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July 9, 1999

CONTENTS:

- Thais crack down on unscrupulous antique dealers
- Trial opens for L.A. doctor accused in art theft
- Sri Lanka restores blasted Buddhist shrine
- Hurricane Mitch Uncovers Honduras Historic Remains
- Disclosure of Museum Security Arrangements (Peter Orborne)
- Nelson-Atkins Museum picks architect Steven Holl to design addition
- Minneapolis Gallery Owner's 21-Year Quest for Stolen Paintings Ends With Recovery in Rio MINNEAPOLIS
- Book stolen by Nazis sells for UKPounds:8m
- Stonehenge treasures decay for lack of cash
- Marble cracks on Pisa tower

Thais crack down on unscrupulous antique dealers

BANGKOK, July 6 (Reuters) - Thai authorities cracked down this week on unscrupulous antique dealers operating at a popular riverside shopping mall following the seizure of tonnes of priceless Cambodian artefacts over the weekend at Bangkok port. A combined police and Fine Arts Department force searched shops in the Riverside Shopping Mall late on Monday and impounded 110 artefacts believed to have been smuggled from Cambodia, a police spokesman told reporters.
Among the objects impounded were ancient Hindu temple relics, Buddha statues and various sandstone sculptures. ``The antiques are being impounded pending investigations,'' said Police Major General Pichit Thechajakub. The Fine Arts Department would verify whether the artefacts were genuine and whether they were stolen from Cambodia. If this proved to be the case legal action would be taken, he said. On Monday, customs officials said they had seized more than eight tonnes of Cambodian artefacts smuggled into Bangkok by ship from Singapore Forty-three objects were found packed in 29 cases. They included stone sculptures that had been part of staircases of ancient Hindu temples in Cambodia and rare Buddha statues. Thai authorities have recently stepped up efforts to combat the rampant trade in smuggled Cambodian artefacts and the use of Thailand as a transhipment centre.
``I have ordered a crackdown on the smuggling of antiques from our neighbouring countries,'' acting Education Minister, Somsak Prisana-anantakul who supervise Thailand's Fine Art Department told Reuters. He said Thailand was drafting tighter laws against offending antique dealers. ``The legal expert at the Fine Arts Department will draft the bill to ban possession and trading in antiques and we hope it will be implemented soonest,'' Somsak said. The Fine Arts Department has hundreds of confiscated artefacts believed to been smuggled from Cambodia.

Trial opens for L.A. doctor accused in art theft

06:34 p.m Jul 07, 1999 Eastern
By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES, July 7 (Reuters) - A federal prosecutor told a jury on Wednesday that a wealthy Los Angeles eye doctor orchestrated the theft of two of his own paintings, a Monet and a Picasso, to collect $17.5 million in insurance money. But a lawyer for Dr. Steven Cooperman claimed during opening statements in his trial that the paintings were actually stolen by a former friend -- a ``known liar'' who fabricated the charges against the ophthamologist. Cooperman is charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, interstate transportation of property obtained through fraud, unlawful monetary transactions, false statements to bank officials and subscribing to a false tax return. He could face more than 20 years in prison if convicted. The trial, which began Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court, could turn on the testimony of his former friend and lawyer, James Tierney, who allegedly took the paintings from Cooperman's posh Brentwood home at his friend's instruction. Tierney, under a plea deal with federal prosecutors, will be a key prosecution witness in the case and is expected to say that Cooperman wanted the paintings to ``disappear'' so that he could collect insurance money and pay off bank debts. Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Robinson said during his opening statement that Cooperman had Tierney steal Claude Monet's ``The Custom Officer's Cabin at Pourville'' and Pablo Picasso's ``Nude Before a Mirror'' while he was on vacation. Cooperman then reported them stolen and put in an insurance claim for $17.5 million. When his insurance company balked at paying that claim, he sued and eventually collected. Cooperman's lawyer, John Vandervelde, told the jury that it was Tierney who ``planned and carried out'' the theft of the paintings without Cooperman's knowledge. ``The main witness in this case is a known liar,'' Vandervelde said. ``He was a gambler who was involved with a lot of bookies and had lost a lot of money. And deep down he was envious of Dr. Cooperman, because Dr. Cooperman was rich.'' The lawyer said Cooperman had no motive to orchestrate the theft of his own paintings because he was a wealthy man who could have paid his debts by other means.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.

