Ton Cremers
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Museum hides £400k rhino heads over robbery fears
http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/scotland/museum-hides-400k-rhino-heads-over-robbery-fears-1-2856382March 26, 2013
By FRANK URQUHART Published on Monday 25 March 2013 23:26

The black Rhino head which has had to be removed from a museum amid fears it would be targeted by ruthless armed gangs. Picture: HEMedia

By FRANK URQUHART

Published on Monday 25 March 2013 23:26
SCOTLAND’S oldest independent museum has been forced to put two valuable rhino heads under lock and key, amid fears the building could be targeted by armed gangs selling illegal rhino horn on the Asian black market.

The black and white rhino heads – two of the star exhibits at the Elgin Museum in Moray – have been transferred for safekeeping to the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh, following a spate of raids across Europe.

Rhino horns can sell for up £50,000 a kg on the black market – making them more valuable than gold or cocaine. Illegal powdered rhino horn is used in traditional Asian medicines and is prized as an aphrodisiac.

In February last year, a gang was foiled in a bid to steal a rhino horn from a display case at a Norfolk museum. In 2011, horns were stolen from three museums in France and a taxidermist in Vienna.

Janet Trythall, vice-president of the Moray Society, which owns the Elgin museum, said the rhino heads, which have been in its collection since 1941, had been transferred to the vaults of the National Museums to ensure the safety of museum staff. A late Ming dynasty rhino-horn cup has also been moved.

She said: “We were obviously concerned that someone might try and steal the rhino heads. There have been reports of many thefts of rhino material from museums over the past couple of years, on the continent and in England, often involving forced entry while the building has been occupied, and the use of CS gas spray.

“Many of these thefts have been violent thefts, and we had to think about the safety of our staff and volunteers. The horns are of sufficient value that people are prepared to take desperate measures to steal rhino horns.”

Ms Trythall said the society had been reluctant to surrender the “iconic objects” from its collection but had been left with no choice. “We tried to find alterative solutions,” she said. “We had installed a panic button at the door in the first instance, but after being contacted by a member of the staff from the cultural collections at the National Museums, we decided the exhibits just had to go.

“I think it’s unlikely the people of Moray will see these exhibits again in our lifetime.

“It’s awful to be dictated by these gangs as to what you are able to display, but we have to be realistic.”

The head of the white rhino had been on display in the museum’s main hall. It was shot in Sudan in 1913. The black rhino was shot in Northern Rhodesia. Both artefacts were donated by the father of Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Menzies, who lived at Arndilly House in Craigellachie.

The Chinese rhino horn was donated by George Boyd Anderson, a worldwide traveller and collector from Lossiemouth who died in 1972 and gave Elgin Museum nearly 100 objects he had collected during his travels.

A spokesman for the National Museums of Scotland described the transfer of the three exhibits to Edinburgh as a “one-off”, saying he wasn’t aware of any other museums taking the same step.

He added that all rhino material at the Edinburgh museums had been removed from public display some time ago. “Our exhibits are clearly marked up as ‘fake rhino horn’,” he said.

A spokesman for Glasgow Life, which runs many of the city’s museums, said it had removed a rhinoceros’ horn exhibit following a security assessment in August 2011.

Ooggetuige Erik Manders, die in de buurt woont, zag hoe twee mannen met capuchons op rond 5 uur vrijdagmorgen aan de achterkant van het museum spullen in hun auto laadden. Enkele ogenblikken later kwam de politie aanrijden uit de richting waarin de daders zouden zijn weggereden.

Bij de inbraak in museum van Bommel van Dam in Venlo zijn vier kunstwerken gestolen met een waarde van 1,1 miljoen euro. Het gaat om drie panelen met beschilderd papier-maché en één paneel met olieverf. Allevier de gestolen werken maakten deel uit van de lopende expositie van de collectie Manders. Die is sinds 27 januari in het Venlose museum voor moderne kunst te zien.

Ik lees eerst nu uw column op de website van museumbeveiliging over de kunstroof bij
de kunsthal en de reactie van de boze buurman Jelle Reumer. Wat een onterecht vunzig gif van deze meneer aan jou adres, zeg! Het is wel begrijpelijk, toen werd gewaarschuwd dat de neushoorndieven actief waren en ook in het natuurmuseum een diefstal dreigde van de neushoorn met echte hoorns die vanuit de buitenzijde duidelijk zichtbaar hing op de eerste etage van het natuurmuseum heeft hij er niet voor gekozen deze – rekening houdend met de niet optimale beveiliging van het natuurmuseum en de waarschijnlijke rovers die tweemaal in het museum geweest zijn en duidelijk alleen maar interesse hadden voor neushoornkop – dan maar in veiligheid te brengen.

