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Showing posts with label stolen antiquities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stolen antiquities. Show all posts

May 12, 2021

Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - ,,,,,,, No comments

Pocket-Sized Due Diligence: Interpol’s ID-Art App


By: Aubrey Catrone, Proper Provenance, LLC

Countless art transactions occur each week around the globe. Whether looking to acquire or sell an artwork, art market actors should always take the time to conduct due diligence. Verifying an art object’s ownership history contributes to an up-to-date understanding of clean title and authenticity. This knowledge remains vital to determining an object’s rightful owner as well as maintaining the integrity of its maker’s oeuvre. 

While “due diligence” seems to be a loosely defined buzzword, this research should be conducted through an analysis of various sources, including, but not limited to, libraries, archives, sales records, collector records, and digital resources. Keep in mind: there is no consolidated source in which one can consistently review and verify the legitimacy of a secondary market art object. For this reason, undertaking provenance research projects can seem quite daunting and often require the assistance of an expert to help navigate the confounding realm of historical and art historical records. 

A review of Interpol's new App

With the advent of the digital era, new resources to aid in the pursuit of provenance research are constantly coming to light. One of them, created by Interpol is a new smart phone/tablet app called ID-Art, which enables users to complete preliminary due diligence checks on their own time before seeking further expert assistance. This free and easily downloadable app grants access to a database of approximately 50,000 stolen art objects, and it fits in your pocket! 


So, how does it fit into your everyday life?

ID-Art facilitates a due diligence on-the-go lifestyle, enabling users to explore the status of art objects they may encounter on the art market from the comfort of their own phones. After examining an art work in person, buyers, sellers, or researchers can conduct a search of Interpol’s Stolen Works of Art Database in real-time (e.x., on the floor of an art fair or from your home office).

Upon opening the app, users are presented with a scrolling feed through which they can peruse stolen items at will (quite an interesting rabbit hole to get lost down!). Individual entries are contextualized using ObjectID, as they seek to simplify the identification process. If you stumble across something nefarious, ID-Art even proffers a “Report to Interpol” button with each stolen item. The entry for Paul Cezanne’s Auvers-sur-Oise (1879-80) typifies the app’s user-friendly formatting.

If you’re looking to check on a specific piece or artist, the search function offers a variety of user-friendly filters to help narrow your query:

Manual Search: offers the ability to filter searches using an item’s specifications, ranging from artist and medium to placement of signature.


Visual Search: allows users to conduct a reverse image search of an item against Interpol’s Stolen Works of Art Database.


The app also provides the option to generate a personalized inventory for individual art objects or cultural heritage sites. Users can create an ObjectID entry for each work or site, saving them to the “My Inventory” tab. In the case of theft, natural disaster, or conflict, this feature enables users to export a saved inventory entry to share with law enforcement officials. These entry formats also serve as a template for collections management requirements.

If you’re a buyer, seller, or researcher, Interpol has created a due diligence tool that should be referenced in any and all art market transactions. There’s no excuse not to download it. It’s free, easy to use, and fits in your pocket!

*Interpol’s ID-Art App is currently available for download in the Apple Store and for Android phones via Google Play.

January 11, 2017

Wednesday, January 11, 2017 - ,,,, No comments

Seminar: Risk Management in the Art and Antiquities Markets Part II: Criminal and Compliance Risk - 7 February 2017

Seminar Venue: K&L Gates LLP, One New Change (Watling Street entrance), EC4M 9AF, London
Date and Time: Tuesday, 7 February 2017, 9.30 am- 4.00 pm.
Tickets on sale between £63.89 – £82.88
Buying and selling art is a business of passion. But that passion has never seemed so fraught with risk. Money laundering, criminal sanctions, regulatory compliance, charges to tax, corporate governance issues, the threat of cyber attack, online fraud, disputed attribution, question marks over title, and forgery on an industrial scale - all are variously and increasingly interwoven with the day-to-day challenges posed by borderless commerce, big data and globalised criminality. Make one false move, and the price can be high. Businesses, reputations and livelihoods are on the line.
As announced at the Art Business Conference on 1 September 2016, this short series of half-day seminars brings together experienced specialists in their respective fields to address commercial, compliance and cyber risks. The aim of each seminar is to bring together senior art market professionals, and to promote discussion around identifying the risks, and responsible strategies for mitigating and resolving them.
Each seminar takes place at the offices of K&L Gates, overlooking St Paul’s Cathedral. The seminar will commence with breakfast networking and registration at 9.15 and will include a sandwich lunch.
The second seminar is on “Criminal and Compliance Risk.” It takes place on 7th February 2017. Speakers confirmed so far, and topics under discussion will include:
·       Professional codes of ethics, combatting the illicit trade in art and antiquities, and new regulatory challenges on the horizon (Professor Janet Ulph, Leicester Law School, University of Leicester; Dr Sophie Vigneron, Kent Law School, University of Kent; and Ivan Macquisten, art market advisor, campaigner and lobbyist)
·       Risks associated with anti-money laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act offences, and their mitigation (Sasi-Kanth Mallela, Special Counsel, K&L Gates; and Richard Abbey, Partner, Ernst & Young Fraud Investigation and Dispute Services)
·   Keeping track of lost and stolen artworks and antiquities: some challenges and opportunities (Ariane Moser, Chief Operating Officer, Artive Inc. and James Ratcliffe, Director of Recoveries & General Counsel, Art Loss Register, in conversation with Sean Kelsey, Senior Associate, K&L Gates)

To purchase tickets to attend the event please visit the Art Market Minds event page.

