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October 24, 1998

CONTENTS:

- Museum Theft a Federal Offense (FBI SA Robert K. Wittman)
- Plundered artifacts returned to Peru
- Drawing fools Leonardo expert (Times of London) - Taxpayers charged for art (Times of London)
- V&A vase found in the left luggage (two days missing without anyone noticing; Times of London)
- Seminar on disaster response (Cathie Jilovsky)
- Workshop on disaster response (Cathie Jilovsky)
- INTERPOL (USNCB) reciently updated cultural property website
- visitors explaining why they should not touch works of art
- Library vandal; Man pleads to ripping blank pages from books
- query: name of the person who recently hit and damaged Michaelangelo's Pieta In the Vatican.
- special agent robert wittman (Richard J. Viola)
- RE: V&A vase found in the left luggage (Richard J. Viola)
- Stolen Bones - Paleontology ( Jonathan Sazonoff)
- looking for security methods/devices (Henry Villerot)
- Museum Behavior (Dorothy Shinn)
- French grave robbers return Neolithic booty (Times of London)
- Thieves loot prehistoric tomb (BBC online)
- Regarding the art theft at the V&A
- museum theft cases (J Piper)
- Italian government has now posted major stolen art works
- Garbage fire damages ancient palace in old Cairo
- Canaletto painting stolen in Venice
- RE:Dominic Kennedy Article on the stolen V & A vase (Steve Keller)
- Query: Disaster planning in museums
- FBI recovers Pissarro painting believed stolen 20 years ago

From: Silverb410@aol.com
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1998 20:34:33 EDT
To: securma@museum-security.org
Subject:

Museum Theft a Federal Offense (FBI SA Robert K. Wittman )

It has been interesting watching the discussion about the painting stolen from the Philadelphia Musuem of Art that was recovered by Detective Viola. He advised in his last message that liason should be maintaned between museums and their respective police departments and that larger departments should specifically train personnel to deal with art theft. This would be a perfect solution in the imperfect world of diminishing police department budgets and increasing personal property and violent crime statistics. Another solution is the FBI. Under the Theft of Major Artwork Statute (18 USC 668) passed as part of the Crime Bill of 1994, it is now a federal crime for anyone to steal a work of art valued at more than $5,000 and is more than 100 years old or is valued at $100,000 with no age requirement, from a museum as defined in the statute. A second part of this law further states that it is a violation for anyone to knowingly conceal, dispose of , hide or maintain a piece that fits the parameters of the statute. What this does is to expose someone who has not stolen the piece to the same charge and penalty as the thief . Further, the crime of concealment continues even though the statute of limitations governing the actual theft may have expired. This is not the case under local statute so this federal law is very important to the museum community. To my knowledge to date this statute has been charged at least two times and has resulted in the convictions of five individuals with federal no parole sentences ranging from 18 months to four years. Both of those cases were charged in Philadelphia--- the first was a burglary and theft at Pennsbury Manor , the summer home of William Penn, in which three men were convicted in 1996 and the second was for a $2.5 million theft of historical items from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1997 where two others were convicted this year and sentenced to four years each. The federal judge in that case departed upward to the four year sentence stating that the guideline sentencing range of 28 months did not adequately reflect the seriousness of the crime. He also mentioned that he had received more than 20 letters from institutions around the country which impressed the importance upon him of the stiff sentencing. I am familiar with these cases because I was the investigator assigned to the thefts. In both cases the FBI was the lead investigative agency and there is a commitment from Washington to assist museums in theft circumstances. It would be wise to create a liason with your local FBI office as well as the local PD since the FBI does often have access to different resources and will have primary investigative jurisdiction in many circumstances. Special Agent Robert K. Wittman, FBI Philadelphia, 215-418-4141

Plundered artifacts returned to Peru

Sunday, October 11, 1998
By LARRY LEBOWITZ Special from The Sun Sentinel, South Florida

MIAMI -- It was a scene right out of an "Indiana Jones" sequel -- minus the movie stars and identifiable villains -- a modern-day tale of profiteering grave robbers, black marketeers bartering in historic artifacts and greedy collectors hankering for that one-of-a-kind item. Laid out on the table, a treasure-trove of pre-Columbian Peruvian riches: a mummified woman's head wrapped in the turban she was buried in some 2,200 years ago, her teeth intact; a 700-year-old shriveled forearm, replete with blue tattoo; a 1,700-year-old solid gold rattle. These historic artifacts were among 208 plundered from Peruvian grave sites, and archaeological monuments. They were recovered almost by accident 3 1/2 years ago by the U.S. Customs Service. American authorities returned the cultural artifacts to the Peruvian people Thursday at a news conference in Miami. "We are incredibly grateful," said Carlos J. Cornejo, the Peruvian Counsel General in Miami. Maria Cristina Baltazar Mateo, an archaeologist with the National Institute of Culture in Peru, said grave robbing is "very, very serious. It's taking away what belongs to us, our history." The problem is rooted in poverty at one end and immense greed at the other. Peruvian peasants who make the American equivalent of $50 a year are offered "large" sums -- approaching $10 -- to plunder the graves and archaeological sites. In this case, the Peruvian middlemen who paid the plunderers collected large quantities of the pre-Columbian, meaning pre-Hispanic, artifacts and then tried to ship them via Miami to a broker in Zurich, Switzerland. In Peru, authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the shipper, Rolando Rivas Rivadeneyra. A Rivas associate, believed to be higher up in the artifacts-smuggling operation, was murdered in Peru in May 1997. Swiss authorities investigated the Zurich broker, but never identified the ultimate purchaser of the items. While curators conservatively estimated the grave robbers could seek $1 million for the items, their resale value on the antiquities black market is priceless. "Think of it: There are no other pieces like this anywhere in the world. There never will be again," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ana Barnett. "It's the idea of having something that no one else in the world has." The items, marked as 2,750 pounds of Peruvian handicrafts, were discovered almost by accident, said Senior Customs Inspector Wayne Russell. The crate that arrived at Miami International Airport on a flight from Lima in February 1995 was marked as 2,760 pounds of Peruvian handicrafts. Inspectors are wary of large crates from South America, especially those containing items, such as handicrafts, that can be filled with cocaine. While most of the items are being shipped to Lima this week, 40 of the more historically significant pieces will be on display in St. Petersburg at the Florida International Museum as part of an exhibit on ancient Inca and Andean cultures opening Oct. 22. The museum, which was already planning the exhibit, will create a special gallery explaining how the plundered Peruvian trinkets were discovered by Customs. And just to make sure the Indiana Jones theme is maintained, the museum enlisted actor John Rhys-Davies, who plays Dr. Jones' Egyptian sidekick, to narrate the audio for the exhibit.
Copyright c 1998 Bergen Record Corp.


