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November 7, 1999

CONTENTS:

- Law, Art Loans and Exhibitions Seminar
- Poe Museum fire spared most exhibits
- Re: National Conference on Cultural Property Protection?
- TRACE, monthly magazine, November issue
- http://www.fbi.gov/
- Re: National Conference on Cultural Property Protection?
- BROOKLYN MUSEUM OF ART - FEDERAL COURT JUDGEMENT ON LINE
- Nazi loot from Holocaust victims enriched Eva Perón (book review)
- Sotheby's Caravaggio 'copy' is revealed as UKP.10m masterpiece
- Ministry to intervene in archeological dispute
- Suspect arrested in theft of doors

From: Andrew Kenyon a.kenyon@law.unimelb.edu.au
Subject:

Law, Art Loans and Exhibitions Seminar

Great Art Living Dangerously:
Legal and Professional Issues in Art Exhibitions and Loans
A one day seminar presented by the Arts Law Centre of Australia, Australian Registrars' Committeee and the Institute of Art and Law (England). Friday 26 November 1999, 10.00 am - 5.00 pm followed by drinks. Theatrette, Old Customs House, 400 Flinders Street, Melbourne.
The program will include a keynote address by Professor Norman Palmer (University College London) 'Art Loans and Law: Modern Challenges' and three panel sessions addressing:
- Indemnity schemes and loans
- Inauthenticity, provenance and title
- Contemporary art and current loans practice, including copyright and digitisation.
Expected session chairs, presenters and panellists include: Gordon Morrison (National Gallery of Victoria), Andrew Kenyon (Editor, Media & Arts Law Review), Marett Leiboff (Queensland University of Technology), Frances Lindsay (Ian Potter Museum of Art), Judith Penrose (Hellenic Antiquities Museum), Erica Persak (National Gallery of Australia), Ruth Redmond Cooper (Institute of Art and Law), Jennifer Sanders (Powerhouse Museum), Shane Simpson (Simpsons Solicitors), Evan Stents (Minter Ellison, Solicitors), Annette Welkamp (National Wool Museum), Dr Mark Williams (Logie-Smith Lanyon, Solicitors), Jamie Wodetzki (Minter Ellison, Solicitors), Robin Wright (Cinemedia).
Registration is AUD$80.00. For all seminar inquiries and a registration form contact Andrew Kenyon: a.kenyon@law.unimelb.edu.au; ph +613 9344 9972; fax + 613 9344 9971; or Claudia Funder: Claudia.Funder@vact.vic.gov.au; ph + 613 9281 8073; fax + 613 9281 8277.

From: Jack Sullivan jacksull@mindspring.com
Subject:

[Fire Safe Heritage]: Poe Museum fire spared most exhibits (Details)

Poe Museum fire spared most exhibits

BY MARK BOWES
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
An early morning fire in one of four buildings that house the Edgar Allan Poe Museum caused about $30,000 in structural damage, but the museum's artifacts and exhibits were largely spared. That was a bit of good news for members of the foundation that runs the museum, several of whom gathered yesterday at the East Main Street site to inspect the damage. Fire officials believe cleaning materials placed too close to a furnace sparked the blaze. "I think the main damage was actually done to walls and a ceiling, and the interior of a closet where the fire started and was contained," said Dr. Welford Taylor, vice president of Poe Foundation Inc. "The artifacts were scarcely damaged at all." Taylor described the fire's aftermath as a "major inconvenience." The museum is made up of four contiguous buildings that surround an oblong garden. One of the buildings, the Old Stone House, is the oldest structure in the city of Richmond, dating to 1740. The building affected by the fire contains a fragile, 75-year-old model of Richmond as it looked when Poe was alive. Poe, who died in 1849, spent part of his life in Richmond. "There were some cracks in the glass case that housed it, but there was no water damage," Taylor said. Holt Edmunds, the foundation's vice president, said interior renovations made several years ago were largely spoiled. "We were so delighted at the progress we made over the last two or three years," he said. "We're certainly a modest institution, so it was a real blow to us. But certainly we're going to rebuild and we're well insured. This is a volunteer museum, and our volunteers are now looking at volunteering some more." Taylor said the three buildings untouched by the fire will be open tomorrow, but he predicted it would be several weeks before the damaged unit could reopen. The fire, which activated a fire alarm about 3 a.m. yesterday, was quickly extinguished by Richmond firefighters. A "smoldering fire" was found in the building's furnace closet where cleaning materials also were stored, said Fire Capt. Don Horton.

