Nazi gold train: 'No evidence' of discovery in Poland

Geologists examined the site where the train was rumoured to be buried

There is no evidence that a Nazi train rumoured to be carrying gems and gold has been found in Poland, experts say. Researchers presenting findings about the alleged discovery in the Polish town of Walbrzych said there might be a tunnel but no train. However, one of those who claimed to have discovered the train said he still believed it was there. It was claimed that the train was hidden underground near Wroclaw as Soviet forces approached in 1945. The Nazis had many miles of tunnels constructed near Walbrzych during World War Two. Advertisement In August, Deputy Culture Minister Piotr Zuchowski said that ground-penetrating radar images had left him "99% convinced" that a German military train was buried near Walbrzych. He said images appeared to show a train equipped with gun turrets. But on Tuesday, Professor Janusz Madej from Krakow's AGH University of Science and Technology said its geological survey of the site had found no evidence of a train.

"There may be a tunnel. There is no train," he told a press conference in Walbrzych.

Image caption Many tunnels dating from World War Two have been found near Walbrzych

Local folklore said an armoured train had been carrying gold from what is now the Polish city of Wroclaw as the Soviet army closed in at the end of World War Two. It was said to have gone missing near Ksiaz castle, 3km (two miles) from Walbrzych. Earlier this year, Piotr Koper, from Poland, and Andreas Richter, from Germany, told authorities that they knew the location of the train. Through lawyers, they said that they wanted 10% of the value of anything that was found. At the news conference on Tuesday, Mr Koper questioned the survey methodology and said he still believed the train was there. Information about the train's location was reported to have come in a deathbed confession from a person who claimed they had helped to conceal it. Between 1943 and 1945, the Nazis forced prisoners of war to dig more than 9km of tunnels near Walbrzych that were apparently to be used as factories. Some are now tourist attractions.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35104117

Help find missing public art: Organisation asks public to help uncover missing pieces

Stolen - The Watchers, Lynn Chadwick, 1960, Roehampton University, South West London © Historic England.

LONDON - England's post-war public art, created by some of the most important artists of the 20th century, is "disappearing before the public's eyes". Historic England has discovered that a growing number of sculptures, architectural friezes and murals - made between the Second World War and the mid-1980s - have been destroyed, sold, lost or stolen. Through their own research, and information from the Twentieth Century Society, the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association, from historians and some of the artists themselves, they are building up a picture of just how much art has disappeared. Historic England knows that England has lost a worrying amount of artwork from the streets, housing estates, work places, shopping centers and schools for which the pieces were designed. Although many of the works have been destroyed completely, some could still be out there. Historic England is asking the public to come forward with information, evidence and photographs to help them to track them down and inform a major exhibition at Somerset House in London as part of its Utopia Season.

Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England, said: "Part of England's national collection of public artworks is disappearing before our eyes. Historic England's research is only the tip of the iceberg as it's almost impossible to trace what has happened to every piece of public art since 1945. What we do know is that this art work was commissioned and created for everyone to enjoy, and it should remain accessible to all. We're making efforts to protect the best examples of post-war public art that still exist, and make sure that it continues to enhance the public realm. But we also want to raise awareness of just how vulnerable these works can be and we want the public to help us track down lost pieces." From a bronze Henry Moore sculpture stolen to order for its scrap value, to an abstract steel sculpture by Barry Flanagan in Cambridge that was vandalized beyond repair, or the seven meter long steel structure by Bryan Kneale that was sold at auction last year, these public artworks are vulnerable and need protecting. In 2012 Wakefield Council went as far as to remove its Henry Moore from public display and put it in secure storage because of the spate of thefts. Often, the artists themselves don't know their works are in danger until it's too late and the public isn't consulted on what should happen next. Since they were installed from the early 1950s on wards, works have been vandalized, destroyed, sold and stolen. The price of scrap metal, the need for many public bodies to fill funding gaps, pressure from redevelopment, and vandalism are all reasons why this national collection of public art is being eroded.

Historic England (previously known as English Heritage) is currently identifying the post-war public art that could be protected through listing. They are also running an exhibition at Somerset House, "Out There: Our Post-War Public Art" from 3 February to 10 April 2016, to help people to learn about this national collection and the stories behind it, so they will recognize the importance of these works. Historic England wants to strengthen the public's sense of ownership of its own collection, to make it harder for it be stolen or destroyed.

Historic England has compiled a list of works that have been lost, sold, stolen or destroyed. http://historicengland.org.uk/news-and-features/missing-public-art/ If anyone knows anything about the fate of these works, or other works not mentioned here, they can get in touch by emailing outthere@HistoricEngland.org.uk or calling 0207 973 3295.