Sri Lanka restores blasted Buddhist shrine

09:32 p.m Jul 07, 1999 Eastern
By Dexter Cruez
KANDY, Sri Lanka, July 8 (Reuters) - The scars of a bomb attack on Sri Lanka's holiest Buddhist shrine are fast disappearing as men work around the clock to restore the building to its original splendour ahead of an annual pageant in August. Gone is the debris of the moonstone steps, two stone elephants and five intertwined damsels which made up the entrance to the lakeside Temple of the Tooth in Sri Lanka's normally tranquil hill capital of Kandy.
Traditional craftsmen are chipping away at massive rocks that will replace the steps, elephants and damsels and will be hauled up to the entrance when completed. The tiled roof has been repaired and centuries old paintings and teak carvings in the temple, the symbolic heart of Sinhalese culture, are slowing being retouched.
The blast, in January last year, forced authorities to shift celebrations marking 50 years of independence from Britain to the capital Colombo. Prince Charles cancelled a visit to the hill capital as a security precaution. A two-storey shrine was built around 1590 by a Sinhalese king, Wimala Dharma Suriya I, when the Lord Buddha's tooth relic was taken to Kandy. Years later, King Narendra Sinhala raised a new two-storey structure which survives as the inner chamber where the tooth relic is kept today. The government has blamed the early morning explosion, which killed 16 people, on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who are fighting for an independent homeland for minority Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east. ``I was here within five minutes of the blast and looking around I simply couldn't understand why anybody should have done anything so terrible,'' Niranjan Wijeratne, the chief trustee of the temple, told Reuters. ``Now when I walk around I feel a great satisfaction that it is slowing being restored to what it was centuries ago.'' Kandy is 72 miles (160 km) east of the capital Colombo. The temple is one of Sri Lanka's leading tourist attractions.
SHOCK WAVES PASSED RIGHT THROUGH
The bomb did not damage the sacred tooth relic of Lord Buddha which was smuggled to Sri Lanka hidden in the hair of an Indian princess in the 4th Century A.D. ``It is a miracle that nothing happened to the inner chamber... There was no fire, nothing that is normally associated with a bomb explosion,'' said Wijeratne. ``Basically the walls are made of wattle and daub. The shock waves of explosion just passed through. The building moved a little and then moved back,'' explained Gemunu Silva, additional general manager of the State Engineering Corporation, which is responsible for the restoration work. Authorities closed the temple to the public for two months but daily religious rituals were held and restoration work began straight away. ``Eighty percent of the work is now finished. The balance has to be done slowly but we hope to finish most of it before the Kandy perahera,'' Wijeratne said. The perahera, which lasts two weeks each August, is one of the grandest pageants in Asia. To the thumping of drums, more than 100 elephants, traditional dancers and torch bearers parade through Kandy town with the tooth relic in a casket on the back of an elephant. Wijeratne said some 55 million rupees ($771,000) had been spent and another 20 million rupees was needed to complete the work. Lacking archaeological plans, builders have to rely on photographs and ancient drawings to do their work. ``It (the bomb) was a Godsend in a way. Over the years many things had been done to the temple that changed it from its original state,'' Silva said. The blast revealed paintings which had been covered by plaster during alterations over the years. ``The entrance to the temple had seven steps. The British removed one step to build a road, we are now putting that step back,'' Wijeratne said. The attack has forced authorities to build a massive steel fence around the temple's perimeter, but the shrine is attracting more and more worshippers. ``More people are worshipping these days,'' Wijeratne said. ``They may have been drawn here by what happened.''
($1 - 71.33 rupees)
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.