From: IntlArtCop@aol.com
Subject:

Re: National Conference on Cultural Property Protection?

Does anyone know the dates of the Smithsonian's National Conference on Cultural Property Protection?
Steve Keller
http://natconf.si.edu/

2000 NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CULTURAL PROPERTY PROTECTION

February 13-17, 2000
Crystal Gateway Marriott,
Arlington, Virginia
Presented by the Office of Protection Services (OPS),
Smithsonian Institution
Telephone: 202.357.3375
Facsimile: 202.357.4132
Email: conf@ops.si.edu
TC

TRACE, monthly magazine, November issue

Due diligence for the trade and the private collector.

contents issue 130, November 1999.

-Jim Hill: short account of Interpol Conference
-News section: Sickerts recovered, Buckingham Palace burglary, Restituted Van Gogh for sale etc.
-Simon Cottle: Crystal Clear (about the 18th century English drinking glass)
-Mark Dalrymple: Money Talks (rewards for information about stolen art and the legal implications)
-Anne Webber (co-chair of the European Commission on Looted Art): Restitution or Ransom: should the trade profit from looted art.
and further: articles on restoration, crime statistics (*Lies, damned lies and statistics.....), information about recovered and recently stolen art), and one success story *Caught in the Acts*
internet: http://www.trace.co.uk/
e-mail: trace@thesaurus.co.uk
Ton Cremers

http://www.fbi.gov/
The FBI released a report yesterday entitled "Project Megiddo." It is intended to analyze the potential for extremist criminal activity in the U.S. by individuals or domestic extremist groups who profess an apocalyptic view of the millennium or attach special significance to the year 2000.
There is a link on the FBI indexpage (http://www.fbi.gov/) or you can reach the Acrobat file directly at:
http://www.fbi.gov/library/megiddo/publicmegiddo.pdf
TC

From: Roger Wulff museplan@erols.com
Subject:

Re: National Conference on Cultural Property Protection?

FOR Release
Dear Museum Security Network List Readers:
I would like to take the opportunity of Steve Keller's question:
From: IntlArtCop@aol.com
Subject: Re: National Conference on Cultural Property Protection?
Does anyone know the dates of the Smithsonian's National Conference on Cultural Property Protection? Steve Keller
and commend Ton Cremers for not only providing the dates of the Conference, but in providing the web site address for the Conference at the end of every posting from the Museum Security List.
I would also like to take this opportunity to ask every list reader to think about and recommend any products and services that you would like to see represented in the Trade Show which accompanies this conference. Please send your recommendations to me - at the MSI Web Site below.
Kind Regards
Roger Wulff
Trade Show Manager
Visit our NEW "ONLINE" MUSEUM BOOKSTORE AND TREAT YOURSELF TO A BOOK - VISIT OUR NEW "ONLINE" INTERNATIONAL CRAFT SHOP AND ASSIST THE CULTURES WHICH PRODUCED THOSE OBJECTS
at: http://www.MuseumServicesIntl.org
Museum Services International is a non-profit organization which provides services in all areas of the planning and development of cultural institutions and museums - especially in the new area of "Economuseology."

