist Gustav Klimt, and has been valued at $100 million. After a decision in December by Austria's parliament providing for the return of Jewish-owned artworks seized by the Nazis, Maria Altmann, 83, had hoped that she and other heirs might finally receive some compensation for the art collection that once belonged to her late uncle, onetime sugar magnate Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, who lost his business to the Nazis and lived in exile in Zurich. The works are now housed in various Austrian museums. The most valuable item in the collection is Klimt's "The Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer," 1907, one of the artist's celebrated "gold" paintings. Adele Bloch-Bauer, Ferdinand's wife, was a patron of Klimt. The painting is thought to be second in importance only to Klimt's ubiquitously reproduced painting "The Kiss." On Monday, the Beirat, an advisory board to the Austrian minister charged with returning the plundered property, issued a statement saying that there is no possibility of restitution under the given law to Bloch-Bauer's heirs for five Klimt paintings--two portraits and three landscapes--now housed in the Austrian Gallery in Vienna. The family will get back 16 drawings by Klimt and 19 pieces of classical Viennese porcelain; those works have an estimated total value of between $500,000 and $1 million. The future of an additional Klimt painting remains undecided. Los Angeles attorney E. Randol Schoenberg, who represents Altmann, said that the Austrians' decision to keep the paintings is based on wishes expressed in writing by Ferdinand and Adele Bloch-Bauer that the artworks should one day be donated to Austrian museums. Schoenberg says that since those wishes were expressed before World War II, they would clearly have changed following the Nazi persecution of the Jews. "To argue that Ferdinand and Adele would have wanted this is to be a Holocaust denier," he said. Schoenberg said he believes that, in Altmann's case, the law is being "selectively applied" to allow the most valuable of the family's artworks seized by the Nazis to remain in Austria. "The hope was very high, initially, that restoration in Austria could lead to similar legislation throughout Europe. This development, of course, is a tremendous setback to those hopes," Schoenberg said. The December law has resulted in the return of some artworks to their original owners. In July, the Rothschild collection of Old Master paintings, as well as coins and armor, valued at more than $25 million, was returned to heirs in the United States and Austria, and is to be auctioned July 8 by Christie's in London, according to Schoenberg. Altmann, reached on vacation in Vancouver, called the decision about the Klimt paintings "infuriating." "Everything on which they based their decision is wrong, and a lie," she said. "I wouldn't be so furious if they had based it on something that was right. But what they say is wrong, false and devious." Austrian consul general to Los Angeles Werner Brandstetter said that he would have no comment.
Copyright 1999 Los Angeles Times http://www.jouve-diffusion.com/
Information about the "Interpol stolen works of art" CD-ROM is available at: http://www.jouve-diffusion.com/
No Yolk ... the Hunt is On for Missing Faberge Eggs
Esteemed Faberge Expert, Dr. Geza von Habsburg, and QVC Seek Lost Eggs From The Faberge Imperial Easter Egg Collection WEST CHESTER, Pa., July 1 /PRNewswire/ --
Renowned art historian and author, Dr. Geza von Habsburg, has partnered with the world's e-commerce leader, QVC, to launch a nationwide egg hunt to locate the eight missing Faberge eggs from the Imperial Easter Egg collection. The Imperial Easter Eggs are worth millions of dollars -- with the last egg selling for $5.6 MM in Geneva, Switzerland in 1994. Dr. von Habsburg and QVC are asking the American public to submit photographs of any artifact that they believe to be from the House of Faberge for Dr. von Habsburg's evaluation. This egg hunt has been organized to correspond with QVC's currently running exhibit, ``The Fine Art of Faberge: A Private Collection of Inspirations,'' of which Dr. von Habsburg is the guest curator.
(................................................................)
SOURCE: QVC, Inc.
Ancient Greek Wreath Disappears
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - An ancient wreath of gold olive leaves disappeared from a museum on the Greek island of Evia, the Culture Ministry said Tuesday. Officials at the Halkida Archaeological Museum learned Friday that the ancient wreath was missing from its showcase. There was no sign of a break-in at the building, and other objects in the showcase were not touched, local news reports said. Interpol has been alerted, the Culture Ministry said. The missing wreath is made of 138 thin gold leaves and measures seven inches in diameter. It dates from the Hellenistic period spanning 330-30 B.C., and was discovered in 1997 in the tomb of a man believed to have been an athlete on Evia, about 55 miles north of Athens.
Arrests made in Calgary theft-to-order scheme
Calgary Herald
Police investigating a suspected theft-to-order scheme involving high-end artifacts and art works have arrested two men. Some stolen property was recovered in a downtown suite where the two were taken into custody Wednesday. Nine shops in the city's downtown core have been the target of break-ins since June 24. Police suspect the objects stolen -- including sculptures, carved ornaments, decorative lamps, Persian rugs and paintings -- may have been taken by thieves under instructions to take them. Prior to the arrests, two city police officers in the bicycle unit were almost run down as they approached a suspicious car in a southwest parking lot. "We ordered the occupants of the vehicle to stop,"said Const. Ken Squirrell. "But they matted (floored it) and hit me with the hood of the car." Squirrell said he was able to anticipate the blow and minimized the effects of the impact. Witnesses watched as the two men ditched their vehicle in an alley near 7th Avenue and 10th Street S.W., before running to an apartment building where they were found in a suite. Charges are pending against the two suspects in at least one of the unsolved break-ins. Det. Mike Belliveau said the break-ins appear to be the result of a demand for the items. "From all the thieves I've dealt with over the years, nobody has the taste or the appreciation for those types of things. Most are not into art," said Belliveau. "You don't go into a drug house and find huge sculptures in the front foyer." Lorraine Webster, whose family-run gallery on 11th Avenue S.W. was hit last week said that days earlier a customer was in the store taking notes around the pieces of artwork. He left when approached by gallery staff. Three sculptures by a B.C. artist were stolen.
