July 27, 1999

CONTENTS:

RE: Art Inventory Software

RE: Art Inventory Software

RE: A van Gogh went; The missing $82 million painting

Art Theft in the Movies - The Thomas Crown Affair (fiction)

Fire damages 3 historic buildings in San Angelo, Texas

Brief synopsis of the situation based on a site meeting Saturday

Colditz Escape Museum & Castle

Refurbished web pages for Colditz Museum and Castle

Postings of Stolen Antiquities

PS - I 've had past contacts with stateside bibliographers Laura Pope Robbins and Hugh Jarvis. Others who might have concerns in this matter include ALR (they might go on line) and Jouve (producers of the new INTERPOL CD Rom).
By the way, just to share, here is part of the information I'm playing with. The scope of antiquities theft is of course world-wide. The exchange that sparked this concerned Greek & Roman material.

Greek Roman Antiquities Theft

GREECE

ROME

TURKEY

MSN REPORTS

Plan to return the Elgin Marbles

A PLAN to return the Elgin Marbles to Athens was given a cautious welcome by Greece yesterday. Under the proposal, being considered by Chris Smith, Culture Secretary, the British Museum would open a satellite branch in Athens and the marbles would be housed in it. It was hoped that such a compromise would bypass the main stumbling block in the long-running dispute: namely, Britain's insistence that it retains ownership of the marbles.
The Greek ministry of culture said it welcomed any dialogue which could pave the way to a "friendly resolution" of the row. Although reluctant to give up its claim to the treasure, a spokesman for culture ministry said its prime concern was that the marbles be returned to their historic home, alongside the Parthenon.
Alf Lomas, former Labour MEP for North East London, who presented the proposal to Mr Smith, said: "All the old arguments for and against returning the marbles have been discussed countless times and have proved fruitless. Hopefully this idea will open up the debate and enable the British Government to enter into positive talks with Greece."
He had met Mr Smith and Alan Howarth, arts minister, in May and Mr Smith had appeared "very interested" in his idea. But the Government sees several stumbling blocks, principally the legal issues involved in a British-owned museum overseas. There are precedents for museum satellite branches: the Tate has a subsidiary in Liverpool while the American Guggenheim museum has a gallery in Spain.
The marbles were brought to Britain by Lord Elgin in 1803. Britain has always argued its possession of the marbles is legitimate because Elgin actually paid for them. The fact that Elgin did the deal with Turkey, which was occupying Athens at the time, has formed the crux of Greek claims that the purchase was illegitimate.
The British Museum greeted the suggestion with scepticism. A spokesman said: "The museum is not constituted to have outposts."

Egypt split over Rosetta Stone celebrations

THERE was one notable absentee as the great and the good of the world of antiquities gathered at the British Museum to celebrate the discovery of the Rosetta Stone in Egypt 200 years ago today. Dr Gaballah Ali Gaballah, Egypt's most senior antiquities official, had announced that he would be unable to attend the opening of the exhibition commemorating the find. Speaking to reporters in Cairo, he said: "I declined the invitation to take part in the bicentenary. We cannot celebrate the bicentenary of something we don't have." In the world of academic archaeology, outbursts such as these are as rare as finding an undamaged relic. Disputes over pillaged artefacts are usually conducted government-to-government - the feud between Athens and London over the Elgin Marbles being a good example. But in the case of the Rosetta Stone, a lack of campaigning zeal by their political masters has driven Dr Gaballah and his colleagues to take up their cudgels. As Egypt's ambassador to London, Adel al-Gazzar, opened the bicentenary celebrations, indicating that his government would not pursue a claim for its return, they felt they had to make their point.