From: Boylan P P.Boylan@CITY.AC.UK
Subject:

BROOKLYN MUSEUM OF ART - FEDERAL COURT JUDGEMENT ON LINE

The complete text, including all legal preliminaries and footnotes, of the US Federal Court Decision and Order against the City of New York and Mayor Guiliani and in favour of the Brooklyn Museum is now available on line on the New York Law Journal site:
http://www.nylj.com/links/brooklynart.html
Patrick Boylan

World Report 11/15/99
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/991115/thieves.htm

Cry for them, Argentina

Nazi loot from Holocaust victims enriched Eva Perón

In the four years since the story first made headlines, the search for assets stolen from victims of the Holocaust has focused largely on Swiss banks and Nazi gold. In a provocative new book, Pack of Thieves, U.S.News & World Report Senior Correspondent Richard Z. Chesnoff reveals for the first time the extent of not only how the Germans and their collaborators stole from the Jews but how occupied nations such as the Netherlands, neutrals such as Sweden, and even the Allies themselves joined in the mammoth plundering of a people. The following excerpt details the involvement of Argentina's glamorous Juan and Eva Perón. Historians now believe that Señora Perón's first and only visit to Switzerland was tied more to the Peróns' Swiss bank accounts-specifically to a personal account that "Evita" opened while in Bern-than it was to foreign affairs. A March 23, 1972, Central Intelligence Agency file alludes to "millions of dollars" deposited in Switzerland by Evita during that 1947 summer jaunt, much of it reportedly carried in sacks of cash and gold aboard her chartered Iberian aircraft. At least part of the money is believed to have come from the sale of Argentine residency permits to Nazis fleeing Europe, sales Juan Perón made during his tenure as Argentine minister of war. By some accounts, Perón supplied the German Embassy in Buenos Aires with as many as 8,000 Argentine passports. Among the leading war criminals and thousands of other Nazis who took refuge in Argentina: Adolf Eichmann and notorious Auschwitz doctor Josef Mengele. Swiss secrets. Of course, the Peróns were neither the first nor the last of the world's dictators to take full advantage of Swiss banking secrecy. Moreover, the evidence shows that during World War II and in the years immediately following the defeat of the Third Reich, Argentina and Switzerland waltzed together even more closely than Evita and Petitpierre had at the diplomatic ball in Bern. Between 1942 and 1944, more than 200 German companies established major offices in Argentina and, until 1945, operated without any Argentine financial controls. The transfers of their capital and assets from Europe-much of it stolen from Jewish "enemies of the Reich"-were easily executed through Argentine branches of German banks, including the Deutsche Bank and the Banco Alemán del Río de la Plata. These and other Argentine banks were also believed to have been the destination of other moneys dispatched to Argentina during and immediately after the war for use in helping to transport and harbor Nazi war criminals fleeing to Argentina and elsewhere in Latin America. The constant flow of Nazi gold and other assets into Argentina became so heavy toward the end of the war that it set off loud alarm bells in the office of U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. According to a recently declassified National Archives document, Morgenthau personally wrote in February 1945 to Acting Secretary of State Joseph Grew suggesting that Treasury Department investigators be sent to Argentina to investigate Nazi assets there. "Argentina is not only a likely refuge for Nazi criminals," he warned, "but also has been and still is the focal point of Nazi financial and economic activity in the hemisphere." But Grew, citing "political considerations," turned down Morgenthau's proposal. A U.S. team was dispatched the following year, but it predictably received little, if any, cooperation from the Perón government. Money and art. Despite a variety of subsequent attempts to track Nazi assets in Argentina, no thorough accounting was ever provided by the Argentine government. The United States did gather information on Argentina's ties to the Nazis during the immediate postwar period, and a report dubbed "The Argentina Blue Book"-a clear attempt to discredit Perón-was delivered to the Argentine government and those of the rest of Latin America in 1946. The focus was Argentina's potential as a breeding ground for a Nazi political revival, and it cited information that Nazi Germany had transmitted more than $4.1 million to its embassy in Buenos Aires between 1939 and 1945, much of it earmarked for espionage and resource acquisition. A 1945 State Department study lists the reported assets in Argentina of several leading Nazis: Marshal Hermann Goering, $20 million sent via the Swiss Bank of Geneva; Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, $1.8 million in a safe-deposit box at a German-controlled bank in Buenos Aires; Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, $500,000 in a similar box. In addition, paintings looted by the Nazis from European Jews have shown up from time to time in Buenos Aires galleries, among them several by 18th-century Italian master Antonio Canaletto believed to have once been owned by an Austrian-Jewish collector. But the mystery remained about how much German loot reached Argentina, amid tales of vast secret transfers of treasures, including gold torn from the teeth of concentration camp victims and smelted into ingots. Among the more popular ones is a report that two German U-boats carrying a Reichsbank trove of more than 5,500 pounds of gold bullion, 4,638 carats of diamonds, piles of jewels, works of art, and tens of millions of dollars' worth of various currencies were dispatched to Argentina by Goering in the spring of 1945. While there were Allied intelligence sightings of German subs in Argentine waters throughout the war and even the months after, no evidence has surfaced documenting any golden subs. But in May this year, Argentine government researchers turned up evidence that Juan Perón's government issued a direct order in 1946 for the Argentine Central Bank to accept Nazi gold for deposit-defying a 1945 inter-American accord that was supposed to prevent such transfers of Nazi assets. In 1947, Argentina shipped $320 million in gold to New York for deposit in its national account at the Federal Reserve Bank, accompanied by written assurances to U.S. authorities that none had come from Germany. At the time, Under Secretary of State Robert Lovett demanded that Argentina back up those assurances by providing bar numbers, mint marks, and other traceable identification. The Buenos Aires government never sent them and, as the State Department recently admitted, "the matter appears not to have been pursued further."
From Pack of Thieves: How Hitler and Europe Plundered the Jews and Committed the Greatest Theft in History by Richard Z. Chesnoff c 1999 by Richard Z. Chesnoff. Reprinted by agreement with Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/991115/thieves.htm

