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September 16, 1999
CONTENTS:
- Quick Poll (charge for checking bags)
- Tesla Artifacts Disappear
- Re: Interpol stolen art CD: a giant step forward..... (Patrick Boylan)
- Museums and Insurance (Risk Practices Not State of The Art )
- information resources on disaster preparedness
- TV jeweller 'took UKP.20,000 Titanic watch from woman for UKP.35 work'
From: Ross Brand 387-2104 rbrand@rbml01.rbcm.gov.bc.ca
Subject: Quick Poll (charge for checking bags)
If possible, I would like to do a quick survey of Museums that require all bags to be checked.
What is the reason for requiring bags to be checked?
Do you charge for the parcel checking?
We have been getting a lot of negative feedback because we charge $1.00 Can. to check a bag, parcel or backpack.
Ross Brand
Facilities Manager
Royal British Columbia Museum
Ph. 250-387-2104
Fax. 250-952-6825
Email: rbrand@rbml01.rbcm.bc.ca
http://rbcm1.rbcm.gov.bc.ca
Tesla Artifacts Disappear
- (COLORADO SPRINGS) -- Artifacts once belonging to futuristic inventor Nikola Tesla have disappeared from the Colorado Springs museum named after him. The Tesla Museum has been closed since last December after members of the Tesla Society filed for bankruptcy. The Pioneer Museum is reportedly interested in buying the devices Tesla used to demonstrate wireless electrical transfer a century ago... IF they can be found.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/local/state/colorado/story.html?s=v/rs/19990915/co/index_2.html#5
From: Boylan P P.Boylan@city.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Interpol stolen art CD: a giant step forward.....
On Wed, 15 Sep 1999, Museum Security Network wrote:
[++++ CLIP +++]
> The INTERPOL stolen art CD: A giant step in the right
> direction.
>
> Is this CD a REASONABLE ACCESSIBLE REGISTER OF STOLEN
> CULTURAL OBJECTS according to chapter 4 (4) of the
> Unidroit Convention?
===============================
Ton:
Obviously the new 14,000 stolen items INTERPOL CD-ROM is a very welcome addition, but I think it is very far from sufficient in relation to "due diligence" in checking whether an object is stolen.
The Art Loss Register funded mainly by the insurance industry and London/New York art trade already has nearly 100,000 stolen items on it, and there are major inventories of known WWII looted objects which are still not on ALR or INTERPOL (e.g. the Rosenberg Nazi art looting squad inventories now in the National Archives in Washington, the Rose Valland and other official archives in Paris or the contents of the seven or eight massive volumes of missing items from Polish public collections published in the late 1940s and early 1950s, which between them cover many tens of thousands of items, to give just three examples).
The current mess over looted Jewish and other WWII collections in many major museums has come about because for decades it was common practice to regard everything offered by the trade (or private collectors) as fair game providing it wasn't being actively sought by INTERPOL or the local police. In fact, the test should have been not "is someone already claiming that this is stolen?" but "can we prove where it did some from and that it's not stolen?". The latter test was laid down quite clearly in the ICOM Ethics of Aquisition rules and Codes of 1972 and 1986, and if it had been applied properly then many thousands of acquisitions made over the past three decades would not now be belatedly under investigation as possible loot from Jewish and other Second World War collections.
Patrick J. Boylan
(Professor of Heritage Policy and Management)
City University, Frobisher Crescent, Barbican, London EC2Y
8HB, UK; phone: +44-171-477.8750, fax:+44-171-477.8887;
Home: "The Deepings", Gun Lane, Knebworth, Herts. SG3 6BJ,
UK; phone & fax: +44-1438-812.658; E-mail:
P.Boylan@city.ac.uk;
Web site: http://www.city.ac.uk/artspol/
From: "William A. Heidecker" heideckerwa@worldnet.att.net
Subject: Museums and Insurance (Risk Practices Not State of The Art )
An article was recently published in Business Insurance describing risk practices and insurance problems concerning public museums in the United Kingdom. The article is based on a study entitled "Museums and Insurance" and information is provided on how to obtain a copy of the study. The newspaper article, approximately 970 words in length, is too long for publication on the Museum Security Mailinglist. Interested parties should contact Bill Heidecker off-line at heideckerwa@worldnet.att.net to request a copy.
Copies of "Museums and Insurance"
are available for UKP.21.25 ($34.04), including shipping,
from the Museums and Galleries Commission, Queen Anne's Gate, London SW 9AA, United Kingdom; 44-207-233-4200; fax: 44-207-233-0933.
From: Sonia Dingilian sdingilian@HERITAGEPRESERVATION.ORG
Subject: information resources on disaster preparedness
HURRICANE SEASON REMINDER:
Free, reliable information resources on disaster preparedness, response and recovery are available on-line from the National Task Force on Emergency Response www.heritagepreservation.org/PROGRAMS/taskfer.htm.
The site features tips on recovery from water damage for cultural institutions and homeowners, and it provides direct links to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and 29 other task force members. A new resource list provides additional links to expert advice on disaster planning and response.
TV jeweller 'took UKP.20,000 Titanic watch from woman for UKP.35 work'
By Michael Fleet
AN elderly woman handed over a pocket watch which had belonged to a Titanic survivor to a jeweller who told her it was worth UKP.15, a court heard yesterday. Kim-John Webb boasted that he had acquired a "nice little nest-egg" after getting hold of the timepiece, which was worth up to UKP.20,000 and had been presented to a steward by an aristocratic survivor who became known as "the plucky countess," Southampton Crown Court was told. Webb, who has appeared on television as an expert in watches, did not give 68-year-old Lela Hughes any money for the watch, agreeing instead to service another one in return. He then showed off his exchange to staff but one was so disgusted that he alerted police, the court was told. Mrs Hughes had been left the watch by a woman who had lived with a crew member of the Titanic, Alfred Crawford, who had been presented it by the Countess of Rothes after he helped save her from the sinking. The countess had been alerted by Mr Crawford and shown to a lifeboat. She had then helped steer the boat to safety, becoming famous around the world for her derring-do, the court was told. The watch was marked with the date of the sinking, April 15 1912, but Mrs Hughes had not realised the significance of the date. When she was told by Webb that the watch was worth UKP.15 she agreed he could have it in return for a UKP.35 service on another watch. Janice Brennan, prosecuting, told the court: "This was deliberate exploitation of a vulnerable old lady. Webb knew the watch was worth far more than UKP.15, he realised Mrs Hughes didn't have a clue and he took advantage of that for his own personal benefit." A similar watch presented by the countess to Able Seaman Thomas Jones, was sold for UKP.20,000 at an auction in March, the court was told. Mr Crawford's watch had been left on his death to Margaret Dunlavey, with whom he had lived. She left all her possessions to her friend, Mrs Hughes in 1988. Miss Brennan said: "Last year she took the watch to a jeweller's she had used for many years to have it valued. Why? Because we rely on the expertise of jewellers." But Webb's offer to carry out a UKP.35 service in exchange for the watch was not the act of a Good Samaritan, said Miss Brennan. Webb, of West End, Southampton, denies obtaining property by deception.
The case continues.
Daily Telegraph London
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