Drawing fools Leonardo expert (Times of London)

BY DALYA ALBERGE AND JULIA CROSSE

ONE of the world's leading experts on Leonardo da Vinci has been fooled into including a drawing by a 20th century artist in an exhibition by the Renaissance master. Carlo Pedretti had exhibited A Rearing Horse with Nude Rider only to learn that the red chalk study had been drawn in 1961 by Riccardo Tommasi Ferroni. The mistake was discovered by chance when Tommasi Ferroni, now 63, visited the touring exhibition in his home town of Lucca in Italy. Shocked at the sight of his work he contacted the police in whose hands it remains. Yesterday Professor Pedretti apologised for his mistake but said he was heartened that such draughtsmanship still existed. "He is very skilful in imitating Leonardo. It is nice to know there are people able to perform like the Old Masters. It is sad that such talent is unrecognised." The professor is director of the Armand Hammer Centre for the study of Leonardo da Vinci at the University of California. Experts have hailed him as the world's finest Leonardo scholar. He had confidently attributed Tommasi Ferroni's work to Leonardo in the show, suggesting that it might be a study for his great Battle of Anghiari. Tommasi Ferroni had drawn the work on early 16th-century paper, but he dismissed the suggestion that he had intended to deceive. He said that he used antique paper because it was "of superb quality and gives extraordinary results". He had bought the paper from a shop in Via dei Pintori in Florence's Santa Croce district, traditionally the street of art supplies. He said: "I had no intention of fooling anybody. I draw for my own pleasure. "I was flattered that anybody should compare my modest work to some of the greatest art ever produced but I see myself more as a little motorbike alongside a huge Rolls-Royce. An authentic motorbike, but rather that than a fake Rolls-Royce." His work is still in the hands of the police but may yet return to the show - with a revised label.


Taxpayers charged for art (Times of London)

WIM KOK, the Prime Minister of The Netherlands, his Finance Minister and the chief of the Dutch Central Bank were rebuked yesterday for buying a £26 million abstract painting with taxpayers' money and donating it to a museum. The national Court of Audit - an independent body that investigates government spending - said in a draft report that the three had overstepped their bounds with the purchase of Piet Mondrian's Victory Boogie Woogie. Some art experts praise the painting as the pinnacle of the Dutch master's career; but the Court of Audit was not impressed that the Government had seen fit to acquire it with public funds. It was revealed that the private National Art Collection Funds purchased the work with part of a donation of £36 million from the 1998 profits of the Central Bank. Auditors have concluded that the bank may turn over surpluses only to the State. Mr Kok, Gerrit Zalm, the Finance Minister, and Nout Wellink, the President of the Central Bank, were singled out as having been responsible foran "unauthorised and inappropriate purchase". The diamond-shaped collage of small squares in bold blues, reds and yellows, was done in oil and black crayon with paper and plastic.

V&A vase found in the left luggage (two days missing without anyone noticing)

BY DOMINIC KENNEDY

AN 18th Century Oriental vase was stolen from under the noses of Victoria and Albert Museum curators, smuggled to a railway station and hidden in a left-luggage locker for two days without anyone noticing that it was missing. Although the ornament is 2ft tall, bright gold and emblazoned with a distinctive floral pattern, the experts at the museum failed at first to notice that it had vanished from its usual place. And they missed an obvious clue: it is one of a pair. The porcelain vase was retrieved only after two Israeli tourists were spotted behaving oddly outside the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon at 2.15am on Thursday. On closer inspection, it emerged that they were trying to chop off valuable Israeli emblems from the pole. They were both wearing gloves and were found to have a spanner, pincers, and two hacksaws on them. But the most important discovery was a left luggage ticket from Victoria station - which led to the vase. Somehow, the pair had slipped it past the V&A's security guards and on to the tourist-thronged streets of "Museum Mile" in South Kensington on Monday. Yesterday Andrey Krol, a 24-year-old cement factory worker and Evgenie Lev, 23, an archaeology student, appeared before magistrates in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, where they admitted stealing the vase and going equipped for theft. They were remanded in custody to await a deportation order. The vase, described by the V&A as "a very important piece within the collection", was being checked for damage before being put back on display. The museum insisted that a search had been launched before the police found it, and said: "We are very pleased to have it back."