They are also asking the public to send them any pictures of the missing pieces that they have taken over the years. They hope any further details that emerge can become part of the Out There exhibition, and the stories behind the disappearance of these works of art can be told.

http://artdaily.com/news/83701/Help-find-missing-public-art--Organisation-asks-public-to-help-uncover-missing-pieces-#.VnLrJlLj1-4

Two new International Council of Museums tools to fight illicit traffic in cultural goods

The Emergency Red List of Libyan Cultural Objects at Risk.

PARIS- The illicit traffic in cultural goods is not a new practice; however, conflicts in the Middle East (Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Yemen) and Africa (Libya, Mali) have made the problem worse. Entire swathes of cultural heritage have been damaged or destroyed, particularly by ISIS, feeding the networks through which stolen and looted objects travel. In order to fight illicit traffic, we must constantly adapt to emergency situations and new practices, such as Internet sales. In the face of these challenges, ICOM, which has been committed to the fight against the illicit traffic in cultural goods since it was founded, has developed new tools for gathering information and raising awareness in support of existing national and international laws. At the end of 2015, ICOM published two vital tools for its ongoing commitment to fighting illicit traffic in cultural goods: the Emergency Red List of Libyan Cultural Objects at risk, and the book Countering illicit traffic in cultural goods: the global challenge of protecting the world’s heritage.

THE EMERGENCY RED LIST OF LIBYAN CULTURAL OBJECTS AT RISK With two rival governments – one based in Tripoli and the other, recognised by the international community, in Tobrouk – the country is in a state of chaos. ISIS has moved from east to west, to Derna, Sirte and Sabratha. ICOM has been monitoring the situation at museums and sites since the beginning of the conflict in February 2011 and supported an in-country assessment in 2012. The Emergency Red List of Libyan Cultural Objects at Risk was produced by ICOM with scientific support from Vincent Michel (Director of the French Archaeological Mission in Libya, Université de Poitiers) and a group of 12 other experts from Libya, the United States and a number of European countries. It identifies categories of objects at risk, including funerary sculptures and busts – particularly some female funerary busts typical of Cyrene – and objects from the Greek, Punic and Roman periods and the Islamic and Medieval eras, such as coins decorated with the famous silphium, a now-extinct ancient plant.

THE PUBLICATION: COUNTERING ILLICIT TRAFFIC IN CULTURAL GOODS – THE GLOBAL CHALLENGE OF PROTECTING THE WORLD’S HERITAGE This publication, culmination of three years of the Observatory's work, discusses the subject of illicit traffic accurately and honestly. Published in English (and also accessible online), the book is a collection of essays by 14 international experts from a variety of disciplines (archaeologists, academics, curators, lawyers, journalists). With their wide range of backgrounds and experience, the authors address different aspects of the illicit traffic in cultural goods, question the relevance of the instruments that exist to combat it, and raise issues for future consideration.

http://artdaily.com/news/83671/Two-new-International-Council-of-Museums-tools-to-fight-illicit-traffic-in-cultural-goods#.VnGON7_j1-4

United States government returns dinosaur fossil, ancient artifacts to China

HSI Cleveland and HSI New York worked jointly to investigate Eric Prokopi, of Florida, who later pleaded guilty to engaging in scheme to illegally import dinosaur fossils.

WASHINGTON (AFP).- The United States returned a dinosaur fossil to China Thursday believed to be about 120 million years old, as well as a trove of ancient cultural artifacts, US customs officials said. "It's a great pleasure to welcome home these 22 Chinese artifacts and one fossil given back by the United States. These treasures are symbols of ancient China civilization and of mother nature," Ambassador Cui Tiankai told a ceremony at the Chinese embassy. The microraptor fossil was falsely manifested as a "craft rock" and later as a "fossil replica" to conceal its true contents when it was illegally imported to the United States, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said. Among the artifacts ICE returned to the Chinese government were jade disks, bronze trays and other items dating back as far as 1600 BCE.

The fossil and treasures were seized in investigations that saw two people in the United States convicted and fined. Since 2007, US authorities have repatriated more than 8,000 items to more than 30 countries. "In returning these items today, ICE rights a great wrong for the people of China," said ICE deputy director Daniel Ragsdale. "Fossils and treasures like these will always be targeted by bad actors, but we continue to investigate these crimes and repatriate them to their rightful owners."