Sunday Times London

Sotheby's Caravaggio 'copy' is revealed as UKP.10m masterpiece

Jon Ungoed-Thomas
A PAINTING of St John the Baptist sold last year at Sotheby's for UKP.19,000 is now believed to be a lost Caravaggio masterpiece worth at least UKP.10m. The discovery of the painting - sold from a private Swiss collection - is now expected to be confirmed in the London art world as one of the finds of the decade. "I am quite convinced it is a genuine late Caravaggio," said Sir Denis Mahon, one of the country's most respected art historians. "It has particular qualities that are easy to recognise. When it was sold at Sotheby's it was thought to be a copy, but after it was cleaned certain changes of mind came out." Caravaggio, one of the founders of Italian baroque painting, is considered one of the greatest painters of all time, but relatively few of his paintings are preserved. He inspired many devoted followers who copied his distinctive contrasts of light and shadow.The painting, St John the Baptist Drinking from a Spring, was auctioned at Sotheby's last October. The 37in-wide canvas depicts a crouching St John and has striking similarities with an earlier Caravaggio. It was originally bought in Rome by the great-grandmother of the anonymous seller. However, experts at Sotheby's, who are thought to have corresponded with art historians abroad, concluded it was a copy. They valued it at between UKP.10,000 and UKP.15,000. The bidder who bought the painting had it restored and requested the Walpole Gallery in central London to have it re-examined. Mahon, an expert in Italian baroque painting, and a number of other experts concluded it was a genuine Caravaggio. A well-known art collector, Alexandr Wakewitch, said the painting would be worth well in excess of UKP.10m. "I think all the major experts have now passed it as a Caravaggio. The buyer must be very happy indeed." Speaking in Italy last week, Mahon, a specialist in 17th- century Italian paintings and a former National Gallery trustee, said he accepted the painting as a Caravaggio after a 30-minute examination because of similarities with an earlier work. "They are both very late Caravaggio. It was clear that the artist of this picture was aware of the other one and was adapting it in a way that could only be done by the artist himself." Caravaggio, who was named after his birthplace and died in 1610, was one of the most revolutionary artists of his time and is credited with creating a more realistic style for religious works.