From: Cathie Jilovsky
Subject:

Seminar on disaster response (Cathie Jilovsky)

Senior Management Issues in Disaster Response
Friday 27th November 1998
1:30 p.m.- 5:00 p.m. (1:00 p.m Light lunch)
CARM Centre, 4 Park Drive, Bundoora, Victoria 3083
This seminar will be held by CAVAL (Cooperative Action by Victorian Academic Libraries) in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
What's at risk? - assets and services
Understanding threats and consequences
Disaster prevention and preparedness
Effective recovery

The CAVAL Disaster Management Group presents a half-day seminar, led by Jeavons Baillie, for senior management of cultural institutions. The issues covered will be relevant whether or not the institution has a current disaster plan. The aim is to raise management awareness of what is involved in disaster preparedness and response. Cost $125.00 or $100.00 for additional participants from the same institution; or $100.00 for participants from CAVAL member libraries, or $75 for additional participants from the same CAVAL member library.
Cathie Jilovsky
Information Services Manager
CAVAL Ltd
4 Park Drive
Bundoora Victoria 3083
Australia Cooperative Action by Victorian Academic Libraries
+613-9459-2722
Fax: +613-9459-2733


From: Cathie Jilovsky
Subject:

Workshop on disaster response (Cathie Jilovsky)

>From Chaos to CARM
CAVAL Archival and Research Materials (CARM) Centre Research and Development Park
La Trobe University's Bundoora campus
December 3-4 1998
This disaster management workshop shop will feature a simulated library or archive disaster. Participants will be led by Jeavons Baillie, and will go into a disaster site, retrieve wet and burnt books, decide what action should be taken, set up an air drying process, learn how to compile a disaster response manual and how to manage disaster recovery effectively. Attendance will be limited to 20. Cost: $500.00 ($400.00 for participants from CAVAL member libraries). Accommodation can be arranged if required. Registrations close on Friday 20th November 1998. Contact Nicole Sinclair for a Registration Form.
Cathie Jilovsky
Information Services Manager
CAVAL Ltd
4 Park Drive
Bundoora Victoria 3083
Australia Cooperative Action by Victorian Academic Libraries
+613-9459-2722
Fax: +613-9459-2733

Dear subscribers,

INTERPOL (USNCB) reciently updated their cultural property website

. In addition to the most wanted works of art, there are now posts of missing cultural property. The updated site also provides with a wealth of information on this important organization. Kudos to INTERPOL, and hello to the age of electronic information. www.usdoj.gov/usncb/culturehome.htm
We hope you find this information useful,
SAZ PRODUCTIONS, INC.
www.saztv.com

Dear Colleagues:
I would be grateful for copies of anyone's succinct, clear statement to visitors explaining why they should not touch works of art. Please send them to my address off-list, or fax them to my attention at:
650/725-0464.
Gratefully,
Bernard Barryte
Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University
------------
Bernard Barryte
Associate Director / Chief Curator
Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-5060
bbarryte@leland.stanford.edu
tel: 650/ 725-0466 fax: 650/ 725-0464

From: Leigh Montgomery montgomeryl@csps.com
Subject:

Library vandal

Man pleads to ripping blank pages from books

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - An autograph dealer has pleaded guilty to ripping the front and back pages out of 300 Concord Library books. William Linehan, 57, pleaded guilty to criminal mischief Tuesday and agreed to pay a fine of $1,200 and restitution to the library. Linehan says he doesn't know why he did it. "I don't really know. It was just a stupid thing. I think it was the risk which was a kick," he said. "I've never done anything like this before." But police and prosecutors have a different theory. The pages Linehan ripped from the books were blank and authentically aged - perfect canvasses for forged autographs. "Linehan needed paper with a date from a particular era," Assistant City Prosecutor John Draghi argued in Concord District Court. Linehan, a dealer in historic autographs for the past 15 years, denied he used the stolen pages for forgeries. "I can see why they're saying it. All I can do is deny it," he said. He said he has sold 2,000 autographs in the past five years; only 15 were questioned, and he took them all back, no questions asked. However, the Universal Autograph Collectors Club removed him as regional director last summer and then expelled him after a customer made an ethics complaint against him. Bob Erickson, the club president, said Linehan promised another member an autograph of the late rock star Jim Morrison that had been displayed in a catalogue. But the customer complained the autograph he received did not match the one in the catalogue. Linehan did not respond to a letter from the ethics committee concerning its investigation, so he was expelled, Erickson said. "It is very important that when you are a member of this club that you abide by the ethics board's decisions," Erickson said. Linehan claims the customer simply didn't like the condition of the autograph. He also said he was expelled based on his failure to answer the ethics committee, not on the merits of the complaint. Still, Linehan said he will scale back his autograph business and look for another line of work. "Now with more and more people in (autograph collecting), it's getting harder and harder to make a living," he said. "It's much more of a hassle and harder to get material." AP-ES-10-14-98 0833EDT

Shastay@aol.com [SMTP:Shastay@aol.com]
subject :

Pieta

Can you tell me the name of the person who recently hit and damaged Michaelangelo's Pieta In the Vatican? This is for school research and I cannot find it anywhere on the web.
Thank you.