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse
www.artdaily.com/news/83583/United-States-government-returns-dinosaur-fossil--ancient-artifacts-to-China#.Vm8Sib9lbh5

Germany, Italy and France urge action against Islamic State antiquities dealing

ISIS Funds Terror Through Black Market Antiquities Trade. Photo via Xinhua/ZUMAPRESS

BERLIN (AFP).- Germany, Italy and France called Tuesday for the European Union to crack down on the illegal trade in antiquities used to bankroll attacks by the Islamic State group. The culture ministers of the three countries wrote in a letter to the European Commission urging concerted measures against the illicit trade in cultural treasures for the benefit of the jihadist group. "By taking part directly or indirectly in the trade in cultural artifacts from archaeological digs, museums and libraries finance their (IS's) atrocities in the region and in Europe," Monika Gruetters, Dario Franceschini and Fleur Pellerin wrote. They said they had agreed at a meeting of EU culture ministers on November 24, in the wake of last month's deadly IS assault in Paris, that it was "high time for Europe... to take more effective action against these attacks on our cultural heritage and the trade in cultural assets".

Among steps the ministers called for were uniform EU import and export rules, more reliable certification of traded antiquities and expedited means to return plundered goods to their countries of origin. In territory it controls in Iraq and Syria, IS finances itself through means including oil smuggling, extortion, kidnapping for ransom and selling looted antiquities. The United States and Russia said last week that they were drafting UN resolutions aimed at ramping up global efforts to choke off IS's sources of financing. The proposed new Security Council measures would build on a resolution adopted in February that sought to cut off millions of dollars in earnings from IS smuggling of oil and antiquities.

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

Stolen Dutch 17th-century art found in Ukraine 'risks being sold illegally': Westfries Museum

The 24 paintings by Jan Linsen, Jan van Goyen, Jacob Waben and other Dutch artists were taken when robbers broke into the Westfries Museum in the northwestern city of Hoorn in early 2005.

THE HAGUE (AFP).- Two dozen 17th-century Dutch paintings stolen a decade ago have resurfaced in Ukraine, a Dutch museum revealed Monday, warning that the works were in danger of being sold on the black market after its own efforts to retrieve them failed. The 24 paintings by Jan Linsen, Jan van Goyen, Jacob Waben and other Dutch artists were taken when robbers broke into the Westfries Museum in the northwestern city of Hoorn in early 2005. The robbers also stole 70 pieces of silverware before disappearing without a trace, the museum said in a statement.

Five months ago, two men claiming to be from the ultra-nationalist Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists militia entered the Dutch embassy in Kiev claiming to have stumbled upon the complete collection of paintings. There was no mention of the silverware. They said they had found the art in a villa in war-torn eastern Ukraine, where Kiev's forces are battling pro-Russian separatists. As proof, the men showed a picture of one of the paintings alongside a recent Ukrainian newspaper edition, the Westfries Museum said. "The men said they wanted to give back the paintings" but did not want Ukrainian authorities involved, according to the museum.

The Dutch government decided to give the city of Hoorn a chance to negotiate their return and employed an art historian who specialises in tracing stolen works to act as an intermediary. But after meeting with the militia members, the expert, Arthur Brand, said "it was clear their estimate of the art was totally unrealistic," according to the museum. "They wanted 50 million euros." While the paintings were valued at 10 million euros when they were stolen, Brand said that judging by the state of one of the paintings, the collection was now worth 500,000 euros at most. The militia members then claimed a "finders' fee" of five million euros "and not a cent less," after which negotiations reached a dead end.

'Paintings should be returned' Fears that the works would next turn up on the stolen art circuit prompted the museum to go public with the saga. "The reason for our revelation is that there are very strong indications the paintings are now being offered for sale to other parties," Westfries Museum director Ad Geerdink told a press conference. "Some may even already have been sold." The museum said it hoped potential buyers would be warned as well as aware of the artworks' real value. The museum however said the paintings are "priceless to us, as they tell the story about a fascinating time in West Friesland during the Golden Age." Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Bert Koenders said he had contacted Ukrainian officials at the "highest level" to get the paintings back. "It's a bad situation and if the paintings are over there they should be returned as soon as possible," Koenders told the NOS public broadcaster.

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

Forger claims Da Vinci masterpiece "La Bella Principessa" is supermarket checkout girl

"I drew this picture in 1978 when I worked at the Co-op (supermarket)," wrote Greenhalgh in new book "A Forger's Tale," extracts of which appeared in the Sunday Times.