Hurricane Mitch Uncovers Honduras Historic Remains

02:11 p.m Jul 07, 1999 Eastern
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (Reuters) - Honduran authorities have discovered ancient artifacts in a town destroyed in October 1998 by the huge and deadly Hurricane Mitch. The finds were uncovered during reconstruction work at Morolica, 75 miles south of capital Tegucigalpa, and could lead to declaring the town an archaeological site. ``We found remains of several types of ancient ceramics. We found an arrow tip, flint and obsidian pieces, volcanic rock grindstones and planes for making bowls,'' National Heritage spokesman Gilberto Sanchez told Reuters. ``We also found broken pottery, pot stands, zoomorphic decorations and bicolored shards of pottery,'' he said. This is the first time that remains of civilizations predating the 16th century Spanish conquest have been found in southern Honduras. Western Honduras is home to the treasured Copan site, containing pyramids and numerous sculptures from the Mayan civilization which also flourished across southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.

From: "Peter Osborne" bcprotect@btinternet.com
Subject:

Disclosure of Museum Security Arrangements

With regard to the release of security information I suggest that persons such as Jason Hensel, who has recently appeared on our screens, should identify himself in more detail so that we might know who, and what, we dealing with.
I also suggest that a clearing house might be formed amongst your readers where an assesment could be made of an enquiry and a general pre-agreed authoritive reply given. I personally would not give out any specific details to the likes of Jason Hensel for fear of compromise and breach of trust.
When I was Musems Security Adviser for the British Government the routine was that only me, or my deputy, would reply to security enquiries. That still applies today and I also maintain the same principle here at the Bureau of Cultural Protection.
Regards
Peter Osborne
Bureau of Cultural Protection

From: "Michelle Lehrman" mlehrman@nelson-atkins.org
Subject:

Nelson-Atkins Museum picks architect Steven Holl to design addition

[InternetShortcut]
http://www.kcstar.com/item/pages/home.pat,local/3773abf8.707,.html

Company Press Release
SOURCE: Elayne Galleries

Minneapolis Gallery Owner's 21-Year Quest for Stolen Paintings Ends With Recovery in Rio MINNEAPOLIS

, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- After an unrelenting quest, Elayne Galleries owner and art appraiser Bonnie Lindberg will be reunited with the Norman Rockwell paintings stolen from her Minneapolis gallery 21 years ago. The art heist of seven Rockwell paintings was one of the largest in Minnesota and still remains the country's largest theft of Rockwell originals. It was pulled off by pros who left a trail of deception and intrigue that ran to Europe and then south to Miami and South America. The painstaking search for the paintings involved local police, the FBI and Interpol.
Several years ago an anonymous tip led Ms. Lindberg to a man in Rio de Janeiro, who gave her the name of a Brazilian collector of some ``unique'' American art. Negotiations to recover the works were soon underway. Documentation was exchanged and the art was authenticated by experts, beginning the exchange of thousands of dollars for two of the seven stolen paintings.
The paintings arrived at Elayne Galleries via armored car at 2 p.m. Thursday, April 22. The gallery, located at 6111 Excelsior Boulevard in Minneapolis, hosted an opening featuring the recovered Rockwells on Thursday, April 22, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. with an unveiling to the public at 7:30 p.m. The show ran through May 9.
The works -- Getting Ready For The Date (Cowboy and Cowgirl)-- are unusually detailed, 16`` x 32'' oil studies produced for the September 24, 1949 cover of the Saturday Evening Post. ``The condition of the paintings after 21 years in hiding is remarkably good,'' said Lindberg. ``I'm so relieved they're back in America where they belong. They are our national treasures.'' Karal Ann Marling, a professor of art history and American Studies at the University of Minnesota, said, ``These two works are some of the finest examples of Rockwell. Rockwell is, without a doubt, the best-loved artist in American history. His work stands up surprisingly well when held up to the highest art historical standards and he fits readily into the grand continuum of realist masters that stretches from Thomas Eakins to Richard Estes. Ms. Marling is author of the book ''Norman Rockwell,`` published by Harry N. Abrams. Norman Rockwell, born in New York City on February 3, 1894, was a prolific artist with an uncanny knack of knowing what the public wanted. In addition, he painted portraits of Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon and Johnson. He died at age 84 on November 8, 1978.
SOURCE: Elayne Galleries