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

special agent robert wittman (Richard J. Viola

) i was pleased to see the response from special agent wittman regarding the recently enacted law,(1994) regarding art thefts.somebody out there finally cares about the theft of art and antiques. i am familiar with the philadelphia cases and knew one of the men involved. this man is now a u.s. attorney and was highly regarded when i knew his as an ada in bucks county penna.i follow the art cases and understand you two have teamed up and are doing a great job in my old home town. keep up the good work.
rich viola

From: "Richard J. Viola" 6ALPHA@incom.net
Subject:

RE: V&A vase found in the left luggage

Regarding the Dominic Kennedy Article on the stolen V & A vase. This theme has been a recurring one in museums for the last twenty years and probably prior to that. I can only speak to the time I investigated these thefts but this scenario is all to familiar. I am sure that the museum security people did not contact the authorities but rather "launched their own search." I"ll bet they were still looking behind doors when they were notified it had been recovered. I am sure nothing will happen to those responsible for not immediately reporting an item said to be "a very important piece to the collection". If museums had published inventories of all of the objects in their collections and independent auditors were called in once a year, like Macy's, This kind of problem would disappear rapidly. Even higher priced items have security tags on them. I wonder why museum security people haven't thought of this? As a retired Detective I have to ask the same question that I always ask. Do they really even care?

From: Jonathan Sazonoff saz@kwom.com Subject:

Stolen Bones - Paleontology ( Jonathan Sazonoff)

Dear Subscribers,
Aside from the many articles dealing with art theft, we've found some resources dealing with Stolen Bones - Paleontology. We hope this promotes natural history museums and like collectors to contribute to this important mailing list.
Regards,
Jonathan Sazonoff
Saz Prod., Inc.
www.saztv.com
BLM LawEnforcement offers REWARDs for stolen dinosaur fossils and
prehistoric artifacts. http://www-a.blm.gov/utah/reward.html
Peking Man $25,000 reward http://www.treasure.com/reward.htm
CNN - Someone's swiping dinosaur parts from Russian institute - February 8, 1998 http://www3.cnn.com/TECH/9802/08/dinosaur.parts/
Dinosaur skulls stolen from Paleontological Institute, Moscow http://www.dinosauria.com/jdp/stolen/russia.htm
Ancient Rhino Ruins Stolen http://www.netspace.org/users/herald/issues/100196/brief4.f.html
Stegosaur footprints stolen http://www.dinosauria.com/jdp/stolen/stegfoot.htm
The Seizure of Sue http://www.fullcontext.org/topics/trex/seizure.htm
PaleoWars.html http://www.pitt.edu/~mattf/PaleoWars.html
http://www3.pitt.edu/~mattf/newspaleo.html
Fossil Laws & Ethicshttp://tigger.uic.edu/orgs/paleo/pscode.html
Collectors code of ethics
Fossil Legislation & Ethics- Part of Kuban's Paleo Place http://members.aol.com/fostrak/palelegi.htm
Utah! Rock Hounding on Public lands. http://www.utah.com/utahadv/outdoor/rock.htm
NMFP - Public Lands: Public Fossils http://www.nmmnh-abq.mus.nm.us/nmfp/nmfp961b.html
Fossils becoming bones of contention; Agencies try to balance access, protection from theft http://www.dinosauria.com/jdp/sue/one.htm

Lt. Henry Villerot ac0422@wayne.edu
I am specifically looking for security methods/devices etc. aimed at protecting an art collection soon to be displayed in a rotating fashion in University office and classroom buildings. My interest is in electronic and manual methods/devices.
From: Roger Wulff museplan@erols.com
Subject: Re: OCTOBER 20, 1998
Dear Lt. Villerot and others:
The publication, "Museum Security and Protection - A Handbook for Cultural Heritage Institutions," published by The International Committee On Museum Security and The International Council of Museums is available from the Museum Bookstore at the address below. Just type in the words "Cultural Property Protection" in the Search Window and then follow the instructions to purchase it On-Line.
Alternatively, the 23rd edition of The National Conference On Cultural Property Protection sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and hosted by The Getty Trust will be held 7-12 March 1999 in Los Angeles, CA in a joint meeting with the ICMS - if you can wait that long. This Conference is "the" major annual Cultural Property Protection event in the world - where you can meet other protection individuals, discuss your protection problems and seek their solutions. For additional information, look on the Cultural Property Protection Page on the Web Site below.
Kind Regards
Roger Wulff
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Visit our New Barnes & Noble Museum Bookstore - WHERE YOU CAN NOW EARN FREQUENT FLYER MILES ON YOUR FAVORITE AIRLINES WITH THE CLICKREWARDS PROGRAM at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/yp/museumshopint
Museum Services International is a non-profit organization which provides planning and implementation services in all areas of cultural and museum operations - especially in the area of "Economuseology."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Dorothy Shinn [SMTP:dshinn@neo.lrun.com]
subject:

Museum Behavior (Dorothy Shinn)