LONDON- One of Britain's most notorious art forgers has claimed responsibility for what is believed to be a Leonardo Da Vinci masterpiece, saying it was inspired by a supermarket checkout girl, the Sunday Times reported. Experts agree that Da Vinci created "La Bella Principessa" in the 15th century, but Shaun Greenhalgh, who has spent time in jail for art forgery, claims he made the chalk and ink drawing when he worked at a supermarket in Bolton, northern England. "I drew this picture in 1978 when I worked at the Co-op (supermarket)," wrote Greenhalgh in new book "A Forger's Tale," extracts of which appeared in the Sunday Times. "The 'sitter' was based on a girl called Sally who worked on the checkouts," he added. "Despite her humble position, she was a bossy little bugger and very self-important."

Experts concluded in 2008 that the profile of a blonde-haired woman was a "remarkable drawing by Leonardo", and it has since been exhibited as a da Vinci in Italy and valued at £100 million ($150 million, 142 million euros). Greenhalgh, who was arrested in 2006 and jailed for four years and eight month, claims he used an 1587 council document for the canvas and schooldesk lid as the backing. While executing the artwork, he turned it 90 degrees clockwise to mimic da Vinci's left-handed style, he wrote. However, a laboratory recently released evidence suggesting the chalk pigment was at least 250 years old. Greenhalgh claimed he made his own pigments from organic materials of an appropriate age, digging up iron-rich clay.

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse
http://artdaily.com/news/83276/Forger-claims-Da-Vinci-masterpiece--La-Bella-Principessa--is-supermarket-checkout-girl#.Vly9Br9lbh4

Missing Anish Kapoor 'Water Pendant' found and resolved thanks to The Art Loss Register

The American tourist reported the loss to his insurer who paid out on the claim. Photo: Bonhams.

LONDON.- The Art Loss Register has successfully resolved the case of a lost Anish Kapoor ‘Water Pendant’ which sold at Bonhams this week for £8,125, exceeding its estimate. The pendant was bought by an American tourist as an anniversary gift for his wife in 2013. The pendant, one of an edition of just five, is made from polished white and rose gold. It features mirrored concave and convex surfaces similar to those often seen in Kapoor’s monumental sculpture. It was bought from the London-based Louisa Guinness Gallery, which works with leading sculptors and painters to create jewellery. The pendant was lost immediately after purchase - the buyer had not even returned to his hotel room. It had been left in the original box in the back of a London taxi.

The American tourist reported the loss to his insurer who paid out on the claim. Soon afterwards, the insurance company registered the missing pendant with the ALR, the world’s largest private database of lost and stolen art. In May 2015 a search was made for the pendant on the ALR’s database. The searcher had innocently acquired it by buying the contents of an abandoned storage unit, and hoped to establish whether there was any claim to the pendant by checking it with the ALR. The ALR was able to negotiate the recovery of the pendant on behalf of the insurer, and with their authority provided a small reward in recognition of the holder’s honesty in searching the item. The ALR finalised the process by selling the pendant at Bonhams on behalf of the insurer.

http://artdaily.com/news/83224/Art-Loss-Register-successfully-resolves-case-of-Anish-Kapoor--Water-Pendant-#.VltDM79lbh4

Suspect in Cuban Museum Heist Arrested in Greece

The Cuban National Fine Arts Museum. Photo: cubadebate.cu

ATHENS — The latest major art theft from the Cuban National Fine Arts Museum now has a suspect, arrested in Greece, reported the official Havana press on Wednesday. According to the Athens police, the 36-year old Cuban man was arrested in connection with the heist of dozens of modern art works, first made public in February 2014. The suspect’s name was not released. Most of the stolen works are from Cuban artists including several by the famous painter Leopoldo Romañach (1862-1951). The Athens Police said the man will appear before a prosecutor on Thursday in the Greek capital.

See below the report when the initial story of the theft broke:

Big Time Theft at Cuba Fine Arts Museum - February 27, 2014
By Ivette Leyva Martinez (Cafe Fuerte)

HAVANA TIMES — Nearly a hundred paintings have been stolen from Havana’s National Fine Arts Museum in what could well be the most serious misappropriation of Cuba’s artistic heritage of recent decades. “Dozens of works are missing from storage,” a source employed by the museum told Cafe Fuerte. “Most are vanguard pieces.” The paintings were kept at the warehouse of the former headquarters of Cuba’s Technical Investigations Department (DTI), which has belonged to the museum following its remodeling in 2001. Police officers were in charge of the local’s security.

The thefts were detected last week, when a number of the missing pieces began to be offered to art dealers in Miami. An investigation by Ministry of the Interior and art heritage experts is underway. According to the information secured by Cafe Fuerte, the pieces are works by Cuban painting masters. Apparently, news of the theft came from US art dealers. “Someone noticed that the works they were being shown belonged to Cuba’s collection and notified the Fine Arts Museum of what was happening,” the source, who chose to remain anonymous, declared. At least two art dealers in Miami reported seeing works by Cuban painter Leopoldo Romañach (1862-1951), pieces which began to circulate in the South Florida market recently.