February 26, 2015

Thursday, February 26, 2015 - ,,, No comments

Pompeii frescos found in garage in Southern California to be returned to Italy

by Catherine Schofield Sezgin, ARCA Editor

San Diego, California - The 10News Digital Team for ABC's 10 News reported yesterday "Stolen art recovered in Del Mar among objects being returned to Italian government". Three frescos and an asks from a private collector (the Allen E. Paulson Trust" were discovered by the U.S. Immigration and Custom's Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations in 2012: the current owner "forfeited the items" to the US government to be returned to the Italian government, Channel 10 reported. The items were likely illegally dug up in Pompeii and then sold to an American buyer, according to the US government.


December 30, 2013

Monday, December 30, 2013 - ,,,,,, 1 comment

Postcard from Turkey: The Archaeological Museum at Uşak, The Lydian Hoard and Two Hippocampuses

by Aaron Haines

I rubbed my sleep-deprived eyes and stared across the abandoned parking lot at the rusty minivan that was supposedly my “shuttle” into town. It was six in the morning and the sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon of Uşak, a small city in the center of western Turkey. Most bus companies don’t travel to Uşak and the few that do only offer one or two bus rides from Istanbul each day. I had left Istanbul the previous night at eight and spent the next ten hours on a bus in order to see Uşak’s most famous possession: the Lydian Hoard. I walked up to the minivan, squeezed onto the front bench, and told the driver I needed to go the archaeology museum. The rest of the passengers stared me as if wondering what a young American backpacker was doing so far from any of Turkey’s usual tourist destinations. We soon reached the city center and the driver told me in Turkish that the museum was just down the street.

Photo by A. Haines
The museum did not open for another couple of hours so I took my time observing the building’s exterior. It was a small building situated on an awkward triangular corner plot of land where two streets merged. It was surrounded by a low wrought iron fence that was about three to four feet in height. The building’s small yard was littered with archaeological artifacts from various civilizations and time periods; Byzantine, Hittite, Roman, and others. The placement of these objects was haphazard, but it was clear every square inch of the yard could be surveyed by the small army of security cameras that pointed in every direction. Also, none of the objects were small enough to be lifted by hand and would have required either machinery or several people to move them. There was an abundance of exterior lighting indicating that the museum and archaeological artifacts could be sufficiently monitored at night. The museum was an older building, but fulfilled its intended purpose. The windows were single paned and old, but all well protected by the iron bars covering them. Despite the early hour, I noticed a man standing inside the museum watching me, indicating that a security guard was present at the museum both day and night.

At eight when the museum opened, I stepped inside and was greeted by the security guard. I pulled out my wallet to purchase a ticket, but the guard was already leaving his desk and leading me into the museum’s only gallery. I expected him to then return to his desk while I toured the small collection, but instead he simply followed me around. I got the feeling that not many people came into the museum. The lighting and presentation of the museum’s collection were excellent and there were many text panels explaining the significance of the objects as well as where they had been found in the surrounding countryside.

Photo of Lydian Hoard by A. Haines
I was eager to see the Lydian Hoard and quickly found it in a room in the very back of the gallery. The pieces of the collection were displayed on simple but elegant cloth with good lighting. The hippocampus still occupied its own display case, but the text panel gave no indication that the original had been stolen or that the current piece on display was a copy of the original. I noticed that the previous simple lock had been replaced by a lock, seal, and slip of paper. On this slip of paper were the signatures of four different archaeologists indicating that each had verified that the work was the legitimate original.

Photo of documented lock by A. Haines
The museum guard was still shadowing me so I decided to strike up a conversation with him. He did not speak much English so we conversed in Turkish. He explained to me that a guard was at the museum twenty four hours a day and that there was video surveillance of the entire building and the surrounding yard of antiquities. When I asked him how many patrons visited the museum, he told me that during the summer, they averaged about one hundred every day. This surprised since Uşak is a smaller city and quite far from any major tourist attractions. I asked again about the museum attendance and he repeated that they indeed averaged around one hundred patrons a day during the summer time. He explained that during the winter, attendance drops due to the decrease in tourism. He went on to explain that the city was currently constructing a new museum that is supposed to be completed next year. The new three story building will have much more storage and administration space as well as an upgraded security system.


