November 10, 1999
CONTENTS:
- Art heist from mansion in Bilthoven, The Netherlands
- millennium concerns (Steve Keller)
- Inventory Software (Robin Rogers)
- Art May Have Been Stolen by Nazis (North Carolina Museum of Art)
- [Fire Safe Heritage]: Fire destroys historic Bridgeport train depot
- U.S. man charged selling stolen 16th Century art
- Italian Loot ( "Stemming the Antiquities Flow")
- Ex-UCLA Official Collapses at Sentencing in Art Theft
Subject: Art heist from mansion in Bilthoven, The Netherlands
November 9, 1999
Masked criminals attacked an elderly lady at a mansion in Bilthoven, The Netherlands, and took off with an important collection of old master paintings. Two criminals broke into the remote mansion and stole 17th - 19th century paintings and several antique objects. Among the paintings stolen are works by Jan van Goyen, Salomon van Ruysdael, Joos de Momper, Herman Saftleven, Wouterus Verschuur and Isaac Israëls. One oil painting by Jan Steen, titled Antonius and Cleopatra, was taken out of its frame. The very selective robbers apparently were not interested in the modern art in the mansion. The elderly lady, who was home alone, was knocked down against the central heating system and guarded by one of the criminals. She was told to remain quiet and nothing would happen to her. Once the thiefs accomplished their work a heavy chair was placed on top of the attacked lady. At the very last moment the robbers decided to take a painting by Isaac Israëls. The painting was not taken until after the signature was checked thoroughly. The robbery took some fifteen minutes. The criminals left the scene of their crime on foot. The victim succeeded to free herself and called the police. A car was found parked on the mansion's driveway. The cold blooded victim was taken to hospital. When asked if she was very frightened by the robbers the bruised lady answered: "It is about time for me to start collecting modern art for that seems to be less interesting to criminals". The art collection that has been in the possession of this noble family for several generations represents a value of several millions. Police is prepared to pay a substantial award for information that will help recover the paintings.
(Source: De Telegraaf, Amsterdam)
From: IntlArtCop@aol.com
Subject: millennium concerns
Some of you may think I'm crazy for suggesting this but in my 20 some years in this business I've learned to try to out guess bad people and if I fall on my face, I'm "just another paranoid security guy" but if I guess right, I look like a genius. While I look paranoid more often than I look genius, I've had my share of good guesses. So indulge me. I'd like to suggest that museums with paintings or other works with apocalyptic themes might want to be just a bit more protective of them through January 1. I've found that paintings of the crucifiction, for example, are touched more often from Good Friday through Easter Sunday by those who feel the need to get close to the event. I can recall other examples that don't need detailed here. I'm not suggesting taking anything down unless there is a specific reason to do so such as a threat. But you may want to discuss with your guards the connection between specific paintings or sculpture with this theme and the millennium and have them pay special attention to these items and any visitors who may be suspicious.
Also, on the same millennium note, not to rain on anyone's New Year's Eve party, but I have been asking around and I am hard pressed to find many museums whose Director of Security is not going to be at the museum on New Year's Eve partying with the Building Manager, Director of Data Processing and Chief Building Engineer.
I'd be interested in hearing whether your museum will have management in the building on New Year's Eve or not but I'm not sure it is a good idea to post your answer publically. If you want to email me with your information, I'll be glad to compile it and pass on the data in a future post.
Steve Keller
Security Consultant
steve@stevekeller.com
From: Robin Rogers rogers@lava.net
Subject: Inventory Software
Dear Group: In July 1999, I wrote a post and received a series of responses from members about inventory software that may be available. I must apologize, that I deleted the responses, so I lost the contact people. I did research the materials provide. Below is a list. Can the contact people contact me again at rogers@lava.net. And I welcome anybody new who wants to discuss this topic. I am looking for Demos. The internet accesses are not adequate to test.
I currently have approximately 1243 artists and over 3000 pieces of work and it is getting a little unmanageable. I have half the data is hard files (bios, news, images) and the other half in a basic database format smiliar to MS Access. I am looking to set up a database with all of these elements, and eventually incorporate it into a searchable internet site, with levels of security limiting access.
Romulus Demo 2.0.10
Artform 3-D
Caretaker
Museum-software
UNESCO Coop
Academy Arts-Honolulu (software name?)
Thanks for any help offered.