Recently in Akron, Ohio, there has been a flurry of criticism of the museum guards at a local art museum. This controversy concerns what some people consider to be the rude behavior of guards. The guards are alleged to have asked visitors not to touch objects and not to use pens in the galleries. Apparently, the guards have embarrassed some visitors by "harassing" them in this way. As the local art critic, I would like some feedback on this. I'm quite used to guards questioning my use of writing tools in the galleries, but since I usually have a curator in tow and have been writing about the art world for some years, this is usually a flap that's solved with a few quick assurances and no hard feelings. Our paper has written several times about behavior in galleries, and in fact a story about "arts etiquette" appeared only a week before the incidents in question arose. The public seems to think the guards have crossed a line. The museum is under fire and embarrassed and has apologized to the public for any possible "rude" behavior. But still the flap continues. I wonder if there's something else going on here. Why such a huff over a few sharp words? Thanks for whatever light can be shed on this.
Regards, DShinn

French grave robbers return Neolithic booty (Times of London)

FROM BEN MACINTYRE IN PARIS GRAVE robbers have plundered ancient artefacts from a Neolithic burial cave in southern France, just a day after the site was discovered. But the thieves then had second thoughts and returned the stolen objects, inexplicably, less than 24 hours later. The cave at Mourèze, about 25 miles west of Montepellier, was found accidentally by road workers on Friday night and was immediately hailed by experts as an "exceptional discovery" containing human remains probably dating back at least 5,500 years. Local authorities had sealed up the entrance to the cave with a rock weighing several tonnes to await the arrival of a state archaeological team yesterday, but word of the discovery swiftly spread and during the weekend robbers got in through a gap between the boulder and the side of the hole. The thieves made off with a skull, pottery and an axe head, but on Sunday night the items were returned to the site in a sack and recovered by police yesterday after an anonymous tip-off. The cave was discovered by workers constructing a motorway who revealed the entrance when they shifted some fallen rocks. Work was halted and the area was sealed off as local archaeologists uncovered the preserved skeletons of a woman and three children as well as cooking pots, a polished axe head, a vase and various other artefacts. Archaeologists said that the cave's potential scientific importance could have been reduced if the thieves had disturbed the interior. The cave, with an area of ten square yards, appears to lead into other chambers.

Thieves loot prehistoric tomb (BBC online)

A Neolithic tomb in southern France has been looted only days after its discovery. Several artifacts are believed to have been stolen from the tomb, which is described by experts as of "exceptional archaeological importance", 24 miles (40km) west of Montpellier. Workmen building a new motorway discovered the cave - which is believed to be around 3,500 years old - near the village of Mourèze on Friday. The mayor of Mourèze, Gabriel Navas, had ordered the cave be sealed so experts from Paris could examine it on Monday. The well-preserved skeletons of four people - thought to be a woman and three children - had been found along with pieces of pottery and a stone axe. But when Mr Navas checked the cave on Sunday morning he found it had been looted. 'Disgusted by the human race' He said the thieves removed a rock from the entrance but had not disturbed the skeletons. Mr Navas, who said the town could not afford to pay for security guards, said the looters had taken pottery and an axe. "I am disgusted by the human race," he said. The cave is about 10 square metres in size and is believed to be a burial site. Estimates suggest the findings are between 3,000-4,000 years old. The region - in the foothills of the Massif Central - has other finds dating back to the same era, but the new site is thought to be the most important ever discovered. France's most famous Cro-Magnon cave is Lascaux in the Dordogne region, where magnificent paintings of animals have been preserved.

From: Chris Stanley C.Stanley@nhm.ac.uk subject:

Regarding the art theft at the V&A

Regarding the art theft at the V&A; on behalf of those of us who have responsibility for security of collections (in my case as Associate Keeper of Mineralogy, for the National Mineral and Gemstone Collections of the UK), I would like to thank Steve Keller for his knowledgeable and balanced contribution. Yes, we do care from the most junior curator to the Director and Trustees of the instuitution and are constantly on the lookout for better security systems, threats to the collections, auditing procedures etc etc. Some of the greatest threats to security in museums come about through changing work practices. e.g. reducing the level of staff surveillance and substituting CCTV, increasing use of contract staff for electrical and other building works, introduction of energy saving measures, hiring out for functions in the evenings and nightime etc etc. I've heard nothing from colleagues at the V&A so can't comment on the detail but I guess that all of us in South Kensington will be keen to learn how such an incident could take place and will review our security systems accordingly.
Chris J Stanley BSc PhD MIMM CGeol,
Deputy Head of Department of Mineralogy
Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, LONDON SW7 5BD,UK
Tel. +44 171 938 9361 Fax. +44 171 938 9268
Museum web site at: http://www.nhm.ac.uk
Personal Web site at: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/mineralogy/stanley/stanley.htm

J Piper [SMTP:JPIPER3@compuserve.com]
subject:

museum theft cases (J Piper)

I have a question that maybe Richard Viola or any one else who has worked one of these museum theft cases might answer. If security is such a problem in so many museums and they have failed to protect their artifacts, has the state attorney general launced an investigation into either the board or the staff of these insitutions. Since these postions are holder of public trust property it the state attorney general's duty to investigate any wrong doing. If there are such acts of ineptness occuring then the staffs or boards have failed to execute their duties. I understand that these hard pressed positions have little time to devote to such capital crimes, and I was just wondering if there were any cases out there or any states that have instituted such an audit program as Mr. Viola suggested.
John Piper
jpiper3@compuserve.com

Dear Subscribers,
The Italian government has now posted major stolen art works, on their Ministry of Culture website. The site also contains more information (in Italian) about the workings of their organization.
http://www.beniculturali.it/cctpa/immagini.html
We hope you find this information useful,
SAZ PROD., INC www.saztv.com