Copy of  hippocampus in Uşak (A. Haines) 
We returned to the subject of the Lydian Hoard and after I asked a couple of questions about the hippocampus, he stopped and stared at me for a couple of seconds. He then asked if I wanted to know something and leaned in to quietly tell me that the original work had been stolen. I feigned surprise and he motioned for me to walk back over to the display case. He then told me the story about the hippocampus and confided in me that the brooch in the case was actually a fake. Thanks to Sharon Waxman’s 2008 book Loot: The Battle Over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World (Times Books), I already knew this, but I doubted that most patrons to the museum did. There was no explanation of it in the text panels or in any of the other materials on display. Most patrons assumed that they were viewing the original.

Imagine my surprise when I arrived in Ankara, the capitol of Turkey, just a couple of days later and saw the same hippocampus on display in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. My immediate thought was that I had now seen two copies of the same stolen work.

Recovered hippocampus temporarily
housed in Ankara (Photo by A. Haines)
I approached two security guards chatting nearby and explained to them that I had just seen this same work in Uşak. They replied that I had seen a copy in Uşak and that the object in Ankara was the original brooch. I asked them how this could be since the work had been stolen and they explained that it had been recently recovered. Supposedly it was only on temporary display in Ankara and will be moved to Uşak next year when the new Uşak museum is complete.

Aaron Haines is a senior majoring in art history at Brigham Young University and traveled to Turkey this summer using grant moneys from the BYU Office of Research and Creative Activities to observe the security of four archaeology museums. He visited the archaeology museums in Uşak, Boğazkale, Ankara, and Istanbul each of which houses artifacts that have been recently repatriated by Turkey from other countries. Aaron has a special interest in cultural property law and preservation as it applies to Italy and Turkey and speaks Italian and some Turkish. He recently returned from an internship at the American Embassy in Rome and is currently interning with the U.S. State Department’s Cultural Heritage Center.

August 25, 2013

Sunday, August 25, 2013 - ,, No comments

UNESCO posts listing of looted objects from the Malawi National Museum in the Upper Egypt city of Minya

'The Egyptian Ministry of State for Antiquities informed UNESCO of the looting of the Malawi National Museum on August 14, 2013,' UNESCO reports on its website:
The damages caused by the looters are catastrophic. Most of the artefacts have been stolen, destroyed or burned. Around one thousand cultural objects, dated from the beginning of the Egyptian history to the Islamic period, have disappeared (coins, jewels, statues, etc).
UNESCO has posted a list of stolen objects in Arabic from the Malawi National Museum in Minya, about 150 miles south of Cairo.  Minya is the birthplace of Suzanne Mubarak, the former First Lady of Egypt (1981 - 2011). A copy of this listing, including photos of the looted objects can be downloaded from the ARCA website here.

Egyptian cultural heritage professionals are using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to bring public awareness to the damages that have occurred during this recent period of unrest.   Because of awareness antiquities police have succeeded in returning 71 stolen objects from the museum in addition to the 19 returned shortly after the initial looting.

The Supreme Council of Antiquities has a list of museums in Egypt. The only institution with the name 'Malawi' is the Malawi Monuments Museum:
The Malawi Monuments Museum houses a collection of artefacts from the nearby sites of Tuna al-Gebel and Hermopolis. Among the objects on display are a number of animal mummies and statues associated with the worship of the god Thoth.
Tuna al-Gebel (Supreme Council of Antiquities):
Hermopolis West, on the modern site of Tuna al-Gebel near Minya, was the necropolis of the city of Hermopolis, sacred to the Greek god Hermes and his Egyptian counterpart Thoth. It is best known for the sprawling catacombs at the foot of the western cliffs, where thousands of ibises (dedicated to Thoth) and other sacred animals were buried from the New Kingdom through Roman times. Besides multitudes of ibises and baboons, the galleries were also used for the burials of fish, pigs, dogs, cats, goats, pelicans, monkeys, falcons, larks, and kestrels, all mummified and placed into pottery jars. Potsherds and torn and broken mummies are still strewn in the passages today.
Another major attraction of the site is the early Ptolemaic tomb of a high priest of Thoth named Petosiris, decorated with reliefs in a blend of Greek and Egyptian styles. Petosiris's wooden coffin, exquisitely inlaid with colored glass hieroglyphs, can be seen in the Egyptian Museum.
A number of Roman-era tombs lie to the south. The most famous of these belongs to Isadora, a young woman who drowned in the second century BC. Her mummy lies in a glass case in her tomb.
The oldest monument at Tuna al-Gebel is a stele marking the northwest boundary of Akhenaten’s city at Amarna, partway up a slope north of Hermopolis West. It bears scenes of Akhenaten and Nefertiti worshipping the sun disk (the Aten) and is carved with an extensive text describing the founding of the city.

February 18, 2012

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