Robin Rogers
Art May Have Been Stolen by Nazis
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Officials with the North Carolina Museum of Art say they want to ``do the right thing'' in resolving a dispute over a 16th-century painting that wound up at the museum more than 40 years after allegedly being stolen by Nazis during World War II. Two elderly Austrian sisters say the painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder was stolen from their family. A New York agency has filed a formal request on their behalf for its return. Documents obtained by The News & Observer from the National Archives, the National Gallery of Art and other sources suggest that ``Madonna and Child in a Landscape,'' estimated to be worth $750,000, was taken 50 years ago from the Vienna home of the sisters' great-uncle, spent a brief period in the villa of the Nazi governor of Austria, and changed hands at least three times before ending up at the Raleigh museum. ``I'm not at all disputing the claim,'' chief curator John Coffey told the newspaper in an article published Sunday. ``I'm just aware that since we are dealing with state property, we have to have certain legalities taken care of. ``We are really determined to do the right thing.'' Oliver Kuhschelm, a Viennese historian who is representing the family, declined to comment on the status of the sisters' claim, which was filed by the Holocaust Processing Office of the New York State Banking Department. The Cranach painting, 16 inches by 10 inches, shows a Madonna holding an infant reaching for a bunch of grapes in her hand. According to the records, the painting arrived in America in 1950 when it was sold to New York art dealer Siegfried Thalheimer, who sold it two years later to art dealer Abraham Silberman. The following year, when FBI agents questioned the two in response to a claim from the sisters' family. Silberman, who had sold the painting to George Khuner of Beverly Hills, didn't tell the FBI where it was. The Raleigh museum obtained the painting in 1984 from the estate of Marianne Khuner. Earlier this year, the Seattle Art Museum returned a $2 million painting by French impressionist Henri Matisse after the heirs of a French art dealer sued. The Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts are among several museums trying to determine the veracity of other claims. Several experts in Nazi stolen art said after reviewing the documents that the sisters, who asked not to be publicly identified, appear to have a strong claim to the painting. ``It is one of the best-documented, most convincing cases I have ever seen,'' said Willi Korte, a lawyer and investigator who has researched several cases for families and museums.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/19991108/us/nazi_art_2.html
From: Jack Sullivan jacksull@mindspring.com
Subject: [Fire Safe Heritage]: Fire destroys historic Bridgeport train depot
By DAVID BREWER
Huntsville Times Staff Writer
11/09/99
BRIDGEPORT, AL - Fire early today gutted the 82-year-old Bridgeport Depot just as the city was preparing to reopen it as museum after $350,000 in renovations. ''I'm so discouraged,'' said David Loyd, president of the Bridgeport Historical Association, who had been working to restore the Spanish-style building for eight years. Authorities said this morning they had not determined the cause of the fire. But Loyd said it appears to have started on the second floor around a power source for the building's two gas furnaces. The furnace on the second floor was not operating, but the one on the first floor was, he said. Fire departments from Stevenson and South Pittsburg, Tenn., also helped to fight the blaze, which began about 1 a.m., a Bridgeport Police Department spokesman said. Firefighters had a difficult time reaching the flames on the second floor. The only way for them to battle the blaze, Loyd said, was from fire truck ladders extended over the building. The contractor was almost done with renovations that had begun about three years ago. Workers had been moving furniture and showcases into it. But the Civil War and Indian artifacts had not yet been placed in the building, Loyd said. The city was financing the renovation with two federal grants worth $250,000 and about $100,000 in local money. Built in 1917, the depot was used by passenger trains for several years.
Tuesday November 9, 6:28 pm Eastern Time U.S. man charged selling stolen 16th Century art
NEW YORK, Nov 9 (Reuters) - A man in the furniture refinishing business was charged with trying to sell a 16th Century painting that he allegedly knew was stolen from a German art museum after World War II, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Frank Vaccaro, 38, of Wantagh, New York, was arrested on Monday on charges filed in Manhattan federal court. Prosecutors said customs agents found the Jacopo de' Barbari painting of Jesus Christ, which is valued at between $150,000 to $400,000, at Vaccaro's furniture refinishing business in Baldwin, New York.
According to the complaint, the painting was stolen during the Allied Force occupation of Germany in the summer of 1945 from the Schloss Schwartzburg castle in Rudolstadt. The castle was being used as a depository by the Kunstsammlungen zu Weimar, an art museum in Weimar, Germany, to protect various artwork from bombing. The complaint said the de' Barbari painting was among 13 pieces of artwork stolen from the castle. It had been part of the museum's art collection on exhibit throughout most of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. However in 1943 the museum's director had it moved to the castle. In the spring of 1945 U.S. military forces assumed occupation of the region. After the forces left in July 1945, the museum director visited the castle storeroom and found it had been looted. The complaint alleged Vaccaro contacted the museum in June 1998 asking if it had any works by de' Barbari. He allegedly contacted the museum again in August 1999 saying he had discovered a de' Barbari painting at his refinishing business. He allegedly said it was hidden underneath a layer of black paint and a print. Prosecutors said he wanted to sell the work back to the museum even though he allegedly acknowledged he knew the painting had been stolen.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/991109/bhq.html
Italian Loot
Tuesday, November 9, 1999; Page A24
The Oct. 18 editorial "Stemming the Antiquities Flow" about Italy's concern for its cultural heritage did not make the point that Italy's problem with looting stems as much from its unfair antiquities law as it does from greed.
