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July 29, 1999

CONTENTS:

- RE: Art Inventory Software (Ron Lander)
- Elgin marbles 'staying'
- Wildenstein art collectors sued in New York
- Insurance claims and accessioned objects
- Omega Sprinklers (Roxana Adams)
- IFCPP Progress Report
- Vandals attack Nazi death camp memorial in Germany
- Thieves strip remote Lorna Doone church

From: "Ron Lander, CPP" rlander@ix.netcom.com
SOrganization: Ultra-Safe Security Solutions
Subject:

RE: Art Inventory Software

>
We are looking into software specifically designed for inventoring collections. We are making a proposal that will include up to 4900 pieces representing 1300 artists of different media. We envision the task to include photographic documentation, inventory, damage assessment, and conservation recommendations.
PPM 2000, Inc. has a new version (5.0) which will be released this summer. It will be able to accomplish all of your requests and also track incidents related to each individual piece of art. It has the capability of importing video, and still color photos via a scanner or digital camera.
It also has a myriad of other features.
If you have any questions, or want some literature or pricing, drop me a line at rlander @ultra-safe.com. You can also call me at 800-334-6670 (US 800 number).
I am a dealer for PPM 2000, Inc. and was an exhibitor at the recent conference sponsored by the J.P. Getty Museum in Los Angeles, which is a client of ours.
Before anyone trashes me for advertising, I am only responding to a fellow list member's request for information.
Sincerely,
Ron Lander, CPP
Ultra-Safe Security Solutions

Elgin marbles 'staying'

By Matt Born
HOPES of an amicable resolution to the dispute over the Elgin Marbles faded yesterday as the Government said it had no intention of returning the sculptures to Athens. The news follows the disclosure in The Telegraph that Chris Smith, the culture minister, was examining proposals to open a branch of the British Museum in Athens in which to house the marbles. The plan, presented to Mr Smith in May by a delegation of MEPs, had been seen as a compromise, allowing Britain to retain ownership of the marbles while returning them to their historic home alongside the Parthenon.
But a spokesman for the Culture Department said: "We have no plans to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece, and as far as we know nor do the British Museum." The classical marbles were taken from Athens by Lord Elgin in 1803 and later sold to the British Museum.

Wildenstein art collectors sued in New York

02:52 p.m Jul 27, 1999 Eastern
By Jeanne King
NEW YORK, July 27 (Reuters) - The heirs of a prominent Jewish art collector filed a $15 million lawsuit on Tuesday against the renowned Wildenstein Gallery seeking return of rare illuminated manuscripts stolen by the Nazis and displayed for sale in New York by the Wildensteins.
The civil lawsuit was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court by Francis Warin, the great nephew of Alphonse Kann, a Jewish art connoisseur who owned more than 1,200 works that included paintings by such masters as Picasso, Manet and Matisse.
Wildenstein Gallery lawyer Richard Bernstein said in response to the lawsuit that the Kann heirs were mistaken and had no claim. While the Nazis did loot the Kann collection they also looted the art collection of Georges Wildenstein, the late father of family patriarch Daniel Wildenstein, he said.
Kann kept his collection in his St. Germane-en-Laye home on the outskirts of Paris, France. He fled to London in 1939 and died there shortly after World War II.
The lawsuit alleged that in October 1940 the Nazis looted Kann's home and stole his entire collection, including eight rare illuminated manuscripts known as ``Books of Hours'' from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.
``These illuminated manuscripts are actually prayer books commissioned by wealthy families and used as guides in their daily religious observances,'' said Stephen Somerstein, the lawyer who represents Warin and other heirs to Kann's will. The whereabouts of these manuscripts were unknown to Kann's heirs until November 1996 when the Wildenstein Gallery tried to sell them in New York. A buyer hired an expert who authenticated the collection and told Warin.
Warin alleged that for nearly seven months he sought to have the manuscripts returned to Kann's rightful descendants, but the Wildensteins refused to return them. He further alleged the Wildensteins sold one of the manuscripts privately. After seizing an art collection the Nazis created an inventory by marking them with a series of letters related to a collectors last name followed by a number. The objects stolen from Kann were marked with the letters ``ka'' and a number.
``When the eight manuscripts were discovered at the Wildenstein & Co. Gallery in 1996, each bore the inventory number 'ka 879 through ka 886' that the Nazis had affixed on them during the war,'' the lawyer said.

But the Wildenstein's lawyer said both collections were looted and deposited at the Jeu dePaume in Paris. There, he said, someone assumed the manuscripts that were part of the looted Wildenstein property were from the Kann collection and penciled in 'ka' with a number on each of the manuscripts.
``In fact, the Wildenstein family has a written receipt from the Nazis that when they looted the Wildenstein art collections that included the manuscript numbers,'' Bernstein said. ``In addition, the Wildenstein family can show where it actually purchased several of the manuscripts.''

Museum-L
From: "Wiener, Wendy" WienerW@AIAMAIL.AIA.ORG
Subject:

Insurance claims and accessioned objects

I have been going through some old files and discovered two collection objects were stolen from the museum in 1972. We filed an insurance claim and received a check for the value of the two objects. I was wondering if the objects should still remain as accessioned objects, since technically, the objects now belong to the insurance company (if they are ever found, that is). I have looked in various sources, including Marie's Malaro's book and Fine Arts Insurance: A Handbook for Art Museums and have not discovered an answer to my question. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.

