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March 29, 1999

THE END OF CCTV PUZZLES

What seems to be a real solution of storing camera images. We received an interesting demonstration at the L.A. conference and at the moment are considering buying DigiEye and want to share information with those subscribers who have experiences with digital recording of camera images.
Ton Cremers
disclaimer: http://museum-security.org/index.html#disclaimer

From: Jonathan Sazonoff saz@kwom.com
Subject:

Cultural Property Update

Dear Subscribers,
Several items of interest; the USIA has recently updated their web site. They now offer photos to illustrate cultural items whose import is banned. http://www.usia.gov/education/culprop/
Next, UNESCO has a page about their efforts to halt the theft, looting and illicit traffic of cultural property. http://www.unesco.org/culture/legalprotection/theft/theft.htm
And finally, the American Association of Museums Convention will be held in Cleveland, Ohio April 25 - 29. www.aam-us.org
Some sessions,
of interest to readers of this list, include:
Illicit Trafficking, the Law, and U.S. Museums (April 26) Due Diligence: Redefining Acquisition Policies (April 29) Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: The Basics of Courier Training (April 27) Security and High Profile Visitors: Implications, Benefits and Perspectives (April 27) The ABC's of Collections Insurance: Getting Beyond the "Legalese" (April 28) Common Sense Security Without a Security Force (April 29) Down But Not Out - Getting the Museum Open After a Disaster (April 26) Electronic Surveillance Versus Staffed Posts (April 27) Museum in Flames - The Aftermath of a Museum Fire (April 27) The Impact of Terrorism on Cultural Institutions (April 28) Things That Can Go Wrong, Will: See Plan B (April 27)
For more specific information see
http://www.aam-us.org/program/sessions_by_subject.htm
Hope you find this of interest,
Saz Prod., Inc
www.saztv.com

From: Antony F Anderson antonya@antonya.ace.co.uk
Subject:

Art Law: Holding the Bag: Stolen Art and Museums

Holding the Bag: when Stolen Art Claims hit Museums hosting Loan Shows - Martha B. G. Lufkin ------ Summary of Article in March 1999 issue of "Art, Antiquity and Law", published by the Institute of Art and Law and Kluwer Law. ( IAL at http://www.pipemedia.net/ial)
Museums are faced with a dilemma as to how far they should check the provenance of loaned works of art. This piece examines the increasing tendency of museums to carry out searches, following a number of high-profile cases involving Nazi-looted works of art. It discusses whether or not such works should be borrowed, the time taken to carry out searches, and the impact of such searches on the loaning of works to museums.
Summary of other articles in 'Art, Antiquity and Law' and how to obtain a complimentary copy go to: http://www.pipemedia.net/ial/aal.htm
For details of Institute of Art and Law go to:
http://www.pipemedia.net/ial
Antony Anderson
antonya@antonya.ace.co.uk

From: Antony F Anderson antonya@antonya.ace.co.uk
Subject:

Art, Antiques,Fruits of Crime, Laundering etc.

"Art Antiques and the Fruits of Crime: Laundering, Investigation and Confiscation." by Ian Snaith. -
Art, Antiquity and Law, March 1999.(publ. by Institute of Art and Law http://www.pipemedia.net/ial)
Summary:
Art and antiquities are frequently the subject of offences of money laundering. This article is the second half of a series on this issue. It explores the impact on dealers and collectors of police powers of investigation and confiscation, under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and the Drug Trafficking Act 1994, of art and antiquities used in or forming the proceeds of crime. It describes COPAT's Policy of Due Diligence, which aims to protect art dealers and collectors from criminal activities and in Details of how to obtain a complimentary copy of 'Art Antiquity and Law' , published jointly by the Institute of Art and Law and Kluwer Law, can be found at: http://www.pipemedia.net/ial/aal.htm
Antony Anderson
antonya@antonya.ace.co.uk

(The Sunday Telegraph Australia)

Police appeal for help in art fraud

28mar99
POLICE yesterday appealed for help in investigating a fraud involving copies of works by some of Australia's best known artists. The alleged fraud involved paintings sold from a gallery on Windsor St in Paddington before 1997, Detective Senior Constable Steve Murray said.
"Some of these paintings have been painted by another artist and have false letters of authenticity or provenance," he said. "In 1997, it was discovered the owner of the gallery, who had died, was in possession of a number of fake paintings." The pictures involved were copies of paintings by Brett Whitely, Arthur Streeton, Russell Drysdale, Emanuel Phillips Fox, Fred Williams and Lloyd Rees.
Const Murray appealed to anyone who had bought a painting from the gallery to contact Crime Stoppers.

(The Australian)

Albright in the firing line over family's lost treasure

From The Sunday Times
29mar99

WASHINGTON: A wealthy Austrian family is threatening legal action against Madeleine Albright, the US Secretary of State, in an acrimonious row over a priceless collection of paintings and antiques that has its roots in the chaotic aftermath of World War II. In a hitherto unpublicised dispute, descendants of Karl Nebrich, an Austrian industrialist, claim Dr Albright's father, Josef Korbel, a former Czech Foreign Ministry official who was Jewish, stole millions of dollars' worth of art and furniture from them. Korbel then fled with it and his family to the US at the end of the war. Tired of endless brush-offs from a US lawyer acting for John Korbel, Dr Albright's brother, Nebrich's heirs are considering legal proceedings to reclaim the property - including a collection of old master paintings - in what risks becoming an unwelcome and embarrassing distraction for the US's first female Secretary of State. "I cannot believe the American Secretary of State enjoys eating with my family's silver," Philip Harmer, a great-grandson of Nebrich, said last week. "These things must be handed over to my family." The dispute dates from a turbulent period of European history, which Dr Albright - who as a child fled from Nazism and then Stalinism - has cited as having shaped her world view. After escaping to London when the Germans marched into Prague in 1939, the family returned to the Czech capital in 1945, when Dr Albright was 8. They found that several of the family's Jewish relatives who had stayed behind had died in concentration camps. A flat at 11 Hradsanke Street in Prague was assigned to Dr Albright's father as a reward for his services to the Czech Foreign Ministry. It had been expropriated from the Nebriches, who, although not members of the Nazi party, had lived comfortably as citizens of the Reich during the war, but then found themselves out of favour with the Czech authorities when the war ended. According to the Nebrich family, Korbel took possession of paintings, silver and antique furniture, even though these were not included in the expropriation order covering the flat. When Korbel was appointed ambassador to Yugoslavia, he moved his family and, allegedly, the treasure trove of art to Belgrade. Three years later, however, Czechoslovakia's communists staged a coup and, for the second time, Korbel, an opponent of the communists, was in danger. The family fled to the US, where Korbel got a job as a professor at the University of Denver. The Nebrich family tried for decades to track a "Dr Korbel". But it was not until 1996, when Dr Albright, then the US ambassador to the UN, revisited her childhood home in Prague and spoke of her happy memories of growing up there, that the Nebrich family realised she was Korbel's daughter.

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