When a country makes any artifact excavated after 1901 state property, landowners are turned into criminals if they want to retain or sell any old object--no matter how common--found on their land rather than turn it over to the government. In this, Italy differs from Great Britain, which requires reporting of finds, but which pays its citizens fair value for any metal artifacts the government wants to retain that are found on private property. Not surprisingly, while Italian authorities complain about loss of valuable archeological resources, British authorities are recording ancient hoards such as the Hoxne Treasure of coins and silver plate valued at 1.75 million pounds.
The editorial also glosses over the significance of the 1939 date of Italy's antiquities law. The law is a product of dark times, reflecting the "state encompasses all" philosophy of the Mussolini regime. It no doubt would be struck down as unconstitutional if it had been enacted in this country. This should make U.S. policymakers particularly cautious in their review of the particulars of Italy's broad request for import restrictions on a variety of ancient artifacts, including ones as common as ancient coins.
PETER K. TOMPA
Washington
washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/09/009l-110999-idx.html
c Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company
Ex-UCLA Official Collapses at Sentencing in Art Theft
Courts: Former head of student counseling, who is undergoing chemotherapy, is given 10-month sentence.
By DAVID ROSENZWEIG, Times Staff Writer
The former director of student counseling at UCLA collapsed unconscious in federal court Monday immediately after being sentenced to 10 months in custody for stealing a valuable oil painting from the university and selling it for $200,000. Proceedings were halted as Jane Crawford, 50, lay on the courtroom floor while her lawyer, an associate and a nurse helped revive her. Dazed and semicoherent, she was transported by paramedics from Judge Ronald S.W. Lew's courtroom to County-USC Medical Center for tests. Defense attorney Martin S. Bakst said afterward that Crawford has been undergoing chemotherapy for a kidney disorder, but it was not known whether her fainting spell was related to her treatment. Crawford had been standing beside her lawyer at a lectern in the center of the courtroom listening to the judge when her knees buckled and she suddenly keeled over backward onto the carpeted floor. It happened just as Lew was about to set a date for Crawford to report to the Bureau of Prisons to begin serving her sentence: five months behind bars followed by five months in a halfway house. She could have received 18 to 24 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, but Assistant U.S. Atty. Ranee A. Katzenstein agreed to recommend a lighter penalty because the former UCLA official is the sole caretaker of her father, a paralyzed stroke patient. Bakst expressed disappointment, however, that Crawford was not sentenced exclusively to home detention. He said he would take up the issue when the sentencing proceedings resume later this month. Lew also ordered Crawford to three years' probation and 300 hours of community service. And she must pay $41,280 in restitution to the New York art gallery to which she sold the painting for $200,000. The landscape, titled "Frost Flowers, Ipswich 1889," is the work of Arthur Wesley Dow, a seminal figure in the American Arts and Crafts movement and a mentor to Georgia O'Keeffe. Dow's widow donated "Frost Flowers" and eight more of his paintings in 1928 to an association affiliated with UCLA's art department. The association was later dissolved and, according to Katzenstein, the paintings became the university's property by default. Crawford's trial lawyer, Lawrence S. Strauss, argued during the trial that no crime occurred because UCLA had no clear-cut documentary proof that it ever owned the painting. The only record presented by the prosecution was an article in the Arthur Wesley Dow Assn. journal of 1928 that mentioned the gift. But after a three-day trial, jurors voted to convict Crawford on interstate fraud charges. According to testimony, the painting hung unappreciated for many years in the office of the UCLA registrar at Murphy Hall. In the late 1970s, a university employee took it home, hanging it over his fireplace mantel for 10 years before returning it to the main administration building, where counseling staffers reportedly used it as a dartboard. The painting next turned up in Crawford's office, where it hung until 1994, when she sold it through an intermediary, now deceased, to the Spanierman Gallery in New York City for $200,000. The gallery restored the painting and sold it to a private collector for $317,000. In 1996, Crawford's intermediary went to the police after they had a falling out. After learning of the probe, the gallery, which was not accused of any wrongdoing, bought the painting back and turned it over to the government. The gallery is suing UCLA and Crawford in Los Angeles federal court for $14 million in damages and to establish its legal title to the Dow painting. The gallery contends that UCLA failed to employ proper measures to safeguard the painting from theft. UCLA denies the charge.
http://www.latimes.com/news/state/19991109/t000101838.html
Copyright 1999 Los Angeles Times
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