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October 11, 1998

CONTENTS:

- Richard Viola
- http://www.percell.co.uk (database thefts)
- New Security Museum Product (ShatterGard)
- Moderator's message about sending personal and/or classified information to the list
- Workshop on disaster preparedness
- Rischel Response to Viola Report (Richard J. Viola)
- Artifacts shrouded in mystery (Miami Herald)
- ICOM Annual Meeting has started (Ton Cremers)
- Philadelphia Museum theft (Marjorie Searl)
- China court condemns four fresco thieves to death
- Looted jewellery returned (Times of London)
- Re: theft of displayed firearms (Gary Robert Yee)
- Antique, Art Robbery = $50,000.00 Reward!
- Re: (Firearms:exhibition) Availability of information to the public (Denny Hair)


Richard Viola's message Joseph Rishel is referring to can be found on the Museum Security Website at:
http://museum-security.org/reports/06098html#4
Ton Cremers
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1998 14:36:19 -0400
From: Joseph Rishel jrishel@philamuseum.org
To: securma@museum-security.org, securma@xs4all.nl, hlottier@philamuseum.org
Subject:

Richard Viola

I was surprised to read recently your note from Richard Viola, whom I knew fairly well when he was a police officer here in Philadelphia and who did, with considerable subtlety and skill, recover an Italian Renaissance painting stolen from the Art Museum. My surprise is not his memory of the event but his quite fallacious claim that we had no inventory which included the stolen object: this is completely incorrect - a photograph and full description of the object were presented to him upon discovery of the theft (the painting was/is listed in two published catalogues of the collection). This would have been a gross and profoundly incompetent error if it were true, which it is not. Memory is a funny thing. I always enjoyed working with Viola who was a talented fellow at his job? And the citizens of Philadelphia are much in his debt for recovering this beautiful work of art. Odd that he would finally remember his success with an unhappy (and accusative) spin.
Joseph J. Rishel
Curator of European Painting & Sculpture
Before 1900
Philadelphia Museum of Art
(215) 684-7611


From: "Robert Elmer" bob@percell.co.uk
To: securma@museum-security.org
Subject:

http://www.percell.co.uk (database thefts)

Date sent: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 13:44:19 +0100
Dear Sir,
For those people who suffer a theft, please advise that we at PERCELL can help by displaying a photo and discriptio on our database.
This database is supported by the Police and Insurance world-wide
Please visit our site http://www.percell.co.uk
Kind regards
Robert Elmer
** Percell Great Britain Ltd **

Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 08:51:21 -0400
From: "Jordan D. Frankel" jf@avana.net
Organization: ShatterGard Security & Safety Window Films
To: securma@museum-security.org
Subject:

New Security Museum Product (ShatterGard)

http://www.shatterGard.com

-

Moderator's message about sending personal and/or classified information to the list:

Most of you will be aware that the Museum Security mailinglist is a non-automatic moderated list. So no messages reach the list without being read by me first. The message below by Richard Viola, part three in a thread about the Phila. Museum of Art, contains some remarks that may be beyond the kind of information one wants to send to a public forum. I do not object to continuation of this thread but at the same time there may be a chance that I will act as censor. The end of Mr.Viola's message contains a very useful recommendation.
Ton Cremers

Conservation DistList
Thursday, October 8, 1998
From: Charlotte A Tancin ct0u+@andrew.cmu.edu
Subject:

Workshop on disaster preparedness

Spotting the Iceberg: Managing Facilities to Avert Disaster
November 10, 1998
9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Carnegie Lecture Hall
4400 Forbes Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Sponsored by the Oakland Library Consortium Preservation Working Group
In keeping with the recent wave of "Titanic" enthusiasm, we've borrowed the theme of spotting icebergs as a metaphor for the preventive and protective measures that can avert or minimize damage from a disaster. Join us for a half-day workshop that will address these topics:
* hazards surveys (of buildings and collection spaces)--what they are, why they're important, and how to do them;
* preventive and protective measures for minimizing damage from disasters;
* how to facilitate communications and cooperation among those who care for collections, their administrators and their facilities management staff;
* possible funding sources for hazards surveys and other such activities;
* several first-person accounts of recent emergencies involving local collections
Speakers include Sally Buchanan, School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh; Charlotte Tancin, Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University; Ron Servello, Facilities Manager, Pennsylvania State University and Peggy Domer, Foundation Center, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
This program is free to University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and Carnegie Libraries Staff, Faculty and Students. For all others, there is a nominal fee of $5.00 if registered by October 23. After October 23, the fee is $10.00. On-site registration begins at 8:30 a.m.
To register, call 412-268-6622 or print a registration form from the web site. For further information, see URL:http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~ct0u/titanic.html
Finally, also save the date for our next event, "Saving Your Family Treasures," a public event showcasing basic preservation techniques to be held at the Carnegie Museum on February 27, 1999.

from: Richard J. Viola [SMTP:6ALPHA@incom.net]
subject :

Rischel Response to Viola Report (Richard J. Viola)

I am sorry Joe Rischel felt my report accusatory. I remember clearly the events as they occurred. Joe Rischel and his wife, Ann D'Arnecourt, (I hope I spelled that Correctly), were out of the country at the time I contacted the then Director of the Phila. Museum of Art, Dr. Evan Turner. I was put off for three days waiting for a response to my request for an inventory of the Museums paintings . The investigation started as the result of a phone call from the thieves to the Phila.
Bulletin newspaper. They wanted to know why no article had appeared in the newspaper regarding the theft of an important painting from the Johnson Collection. They did this to verify the authenticity of the painting because they didn't trust the junkies they hired to steal it. Nessa Foreman, The art critic at the Bulletin called the Police Department and the Chief of detectives called my office at the Police Intelligence Unit. I was asked what I was doing about the stolen painting from the Art Museum. I told the Chief I would look into it immediately. There was no police report. The Museum never new it was missing until 3 days after I inquired about a missing painting. The investigation was complex and lasted about 3 months. During that period, after we were at a standstill for several weeks, The Chief of Detectives ordered me to "BOX" (lie detector)all of the employees. We polygraphed about 50 employees,Curators, guards, maintenance personnel etc. Out of that number many failed when asked the main question,"DID YOU STEAL THE PAINTING". I had so many suspects the tests were useless. I make no accusation. Only a statement of fact with no conclusion stated. No one from the Museum was involved with the theft and if I gave that impression I apologize. No one from the Museum ever produced any thing that even approximated an inventory of the Museums holdings. If they had one I was never given a copy.I hope that is not still the case. I cited this one case, and I handled many art thefts in the 14 years that I was a detective, because it showed exactly what I was reading in many museum theft cases. No one knew, no one cared, nobody got too upset because it wasn't their artIt appeared the scandal was more upsetting to the Museum than was the missing treasure, which was historic and irreplaceable. By the way, the thief who took it told me he simply took it down from the wall,20 feet from the guard on duty, and calmly walked out the front door of the Museum and down the steps. If you saw the movie "ROCKY" you know this to be a considerable distance open to a huge parkway filled with vehicular and pedestrian traffic.This was about 4:00PM. The thief said he knew the guard saw the painting protruding from under his sweater and expected sirens and gunshots as he ran down the front steps of the museum and down the parkway to Spruce street. I had a good relationship with the curators at the Museum and most were as helpful as they could be but I had the nagging suspicion that they were told to keep quite when asked about the missing painting. I would hope that the relationship between the detectives investigating art thefts and the museum staffs and Directors has improved over the years.People stereotype police just like Police stereotype people associated with the Arts. It is imperative that the larger police departments, train detectives specifically to handle art and antique thefts. These are unique in many ways and require specially trained personnel. I am a retired Police Chief and realize that the smaller departments cannot afford the luxury of this type of specially trained personnel. Museums should assign someone from their staff to be the liaison to the police department and both should meet from time to time. The museums can be an invaluable source to police and vice versa. I hope this will serve to clear up any confusion regarding the facts of this case,many of which, Joe Rischel was probably never aware of.