Wendy Wiener
Curatorial Assistant
The Octagon, The Museum of the American Architectural Foundation
Washington, DC
Wienerw@aiamail.aia.org
mailto:Wienerw@aiamail.aia.org

From: Roxana Adams radams@aam-us.org
Subject:

Omega Sprinklers

A museum called and asked if I had heard of any other museums with a similar problem:
Around 1995 they installed Central Sprinkler's Omega Brand Fire Sprinklers in their wet pipe system in the art galleries. The galleries are in an historic house and the heads are set in the ceiling plaster. Earlier this year, the Consumer Products Safety Commission recalled all Omega fire sprinklers, which they said were defective and could likely fail in a fire. The company is required to provide replacement sprinklers.
The question is, the replacement sprinkler heads is only the smallest problem. The museum has to tear apart its ceiling to install the new heads. Has any other museum encountered this problem, and if so, how have they dealt with it? Is there other compensation available? According to the CPSC, the company has gone under and there is no more money except to replace the heads (about $5 each). In fact, the waiver and release of claims , if signed, prevents the museum from getting any other compensation from the company.
Has anyone had this experience or one similar? Any advice for this museum?
Roxana Adams, Assistant Director
Programs for Museum Advancement & Excellence
Technical Information Service
American Association of Museums
1575 Eye Street, NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20005
202/289-9121, fax 202/289-6578
email: radams@aam-us.org

From: LayneCnslt@cs.com
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 1999 10:13:40 EDT
Subject:

IFCPP Progress Report

We are happy to report that our special guest speaker has accepted the invitation to "open the show" on November 5. Colorado's Executive Director of Public Safety is Ari Zavaras. Mr. Zavaras is widely known and respected in law enforcement and public safety, having previously served as Chief of Police for the Denver Police Department, and Director of the Department of Corrections for the State of Colorado. He joins an OUTSTANDING corps of professional presenters, including Lou Tyska, Erroll Southers, Gene Ferraro, Nick Artim, Jim Davis, and several others.
Don't forget, early registration discounts are effective through August 1! Please remind your associates to sign up NOW for this great opportunity to complete one of two national certification programs, network with other professionals, and enjoy our special Western Hospitality! Registration may be accomplished by FAX, e-mail, or through the Web Site: www.IFCPP.com. Seats are filling rapidly, and we're also happy to report the latest technology available will be on exhibit from equipment and service providers who serve the cultural community.
And.....for those who wish to attend specific sessions but can't be with us for the entire conference, there are reduced rates based on activities attended. A complete conference schedule will be out soon.
Call Executive Director Rob Layne for additional information: (303) 322-9667/1-800-257-6717. E-mail Rob@IFCPP.com.
We'll see you in Denver in November!!! - Have a great summer!
Stevan P. Layne, CPP
IFCPP-Founding Director
Steve@IFCPP.com

Vandals attack Nazi death camp memorial in Germany

12:50 p.m. Jul 28, 1999 Eastern
BERLIN, July 28 (Reuters) - Vandals in the eastern German town of Weimar have attacked sculptures honouring the victims of Nazi concentration camps, German police said on Wednesday . A police spokeswoman in nearby Jena said that six two-metre (7-foot) high sculptures were toppled by vandals in the early hours of Wednesday morning and partially destroyed.
The sculptures were designed by the British artist Stuart N.R. Wolfe and were on exhibit near a church in Weimar. The Nazi's Buchenwald death camp was located just outside Weimar.
``We cannot yet confirm that there was a political motive,'' the police spokeswoman said.

(Times of London)

Thieves strip remote Lorna Doone church

THE church where Lorna Doone was shot by the bandit Carver Doone while she was being married at the altar has been ransacked by antiques thieves.
The tiny Saxon church of St Mary the Virgin, Oare, set in the remote wilds of the Doone Valley two miles from the sea in Somerset, has had what few treasures it possessed torn from the plaster and carried away by thieves.
Even the heavy wooden lectern was stolen from the church, which is left open each day to allow tourists to visit freely. The church, built 800 years ago with alterations in the 15th, 18th and 19th centuries, attracts 30,000 visitors a year because of Richard Doddridge Blackmore's historical novel,Lorna Doone. Blackmore's grandfather was Rector of Oare, mentioned in the Domesday Book. In the novel, set in the 17th century during the Monmouth rebellion, Lorna Doone falls in love with John Ridd, a yeoman farmer who lived in Plover's Barrow, a house on a hillside opposite the church.
Lorna Doone fans, known as "Doonies", like to view the single-light window which still remains at the side of the inner chancel, through which Lorna Doone was shot. She survived and the story ends happily for the young lovers.
Americans have been known to video each other in the church reciting passages from the book such as: "A shot rang through the church and those eyes were dim with death . . . and a flow of blood came out upon the yellow wood of the altar steps."
The thefts were discovered by Graham Story, treasurer of the parochial church council, who lives at Lorna Doone farm, where the novel's Farmer Snow would have lived.
A 7ft painted coffin lid dated 1718 was stolen, along with an oak carving of the Prince of Wales's insignia which was ripped down from the wall. The thieves also took the 5ft oak lectern with an eagle carved on the front, as well as a rustic painting of Moses bearing the Tablets of Stone, dated 1718, that was attached to the north wall by a plaster casing.
Mr Story said: "I find it absolutely abhorrent that people will take these things off the walls. This church needs to be open during the day in order to survive. This is a simple country church with an atmosphere all of its own. I cannot imagine who would want to damage it."
Andrew Lyle, the church's treasurer, who lives in a house built on the same site as Plover's Barrow, said: "It is quite disgraceful. It was done in broad daylight. Visitors must have noticed what was going on. It makes me feel extremely angry. If this was a Muslim country we would lop off the limbs of the people who did this."
Nick Tolson, a former police officer and co-ordinator of National Churchwatch, said that three churches were robbed in the area last Thursday. "Isolated churches are an easy target for thieves. They should look closely at their security and if necessary ask for help," he said.


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