(Times of London)

Book stolen by Nazis sells for UKPounds:8m

BY MICHAEL PATERSON
A RENAISSANCE prayer book once looted by the Nazis became the world's most expensive illustrated book last night when it fetched UKPounds:8.5 million at auction in London. It was part of the Rothschild collection that saw saleroom records tumbling at Christie's, with lot after lot raising three or four times the estimated price. The book of hours, containing a series of miniatures of religious subjects, was produced in Ghent or possibly Bruges in about 1505 and had been expected to sell for UKPounds:3 million. It was one of the highlights in the sale of works of art belonging to the heirs of the barons Alphonse and Louis, sons of Albert von Rothschild, who built up the collection in the 19th century with his brother Nathaniel. The items were looted by the Nazis in 1938 and returned to the Austrian branch of the family after the Second World War. All the items were in state museums for 50 years and were released to the family by the Austrian Government last November. Among the other items, a 38-bore French wheel-lock holster pistol from 1620 fetched UKPounds:155,500, a world auction record for an antique European pistol, and a late 19th-century Iranian tambur, which was expected to sell for up to UKPounds:600, fetched UKPounds:12,650. Alexander Hope, the project manager of the Rothschild sale, said: "There was exceptional interest."

Stonehenge treasures decay for lack of cash

BY SIMON DE BRUXELLES, WEST OF ENGLAND CORRESPONDENT
(Times of London)
HUNDREDS of prehistoric pots excavated nearly 200 years ago by two pioneers of modern archaeology are crumbling in a museum basement for want of funds to preserve them. The pots, dating from 2,000BC to 800BC, were found at Stonehenge and Avebury and in barrows and burial mounds across Salisbury Plain. But the comprehensive collection of Bronze Age pottery is inaccessible to researchers because the pieces are too fragile to move. Most were found between 1800 and 1810 by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, owner of the Stourhead estate, and his colleague William Cunnington, who were the first to use proper archaeological techniques to excavate the mysterious mounds. Unlike previous investigators, who did little more than dig for buried treasure, the two men kept careful notes and made sure that every find was recorded in detail. Some pots were still intact after more than 4,000 years in the ground, but 105 of them were restored by lining the broken pieces with inch-thick cement, in some cases supported by bicycle spokes, which has left them distorted and in danger of being crushed by their own weight. The pots have been sitting for decades on shelves in the basement of the Wiltshire Archaeological Society's museum in Devizes. Many are ornately decorated and served some unknown purpose before being used as funerary urns and buried with their owners' ashes. Paul Robinson, the museum's curator, said: "We can't put them on display and I have to turn down a lot of requests from researchers who want to study them. The public are also a lot more discerning these days. They don't want to see something that looks a lot of old rubbish rather than a work of art." Sarah Stanley, a conservation officer, who has so far spent 80 hours working on one badly damaged pot, said: "I am sure Colt Hoare and Cunnington would never knowingly have done anything to harm the pots but the conservation techniques they used have done a lot of damage." Conservation of the entire collection is expected to take six months and cost about UKPounds:1,000 a pot. The museum has applied for UKPounds:75,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and has already received a grant of UKPounds:7,000 from the South West Museums Council.

Marble cracks on Pisa tower

BY RICHARD OWEN
THE British expert leading the campaign to save the leaning tower of Pisa from collapse yesterday issued a warning that the fragile hollow white marble of which it is made was "very close to failure" because of the pressure imposed on the structure by its tilt. read full article at:
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/Times/frontpage.html?3080441


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