Published Thursday, October 8, 1998, in the Miami Herald

Artifacts shrouded in mystery (Miami Herald)

By DAVID KIDWELL
Herald Staff Writer
When three U.S. Customs inspectors in Miami pried open the lid of a 572-pound wooden crate marked ``Peruvian handicrafts,'' they found a heart-stopping mystery crossing two millenniums, three continents and the plundered tombs of ancient Peruvian mummies. Today, three years later, the contents of that crate -- including millions of dollars in intricate golden artifacts, rare and beautiful ancient textiles and headdresses, even a female mummy head in a wool turban dating back to 200 years before Christ -- are beginning their journey home. But their whole story may never be told. ``These grave-robbers are after money, but in a very large way they have stolen much more than relics,'' said Carol Damian, a Florida International University art historian who helped discover the artifacts. ``Even though we have them back, without knowing exactly where and how they were found, there is no way their story can be told. ``In many ways, the academic and scientific value is gone,'' she said. ``Now they are just artifacts -- very beautiful, significant artifacts.'' The U.S. Customs Service in Miami has called a news conference for 2 p.m. today to officially give back to the Peruvian government 208 relics found during the routine Feb. 24, 1995, inspection at a Lufthansa Airlines warehouse at Miami International Airport. Records obtained by The Herald say the three-foot by five-foot by four-foot crate came from Lima, Peru, on a Lufthansa cargo flight on Feb. 2, 1995, with a manifest that listed its contents as 120 pounds of ``Peruvian handicrafts'' bound for Switzerland and valued at $2,764. ``It didn't take us very long to figure out this was a lot more than handicrafts,'' said one Customs source. ``We don't run across this kind of stuff all the time.'' Until they were uncovered in Miami by senior Customs Inspectors Luis Marcos, John Markovic and Wayne Russell, the artifacts had never been documented, leading experts to believe they were plundered from a variety of officially undiscovered tombs ranging from 200 B.C. to 1500 A.D. Peruvian authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the man they believe shipped the artifacts, Rolando Rivas-Rivadeneyra, of Lima, who remains at-large charged with exporting artifacts from Peru without the necessary permission and paperwork. Customs has also investigated those who were to receive the crate in Zurich, Switzerland. No charges have been filed, records show. Peruvians have long lamented the rampant plundering of ancient tombs and archaeological sites, according to Walter Alva, a Peruvian archaeologist who fought grave-robbers to save the famous tomb of the Lord of Sipan in 1987. Officials of the National Institute of Culture estimate $800 million each year is made on the illegal sale of plundered artifacts from pre-Columbian civilizations such as Sipan, Mochica, Chancay, Chimu, Inca, Nazca and others. ``We're fighting an international mafia,'' Alva told The Herald in 1991. ``The country is so poor we don't have the resources to wage a fair fight. . . . Reason and truth are on our side, and they'll triumph over money.'' Alva was called in by Customs and local experts to help identify the seized artifacts. ``You could set up a museum with just these artifacts,'' he said, just after his first inspection in June. Meticulously wrapped and stuffed in newspapers and individual boxes: a mummified forearm and hand with a blue tattoo dating from the 13th Century; a solid gold ritual rattle from the 200s; a gold-filled copper fox head, inlaid with shell eyes, tongue sticking out, possibly a hunting headdress; wooden ear plugs; feathered capes; clay pottery; ancient metalwork; even an ornamental child's wool cap. News of the find quickly spread to include Peruvian National Police and the scientific community. Even before they head home, many of the artifacts are on their way to Florida International Museum of St. Petersburg, where they will be part of a Empires of Mystery exhibit from Oct. 23 until the spring. So significant is the underworld traffic of these artifacts, the museum has included a replica of the Miami warehouse as a backdrop for the exhibit. ``I'm just delighted for this opportunity,'' said Vera Espinosa, the museum's curator. ``And it's an absolutely fantastic opportunity for us to show what U.S. Customs is doing to intercept these antiquities. ``It's so sad how they are being spirited from Peru, especially the mummies,'' Espinosa said. ``But I don't feel cursed by them all. I feel blessed to just see them.''