Garbage fire damages ancient palace in old Cairo

Reuters World ReportThursday, October 22, 1998 12:47:00 PM
Copyright 1998 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved.
CAIRO, Oct 22 (Reuters) - A fire which started in piles of uncleared garbage damaged an 18th-century palace in Cairo's old section on Thursday, the culture ministry said in a statement. The ministry said it planned to repair the damaged wooden frame and stone work of the Saray al-Musafir Khanna palace, which served as a way-station for travellers centuries ago. Egyptian ruler Khedive Ismail was born in the palace in 1829. Before the fire, 15 million pounds ($4.4 million) had been allocated to repair damage from Egypt's 1992 earthquake. ($1 - 3.4 Egyptian pounds)

Canaletto painting stolen in Venice

02:53 p.m Oct 22, 1998 Eastern
VENICE, Italy, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Thieves stole on Thursday a $2.4 million oil canvas by 18th century Venetian painter Canaletto, police in the Italian canal city said. The canvas -- called Il Fonteghetto della Farina (The flour wharf) and depicting an alley near St Mark's Square where Venice's graneries used to be sited -- was taken from the private collection of the Giustiniani Palace in the early hours of Thursday, police said. Two less valuable paintings, several silver candelabra and porcelain objects were also taken, police said. Earlier this year, three priceless and unsellable paintings by Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Cezanne were stolen from Rome's National Gallery of Modern Art. They were recovered in July. Italy, with more than half the world's unofficially recognised artistic and cultural riches, is a treasure trove for thieves.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.

From: IntlArtCop@aol.com
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1998 00:02:48 EDT
To: securma@xs4all.nl
Subject:

Re: OCTOBER 20, 1998

In a message dated 10/20/98 2:43:06 AM, you wrote:
<>

I would like to comment on the above letter. I don't know anything about this case and am speaking in general terms. I, too, have a little experience in the museum security field and think a more balanced perspective is appropriate. Sorry to take so long replying but I've been "on the road" and haven't had time. Museum security people generally do their jobs and generally notice thefts promptly. Museum managers (directors) do care. But they often have pressures on them that interfere with their ability to decide to call in police immediately. I am not defending them, I am just explaining them. My point is that it is not fair to characterize museums as uncaring or security people as incompetent. Museums have finite collections. Sure, the collections grow annually but often by only a piece or two in some locations per year. Museums exist as effective educational institutions by their ability to borrow new works of art and stage fresh shows. If you have a theft, it is always a concern that reporting the theft to the police will cause more trouble than the museum wants. On one hand is the desire to recover the item. By not reporting the theft, you may reduce the chance of recovery, but not necessarily so. But you WILL complicate your ability to borrow objects (and thus stage more exhibitions) and you will greatly impact any shows in planning where contracts haven't been signed. Lenders may back out or demand very expensive security improvements before proceeding with the loan. More importantly, rich people don't die and leave their works of art to a museum that can't hang on to them. So even if the object is recovered, the loss of donations and assets left to the museum in wills could be in the millions of dollars. I've seen it happen. One theft ended with a full recovery but is said to have cost my client over a million dollars. So it is imperative, museums feel, to make certain that the work of art that is missing is actually stolen and hasn't been taken to conservation or photography or where ever. Compounding this is the fact that museums are living changing and complex educational institutions. Works of art come and go off the walls all the time for study, repair, documentation for inventories, photography for educational CD ROMS and catalogs, loans to other institutions, etc. Something is taken down daily in a major museum. In my 20 years in this business I know of literally hundreds of incidents where art was discovered missing only to turn up somewhere in the building within a day. I know of several incidents where it was found, after being reported to the police. Oddly, instead of being commended for reporting the mix-up and erring on the side of good security and quick law enforcement involvement, the press literally crucified the security director or the museum for not knowing where its art was, or being inept, etc. You can't win. You are damned if you do and damned if you don't. I think it is safe to assume that something like this will happen to any reasonably sized institution sometime in its life. So the person in charge of security should insist on certain safeguards. First, no one should move art without FIRST telling security. TELLING security must be done using a multiple part art removal notice, a copy of which is given personally to the security control room BEFORE the move occurs, and a copy is sent thru channels to the security director for processing. The removal notice should be secure from counterfeiting within reason (the subject of another email some other time) and must state who moved the art, when and where it was taken, etc. Guards should do a daily inventory of art on display and any missing art should have a removal notice. Missing art should be reported immediately and hopefully the security control room will be able to put their hands on the art removal notice form just delivered to them indicating routine removal of art. Failure to follow this procedure should result in immediate and drastic action. When I was Director of Security in Chicago, if we found a removal notice had not been posted and art was apparently missing, we called the curator and director at home if the problem was discovered on the 2 am patrol, and they came in to investigate. It only happened once, I can assure you. It is necessary for the security department to have both the training and a formal procedure for following up. For example, if we discovered a missing object at noon, we knew who to call and how to find out what the work of art looks like so we could immediately search, even of professional staff was unavailable. We ordered guards to go to a higher alert level and implement a more careful search of outgoing parcels just in case the art was still in the building and was yet to be removed by the thief. Even then, we delayed calling police until the usual locations where the art is often taken, such as Conservation, were checked and the usual people (art handlers, Registrar, Conservator, Curator) were contacted and questioned. I agree that museums don't pay enough and don't invest enough in guard training. They teach CPR even though no one ever died in the museum and paramedic service is readily available. They do this because CPR can be given without any time investment on the part of the security management and it looks like they are doing something. But they fail to provide training on the important matters like responding immediately to a missing, but not confirmed stolen, work of art, because this takes time and effort on their part and money for complex training. And the guards have to be smart enough (i.e., be well paid and therefore receptive to training) for the training to be effective if it is given. Much more can be done. Museum Directors make bad decisions and sometimes decide not to call police and report a theft to avoid bad publicity and to keep from losing funding and donations. And they fail to report thefts to protect the museum's image, since the image of bad security is often worse than actually having bad security. But these are management decisions that a museum Director is empowered to make. Most of the time, a small theft is not covered by insurance anyway, since deductibles are often over $100,000 per theft. Museums do often hire private investigators to pursue the object when a theft is not formally reported. Let me tell you one story about reporting a theft to the police. I am a former cop so I'm not picking on you. I got my *** kicked on the street enough that I earned the right to criticize police. We reported one major theft to the police only to find that the confidential information given to them to help weed out false extortion calls was leaked to the newspaper. This happens all the time. So reporting the incident can have complications. And time and again, I find that even when the theft is reported to police, no follow- through occurs for many hours or even days. Local police often don't have a clue about how to investigate an art crime, let alone who to report it to. In many cases I have been involved with, my main contribution is to tell them who they have to notify and pressure them to make the notifications before the art is long gone. My point is not to argue that police shouldn't be called but to say that even if they are called immediately upon discovery of the possible theft, they very often don't distribute the information in a manner that makes the premature notification of police relevant to a recovery. A couple of hours to search the building is prudent. A couple of days is not, unless the Director has made an informed decision not to report. So . . .Where do I stand on this issue? By all means, report thefts to the police. But have your act together BEFORE the theft. And call in someone like Bob Spiel who specializes in art thefts and recoveries as soon as possible after discovery so local police can be properly advised on what to do to maximize recovery. If you are a client of mine and call me I will help initially, but will call in Bob who has both formal and informal avenues he can pursue toward recovery, many of which are not even known to local police. Please don't be so cynical about how museums don't care. There are things that you don't know about, never having worked in a major museum before and never having been through these things before yourself. Museum Directors may make bad decisions but they are empowered to do so. That is their prerogative. But they DO care very much. And the decision to call police is almost NEVER the prerogative of the Director of Security. On the issue of inventories, this is a complex matter. Most museums have an inventory card in a central file on every object which describes the object and provides basic information about it. What they don't have is the ability to print out the list in sortable format since most museums do not have their inventory on computer. This is due to the fact that you can't get a group of curators to agree what some pieces are, let along how to describe them, particularly in non-art museums, but even to a degree in art museums. And, believe it or not, affordable computers have only been around for a few years that could handle such a project properly and this is a massive and time consuming job in even a small museum so some who have started such a computer project haven't finished in all these years. But museums almost always know what they are SUPPOSED to have. What they don't have is an annual count of what is actually in storage. This is due in part to the fact that museums are short handed. You don't just put volunteers or Arthur Anderson CPA's in the collection storage room and expect them to pick up a vase and say, "Hummm, Ming Dynasty, good specimen," and then describe it for the inventory. Auditors may know sweaters at Macy's but if someone said "Monet" they would think it meant "Money" with a French accent. The Curator or Registrar must do this annual inventory personally. He or she are the people trained to do so and they are spread pretty thin. So it is a practical matter, not a lack of caring or incompetence. On the issue of security tags on the works of art, by all means we HAVE thought of this. I first approached an electronic article surveillance (inventory tag) company at least fifteen years ago when most people didn't even know the technology existed. There are many valid conservation issues that prevent tags from being used. Technology is changing and as tags become smaller, this may change. But for now, EAS tags, trace elements, micro dots, and other technologies are not quite there yet. You don't just put a needle through a canvass to hold on an EAS tag or glue it to the picture, even the back of a picture. I am currently trying to specify a system where transmitters are placed on every work of art and receivers are located every 40 feet in a new museum. When the art moves, the art is seen on a screen as it moves through the building. It is even three dimensional indicating if it moves downstairs or upstairs rather than laterally. But even this technology is not quite there yet and is facing reviews by conservators and others. Try telling a Conservator you want to super glue an EAS tag to a picture. Tell him you want to put it on a frame and he will tell you that it will encourage someone to cut the picture out of a frame. We aren't as dumb as you may think. Some of us have been working on this technology since you were writing traffic tickets. It's not as easy as it looks. I have personally advised two EAS companies and five radio transmitter companies on how to overcome problems over a period of 20 years. When a work of art disappears from a museum, we all feel it. Trust me. We care.
Steve Keller
Museum Security Consultant
22 Foxfords Chase
Ormond Beach, FL 3174
(904) 673-9973
IntlArtCop@aol.com


From: "Marlen Mouliou" mmouliou@compulink.gr
Subject:

Disaster planning in museums

Date sent: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 10:37:57 +0200
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am seeking some information on environmental and conservation practices in museums. Specifically, I would appreciate some tips and feedback on disaster planning strategies, mainly as regards archaeological museums and their "reaction/behaviour" in the unexpected event of an earthquake vibration. What I am really concerned with is preventive conservation, regarding both heavier free-standing objects and smaller artefacts protected in show-cases. In other words, I want to know how we can minimise the potentially disastrous effects of earthquake vibrations on museum objects. Would you have any information on relevant literature, appropriate materials and methods which were used successfully in the past or even contact numbers of other professionals who could enlighten me on this issue, I would be most grateful to have it.
I look forward to hearing from you and thank you in advance for your help.
Sincerely,
Maria Mouliou (MA, Ph.D) ---------------------------------
Dr. Maria Mouliou
Archaeologist-Museologist
Associate of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Dept. of Antiquities
35 Tmolou St.
162 33 Athens
Greece
Tel/Fax: +30 1 7657939
Email: mmouliou@compulink.gr

FBI recovers Pissarro painting believed stolen 20 years ago

CLEVELAND (AP) -- A two-day art auction began Friday minus a painting by French impressionist Camille Pissarro. The FBI believes it was stolen 20 years ago. FBI agents seized the painting, valued at $400,000 to $600,000, Thursday at Wolf's Auction Gallery, The Plain Dealer reported Friday. But Michael Wolf, president of the auction house, said it was properly packed and voluntarily provided to the FBI. Wolf said Friday that the information on who consigned the painting's sale is confidential. He confirmed an auction began Friday, without the painting. ``We're certainly very happy the painting will be returned to the proper owner. Nobody in the art world wants to deal with stolen art. We did an excellent job authenticating the painting, which came to us as a copy. They (the owners) had no idea they had a valuable painting,'' Wolf said. Wolf said that after documenting the painting was authentic, there was no indication that it was stolen until the FBI came forward with information. Wolf said the FBI had been contacted by an art dealer who was familiar with a collection that had reported the painting stolen. ``Our position is we're going to avoid saying anything today (Friday) about the stolen art,'' said Agent Robert Hawk, spokesman for the Cleveland FBI office. A Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge can determine who owns the painting, Hawk told The Plain Dealer on Thursday. Federal agents believe the painting belongs to Helen Stoddard who reported it stolen along with nine other art works on June 22, 1978 from her home in Worcester, Mass. The 1902 dock scene, titled ``Bassins Duquesne et Berrigny a Dieppe, Temps Gris,'' is considered an important example of Pissarro's late work. New York art dealer William Beadleston discovered the painting was reported stolen after talking to Joachim Pissarro, the artist's great-grandson and a curator at the Yale Art Gallery in New Haven, Conn. Beadleston then contacted federal agents. Stoddard, who is 94 and in poor health, was pleased to hear that the painting had been recovered. ``I'm happy that they found it,'' Stoddard told The Associated Press on Friday. ``It was my very special, very valuable painting. I saw it, loved it and my husband and I decided to buy it.'' Stoddard said the painting, which she and her husband Robert bought in New York from a couple now deceased, will most likely end up at the Worcester Art Museum. She said her late husband willed the painting to the museum before he died. Stoddard said she fell in love with the French impressionists on her many travels. When she was younger she was active in French club and spoke French fluently. Among the other art works stolen from Stoddard's home were two oil paintings by Pierre Renoir, a watercolor by Pissarro, other oils by Eugene Boudin, Johan Jongkind, Childe Hassam, a Paul Revere tea service set and a Ming vase. The total value in 1978 was set at $250,000. None of the other stolen works were ever recovered. ______________________________________

Pissarro collector buoyed by recovery, not publicity

WORCESTER, Mass., Oct 23 (Reuters) - Lawyers for a 94-year-old collector of French impressionist paintings said on Friday she was delighted that her long-lost Pissarro was found, but extremely annoyed with the attendant publicity. Raised at a time when a proper lady's name appeared in newspapers only at her birth, marriage and death, Helen Stoddard was ``ecstatic and overwhelmed with the painting's discovery, but not happy about the attendant publicity,'' her lawyer Warner Fletcher said. The widow of Richard Stoddard, who had been chairman of Wyman-Gordon Co, a maker of jet engines, and on the board of the Worcester Telegram-Gazette before his death in 1984, suggested that the newspaper's current publisher be shot. ``I explained that the story was probably from police reports and therefore beyond his control,'' Fletcher said. A fluent French speaker and head of a family trust, Mrs. Stoddard continues to collect French impressionist works, Fletcher said. But he added she believes the painting by Camille Pissarro showing boats at a dockside that is known as ``Bassins Duquesne et Berrigny a Dieppe'' ``is the best painting they ever had.'' The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation seized the Pissarro from Wolf's auction house in Cleveland, Ohio, where it was to be sold on Saturday. Wolf's valued the work at between $400,000 and $600,000. Robert Hawk, a special agent for the FBI, said the agency has launched a criminal investigation to see how the stolen painting wound up at Wolf's, but declined all further comment. The FBI seized the painting from Wolf's gallery late on Thursday after they obtained an order from Judge Richard J. McMonagle in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court placing it under the jurisdiction of the court. Cleveland Museum of Art spokesman Bill Prenevost said one of his institution's art handlers packed the painting for the FBI. ``It remains in FBI custody. They have it,'' Prenevost said. The painting was one of nine artworks taken in a daring 1978 theft at the Stoddards' graceful home in Worcester, Massachusett's second-largest city, which once was a thriving manufacturing centre. ``None of the other paintings have surfaced,'' Fletcher said. A painter who experimented with the play of light, Pissarro was a key member of the French impressionists and influenced Paul Gauguin, Paul Cezanne and Mary Cassatt. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in the Court of Common Pleas in Cleveland to review the status of the case.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.


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