Ministry to intervene in archeological dispute

By DAVID RUDGE
http://www.jpost.com/com/Archive/04.Nov.1999/News/Article-8.html
HAIFA (November 4) - A planned expansion of Kiryat Shmona's airport is being delayed because of instructions to the Antiquities Authority to halt work on a rescue dig in the area after graves were found there. Industry and Trade Minister Ran Cohen, who only learned of the matter yesterday, pledged to take steps to ensure that the excavations would resume, thereby enabling the runway extension to be completed. Dr. Zvi Gal, director of the northern region of the Antiquities Authority, said that all the graves discovered at the Tel Tanim site are of Moslems dating back about 300 years. After the discovery, however, the Industry and Trade Ministry, which had been helping to finance the excavations, gave instructions for them to be halted. This was apparently done following the intervention of Atra Kadisha , a haredi group that seeks to preserve ancient graves, despite the fact that all the skeletal remains found had been given to the Religious Affairs Ministry for burial, said Gal. He said the instructions to halt the excavations in the area of the graves had been given in May. Work had continued in other areas until more graves were uncovered and the dig stopped at the end of July. By law, the Antiquities Authority has to be allowed to carry out rescue excavations at historic sites where subsequent development is planned before actual construction work can go ahead. Gal noted that another two months of work are needed to complete the excavations and then the extension of the airport runway can also be finished. The spokesman for the Trade and Industry Ministry said Cohen would be asking representatives of the Antiquities Authority and Atra Kadisha to meet him to resolve the dispute and enable the airport project to be completed.
http://www.jpost.com/com/Archive/04.Nov.1999/News/Article-8.html

Suspect arrested in theft of doors

By MICHAEL O'MALLEY
PLAIN DEALER REPORTER
http://www.cleveland.com/news/pdnews/metro/c06door.ssf Burglars often break through doors to get to the goods inside, but Cleveland Police are looking for some thieves who just take the doors, hinges and all. During a six-week period, ending last week with an arrest, 19 antique doors on the front entrances of homes in the Slavic Village neighborhood were stolen during daytime hours. Police believe they have an open and shut case since the arrest of David Lee Johnson, 35, who has been charged with burglary, possession of criminal tools and receiving stolen property, but they are still investigating. "We're not finished yet," said 3rd District Commander James Davidson. "Possibly there will be more charges." The doors are made of heavy oak, sculpted with elaborate designs and fitted with beveled and leaded glass. They are worth $500 to $2,000. Police found 16 of them at Antique Emporium, a West Side antiques shop on Lorain Ave., the same place they found statuary and urns believed to have been stolen from cemeteries in 1997. Most of the purloined doors have been returned to owners who came to the 3rd District police station to identify them. "Some people brought photos of Christmas pictures showing decorations on the doors," said Sgt. Ed Tomba. "They pointed out the same nail that they've hung the Christmas wreath on for 25 years." A man at Antique Emporium who said he was the owner, but declined to give his name, yesterday denied that the doors had been in the shop. "Go talk to the cops," he said. "Get out of my store." But another antiques dealer just a few blocks away said that he was one of the victims of the front door bandit and that he found his two doors at Antique Emporium. "I looked right at him and said, "Those are mine,' " said Joe Valenti, who deals in antiques at a shop called Suite Lorain. "He said he didn't want any trouble, and the next day, when I came back, they were gone." Another victim was Lewis Shaw of Engel Ave., who said the front door bandit broke into his side door about two weeks ago while he and his wife were at work. "Not one other thing was stolen," he said. "All they did was pop out the three pins and took the door." Detective Jim Gajowski said a computer and desk near the door were untouched. "That's the kind of stuff house burglars take, the VCRs and TVs," he said. "But these guys would walk right by that stuff and go for a door." Police put together a special detail to snare the door rustlers. And on the morning of Oct. 28, they got a call from a Slavic Village resident saying she saw a man on her street remove a door and drive away with it in the trunk of a maroon car. Police followed the car to the Antique Emporium, where Johnson was arrested. The car was also stolen, said Gajowski. Johnson was bound over to a Cuyahoga County grand jury Wednesday and additional charges are expected, police said. In the meantime, they're sure that the doors of Slavic Village are safe. "Haven't had a door stolen since," said Sgt. Tomba. "Knock on wood."
E-mail: momalley@plaind.com Phone: (216) 999-4893
c1999 THE PLAIN DEALER. Used with permission.
http://www.cleveland.com/news/pdnews/metro/c06door.ssf

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