The ICOM annual meeting has started in Australia.

I do hope all of you present there will have a very productive time, especially our peers at the ICMS meeting. My offer to integrate the Museum Security Network and its mailinglist into ICMS WWW efforts still stands!
Ton Cremers

From: Marjorie Searl jsearl@frontiernet.net
To: securma@museum-security.org
Subject:

Philadelphia Museum theft (Marjorie Searl)

The interchange between Mr. Viola and Mr. Rishel is quite useful to many of us in museums. I appreciate both parties' candor. As an observer of this discussion, it seems to me that one aspect of the differences of opinions between the two is the use of the word "inventory." Mr. Viola expressed surprise that there was no inventory of objects available to give to the police, while Mr. Rishel maintains that the police were given access to all necessary records. I would offer that every credentialled museum maintains records for every object, and they are most likely maintained in a variety of ways - catalog cards for each object, log books for accessions, individual files, etc. However, because most museums are in the beginning stages of digitizing those records, it is not feasible for most museums at this point to provide listings of all objects in an expedient manner. I do not know if this may have been the case at Philadelphia. What this dialog has provided is yet another reason why museums and granting agencies must support the expensive and time-consuming move toward acquiring and maintaining computerized collections management systems. Any type of disaster will require quick access to collections records, for in-house use as well as for external use, in any disaster-related scenario. There are some related issues, however, that I would be interested to see discussed, having to do with the security required to maintain control over who is entitled to see a complete inventory listing of a museum's collection. Once it leaves the museum's hands, it would seem impossible to control that type of information, and is it a security risk to have complete inventories circulating outside the museum? In this internet age, does it matter, considering that anyone can click onto a museum website and quickly learn about its most important works, or sometimes search a catalog of its holdings? I agree that one of the most beneficial aspects of this whole interchange has been Mr. Viola's recommendation that museums have good working relationships with their local law enforcement agencies, who should also probably be called upon to review current disaster plans. Marjorie Searl
Assistant Director for Curatorial Affairs
Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester
Rochester, New York

China court condemns four fresco thieves to death

11:49 p.m. Oct 09, 1998 Eastern
BEIJING, Oct 10 (Reuters) - A city court near China's ancient capital Xi'an has sentenced four people to death and jailed nine for stealing and selling 1,000-year-old frescoes, the China Daily reported on Saturday. The 13 were caught after a two-year investigation showed they forged a key to a museum and stole 15 frescoes which had been found in the tomb of an imperial concubine from the Tang dynasty (617-907), the report said. Aided by a museum worker who was the wife of their ringleader, the thieves stole the paintings during four raids on a museum in Xianyang in northern Shaanxi province from 1992-94.
They sold the relics in southern Guangdong province, from where they were smuggled overseas. Only two had been recovered, the report said. But it gave no details of the wall paintings and did not say how they were carried off. China executes far more people each year than the rest of the world combined and in the past has even condemned people caught stealing cattle, international human rights monitors have said. A reform last year of punishment guidelines eliminated many types of theft from the list of capital crimes, but retained the death penalty for stealing and trafficking in cultural relics.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.

Looted jewellery returned (Times of London)

FROM DAVID ADAMSIN MIAMI
A PRICELESS collection of pre-Columbian treasures looted by grave robbers from Peru's rich archaeological sites is being repatriated after US Customs inspectors seized a suspicious crate at Miami airport. The collection, comprising 208 pieces, is one of the largest hoards of stolen cultural artefacts recovered in the United States and includes two mummified heads, a withered arm, gold jewellery, ceramics and textiles which date back to the 2nd century BC. In a ceremony this week, the collection was handed back to the Peruvian Government. The investigation has proved frustrating, however, because the police have been unable so far to make any arrests. It has been more than three years since the crate was detected on its way from Peru to Zurich. A warrant has been issued for the Lima man whom officials believe shipped the artefacts, but police have been unable to track him down or identify the Swiss buyer.