Ex-FBI agent asks inmate for help on Gardner artwork
By Stephen Kurkjian, Globe Staff, 07/01/99
In the latest twist in the attempt to solve the world's costliest art heist, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has recently hired a former top FBI agent who believes an imprisoned antiques dealer may hold the key for securing the return of the artworks. According to letters obtained by the Globe, Larry A. Potts - the former head of the FBI's criminal division who was involved in the bureau's disastrous siege at Ruby Ridge, Idaho - was hired by the museum in April. One of his first moves: a polite, respectful letter to William P. Youngworth last month urging him to help crack the case once and for all. ''It is clear to me, as it is to those associated with the museum, that you remain the key to bringing this to a successful resolution,'' Potts wrote Youngworth. ''You have the capability, with my help, to put this behind you and be a hero.'' It was unclear whether Potts's words signal a break in the nine-year-old case or an attempt to get Youngworth to talk by appealing to his considerable ego. Potts did not return a phone call and a museum spokeswoman declined to comment. In his reply last week, Youngworth, who is serving a two- to three-year sentence in MCI-Shirley on unrelated charges, agreed to help, but indicated that it wouldn't come cheap. ''Yes, I would be delighted to help you and the Gardner Museum recover their former property,'' Youngworth wrote on June 21. ''Kindly remit $50 million dollars U.S. and a signed immunity agreement issued by the Attorney General of the United States.'' By yesterday, however, Youngworth had toned down his rhetoric. He released a statement that praised the museum for hiring Potts and for contacting him directly instead of through the federal authorities, whom he grew to distrust during their 1997 negotiations. In the past, federal prosecutors and FBI agents were openly doubtful that Youngworth actually had access to the stolen paintings and felt he lacked credibility. ''It is clear from the fact of Mr. Potts' letter that I am credible and can effectuate the artworks' return,'' Youngworth's statement said. Still, Youngworth - who is scheduled for a parole hearing this summer - would not say whether he intends to cooperate. Two years ago, Youngworth made headlines by contending that he could solve the crime and secure the return of the 13 pieces of art that were stolen from the museum in a daring, early-morning robbery. Though he said he was not involved in the March 18, 1990, theft at the museum, Youngworth insisted he knew where the paintings were and could broker their return through his contacts in the criminal underworld. In exchange, Youngworth wanted a deal: the $5 million reward posted by the museum and law enforcement's agreement to drop pending criminal charges against him. He also demanded they release his friend, Myles Connor Jr., a skilled art thief with a long criminal record who was serving time in federal prison. But the US attorney's office in Boston and state authorities wouldn't meet Youngworth's demands. They also suspected that Connor may have known who was responsible for the Gardner heist. Youngworth then angrily charged that the impasse proved that law enforcement hadn't placed a high enough priority on the artwork's return. The talks with Youngworth broke down for good after the bureau tested microscopic paint chips purportedly from either of two rare Rembrandt paintings stolen in the heist. The results indicated that the chips could not have come from either work. Youngworth later claimed that the chips might have been from a Vermeer, which also had been stolen from the Gardner. Within months, he was serving time for possession of a stolen car and operating it without registration. Potts, who is vice president of Investigative Group International Inc., a Washington-based private detective firm, retired from the FBI in August 1997. His final two jobs with the bureau were as head of its criminal division and as second in command of its Boston office. During the 1990s, he was placed on administrative leave for more than a year while the Justice Department investigated his role in the deadly siege at Ruby Ridge, which ended in the deaths of three people, including the unarmed wife of white supremacist Randy Weaver and US Marshall William F. Deegan of Quincy. No charges were filed as a result of the probe. On June 9, Potts visited Youngworth in prison, but Youngworth refused to meet with him, according to the letter Potts wrote to Youngworth the following week. Potts explained that the museum had hired him to work on the case and he was sensitive to Youngworth's position. Potts did not specify why, considering Youngworth's credibility problems with investigators, he and museum officials believe that Youngworth is still central to the case. ''While, as many people are quick to point out, there is some discrepancy in the evidence concerning your knowledge of the whereabouts of the stolen items, I believe there are a couple of very strong indications that you have, or at least had at one time, access to those paintings,'' Potts wrote. The letter also states: ''I appreciate your need for assurance that you will not be at risk by assisting in the return of the stolen art from the Gardner Museum and I assume that you would have other expectations as well, to include financial. There is a high degree of probability that I can help you.'' To prove his good faith, Potts included a copy of a letter by Anne Hawley, director of the Gardner Museum, confirming that Potts had been hired. ''As you know, it has been almost ten years since the theft and we are most anxious to do everything possible to obtain the return of our treasures so they can again be part of the cultural life of our city, nation and the world,'' Hawley wrote. Investigative Group International is one of the country's most prominent private investigative firms, specializing in sensitive cases in both business and crime. Headed by Terry Lenzner, a lawyer with Boston roots, the firm has worked for the museum investigating the theft on and off since 1990. Since being brought into the case in April, Potts told Youngworth, he had spent ''a considerable amount of time'' reviewing the case.
This story ran on page A01 of the Boston Globe on 07/01/99. c Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.