Hij heeft de neushoornkop lekker zitbaar laten hangen en het risico van diefstal met eventueel gevaar voor personeel, er was namelijk bericht van de politie dat als ze zouden komen dan was het met traangas, maar voor lief genomen.
De neushoorn is gestolen: goed voor de publiciteit en de verzekeringspenningen; het natuurmuseum zat en zit in zware financiële problemen de verzekeringspenningen waren zeer welkom.

Jelle Reumer heeft met deze arrogante houding de museumwereld in een kwaad daglicht gebracht en dat niet alleen, hij heeft bij de verzekering een bedrag geclaimd voor de hoorn en herstelkosten die niet overeenstemde met de werkelijke kosten.

Uiteindelijk heeft de verzekering het geclaimde bedrag uitbetaald niet alleen de verzekering maar ook het OBR als huisbaas heeft de schade moeten vergoeden aan de glazen deuren; dat zou allemaal niet nodig zijn geweest als de neushoorn tijdelijk in veiligheid was gebracht.
Jelle Reumer hoeft niet in de rij de staan als het predicaat allooi wordt uitgedeeld hij heeft het reeds.

Ik wens jou veel succes met je verdere objectieve analyses van de beveiliging hier en daar.

groet Anthon Groeneweg

Ton Cremers

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Ton Cremers

This statement by the director of the Kunsthal really disqualifies her as a manager with ultimate responsibility for the security of the museum, a core business.

There is no other option: she should leave, and make room for a manager who IS qualified for this job.

Ton Cremers

But I suggest that “Dr. Knelman” is guilty of receiving biased information and failure to actually conduct his own independent research.
Interestingly, only fleetingly ( and in the fine print) does Knelman actually even mention Bob Bazin fromFBI Philadelphia and Bill Martin from LAPD Los Angeles, and he somehow (?? ??)completely manages to omit the entire FBI New York, Brooklyn- Queens “art squad” and other major cases of the FBI?? He attempts some sensationalism (the Los Angeles Police ride-along) and the story falls flat. Knelman has failed to adequately research his subject matter with any reasonable attention.
I am personally proud to give Bill Martin, Bob Bazin and the FBI- Brooklyn Queens Metropolitan Resident Agency all the credit for their mentoring to me.. Whom on earth does Knelman really think brings all of those NY cases to federal court, anyway?
Regarding at least the US investigators, Knelman has as we say here, “drank the Kool-Aid” . He apparently gives great credence to those self promoting vague websites and autobiographic Wikipedia entries. At best, “Hot Art” appears to be yet another poorly researched vanity publication- perhaps based on another ghost written 2010 debacle in which the “investigator” seems to never (??) actually do their job and present a case for prosecution. Thank you Mr. Cremers, for this message board and for all of your contributions to this field. If I were you, I’d get a second opinion on Knelman’s diagnosis.
Virginia Curry, Special Agent, FBI (retired)

Ton Cremers

Ton Cremers

Dr. King ought to be applauded for bringing images of looted works to the attention of a wider public.

Ton Cremers

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http://www.radio1.nl/items/41185-wat-gebeurt-er-met-gestolen-kunst?autostart=73495

Ton Cremers

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Secondly, I think, that in this difficult and painful situation the mission of museums is still the same: to preserve, to research, to display – for pleasure and learning, for better understanding the wider world. It seems to me that it is exactly what the Horniman museum did: yes, the Benin bronzes were looted, but after that – preserved, recorded, described, researched, admired, displayed – for pleasure and learning. As a result, for white looters, their descendants and all other people they physically and visually present and confirm the scale and grandeur of Benin civilization, shaming and disgracing looters at the same time.

Regarding the issue of interpretation – I feel that politically biased approach went too far on both sides in this article: definitely, people of Nigeria have all right (and even duty) to interpret their heritage (and also history and heritage of all other countries). But exactly the same right and academic duty have museum curators, keepers, researchers, etc. It is not nationality and colour give this right, but education, professional vocation and training. If a museum curator cannot research, understand and explain the artefacts entrusted to him/her, he is not fit for his post. (I am Russian. Can I say that you, Western museum professionals, have no right to interpret Russian objects in your collections? Sounds silly…)

But also I picked up from the article a paragraph, which is not particularly important in the whole context, but I personally am very concerned with the issue, and fully share the autor’s point of view: ”
Posted by Olga Baird

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