From: Gary Robert Yee gyee@famsf.org
Subject:

Re: theft of displayed firearms (Gary Robert Yee)

Theft from the Houston PD museum, also the site of a police academy, is unfortunate. It is not the first firearm theft from a museum. The National Firearms Museum in Washington DC (now relocated to VA) had some guns taken a couple of years back. So has the Browning Firearms Museum (SIC) in Ogden, Utah. Setting aside better display cases with internal motion sensors, intrusion alarms, increased security presence with quick response time, firearms are easily deactivated without destroying their historic value. It's not difficult for a police armorer or gunsmith to remove the internal working parts and use museum wax to affix the external parts in place. Accompany deactivation with posted notices stating the all firearms are deactivated. Along with many other firearms, the Presidio Army Museum in San Francisco had a very rare (1 of 4) Pedersen device which was displayed for years. With everything deactivated, no thefts of firearms occured (to my knowledge).
G. Yee
Dir. of Sec.
FAMSF

From: "The Trader" chiefjustice@justicemail.com
Subject:

Antique, Art Robbery = $50,000.00 Reward!

Organization: JusticeMail (http://www.justicemail.com:80)
Sirs:
I would like to suggest a site for inclusion in your listings dealing with a $1,000,000.00+ robbery. The site is at: http://www.angelfire.com/mo/antiques101/index.html and includes photos of the couple who reported the robbery along with their history of being robbed. We appreciate your time to check out our site. We sell nothing, we are only seeking the information to solve the crime.
Very truly yours,
The Traders
Visit FindLaw at http://www.findlaw.com for free case law, web guide, and legal news, and get your free @JusticeMail.com address at http://www.justicemail.com

From: swcmfhba@compassnet.com
Subject:

Re: (Firearms:exhibition) Availability of information to the public

Museum Professionals,
Subject: Firearms:exhibition
I thought I would engage a little in this discussion. I am the Director of the Houston Police Museum and we have a large firearm collection. Our museum is located at the Houston Police Academy and we have both a Museum building and many exhibits though out our 21 acre complex at the academy. With that said, and giving the reality that we have police officers visit all the time and its run by police officers I you would not think that security would be an issue. Unfortunately it is. We were a target of a Burglary and Theft were the primary motivation was to see if it could be done rather that value of the artifacts. They were sold after the theft but that was another side line to the issue. All of the suspects were caught but not all of the property recovered. It is our opinion that collections should have access to be viewed and studied or they fail to have value as collections. Firearms are no exception and need to have certain security needs meet. Since our loss we have installed a more involved security system and monitor the collection with more vigor. Still we use a portion of our firearms in display as to otherwise would cause us to allow the criminal element to dictate policy. In a free society that will not be tolerated....At least not by us. Yes we face a potential of a loss but so do all museums. As far as display on the web is concerned, I doubt the exposure would cause anymore of a security problem than already exists. If the issue of firearm display or study becomes a political one then the weight of the arguments against it must be thought through against the short term benefits. Museums and collections will out last the politicians in the long haul. In the short term, it might be better to use discretion until the objectionable politicians have lost their political standing. All things come for those who can wait.
Denny Hair
Director, HPD Museum
securma@xs4all.nl wrote:
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
From: "MRS MF WAY-JONES" amfj@giraffe.ru.ac.za
Organization: Rhodes University
To: TonCremers@museum-security.org
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 08:21:17 GMT+0200
Subject:

Availability of information to the public


Hi Ton
We are discussing the question of availability of information especially about firearms. An organisation has requested our catalogue of firearms to place on the web.
There is the feeling in museum circles that firearms are maybe a different issue to other collections. This may be a particularly South African feeling given our high crime and unlicensed firearms rate.
Has anything been written about public rights of access to information? Would you subscribers like to comment?
Thanks for your interesting newsgroup
Fleur Way-Jones
Ms Fleur Way-Jones: Collections Manager/Curator, Albany Museum
Address: Somerset Street, GRAHAMSTOWN, 6139
Telephone: 046-6222312
Fax: 046-6222398
International Code +27-46-6222312/6222398


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