Though the exact number of works stolen is unknown, reports suggest that it could be close to a hundred. It is believed most of the pieces belong to the avant-garde movement of the 1920s and 30s. Cuban authorities and the country’s media do not generally report on the theft of artworks, and many haven’t even been registered by Interpol.

Assuming Responsibility: Art heritage dealers and experts around the world believe the museum should assume the responsibility of immediately reporting the stolen pieces, so that the Cuban art market can protect itself and prevent the works and objects stolen from being sold and turning their potential buyers into the direct victims of the perpetrators. This is not the first time the museum’s collection suffers a massive theft of this nature. In 1995, Cuban authorities dismantled a network of art smugglers headed by Arquimides Matienzo, a former museum administrator, and detained an additional five culprits, including an Italian citizen. The group had stolen 40 paintings from the museum.

Founded in 1913, the National Fine Arts Museum is the institution tasked with storing and conserving works belonging to Cuba’s visual arts heritage. The facility holds the largest collection of Cuban art produced between the 16th century and the present day. Its current director is Moraima Clavijo Colom. Also read: Major Cuba Art Theft Confirmed

http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=115170

Dictator Ferdinand Marco jewelry hoard is reappraised by Philippines

An official from the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) shows diamond jewellery seized by the Philippine government from former first lady Imelda Marcos, at the Central Bank headquarters in Manila on November 24, 2015. Philippine authorities on November 24 showcased a dazzling collection of jewels seized from the family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos appraised in preparation for a possible auction. The long-hidden collection, seized in three batches after Marcos was overthrown in 1986, also provides a stark look at how the Marcos family enriched itself while the nation sank deeper into poverty. AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS

MANILA - Philippine authorities on Tuesday showcased necklaces with diamonds the size of marbles and other jewels seized from the family of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in preparation for a possible multi-million-dollar auction. White-gloved appraisers from Christie's auction house examined about 600 pieces of jewellery including gold chains covered with sparkling gems, a huge circlet of rubies and a necklace dripping with pink and yellow diamonds at a special vault at the Philippine central bank.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), a body created to recover the millions stolen by Marcos and his allies, said that "due to the vast quantity of jewellery to be appraised, it will take at least five days" for teams to go over it. After the appraisal by Christie's, a team from Sotheby's will have their turn. Previous appraisals of the jewels in 1988 and 1991 estimated their worth at between five and seven million dollars, but the PCGC said this is no longer current. "This (appraisal) will significantly open the way to determining a final resolution on the said assets including the possible auction of the same," the PCGG said in a statement, but added it was also open to putting the jewels on display. It said a final decision required the approval of other agencies, and that Marcos's widow, flamboyant former first lady Imelda Marcos, and her children, were still disputing the ownership of part of the collection before the Supreme Court.

Imelda Marcos's lawyer Robert Sison said in a statement that ownership of the jewels was still subject to litigation. He described the appraisal as a "very obvious political stunt." The long-hidden collection, seized in three batches after Marcos was overthrown in 1986, has been cited by critics as proof of how his family enriched itself while the nation sank deeper into poverty during his 20 years in power.

Imelda Marcos amassed a huge collection of jewels, valuable art works and shoes even as other Marcos relatives and allies gained fortunes during the Marcos years, critics have said. The PCGG has been charged with recovering this wealth which it dubs "ill-gotten." But since the late dictator died in exile in 1989, the family has made a political comeback with many members elected to prestigious positions. The son of the late dictator, Ferdinand Marcos Junior, is running for vice-president in next year's elections, raising fears the family will regain its influence.

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

France to offer 'asylum' for ISIS threatened artworks to help STOP the flow of Trafficking Antiquities on the Black Market!!

French President Francois Hollande (R) greets General Director of UNESCO, Irina Bokova (L) after delivering a speech for the 70th General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, on November 17, 2015. AFP PHOTO/ YOAN VALAT.

PARIS - President Francois Hollande announced Tuesday that France planned to implement a "right to asylum" for artworks at risk from the Islamic State group which has destroyed heritage sites in Syria and Iraq.

Addressing the UN's cultural body four days after 129 people were killed in jihadist attacks on Paris, Hollande said "the right to asylum applies to people... but asylum also applies to works, world heritage", indicating it would be part of a law to be considered by parliament. He said that Islamic State jihadists were "at this very moment" issuing archaeological permits and slapping taxes on the items that would then feed the global black market, "transiting through free ports which are havens for receiving stolen goods and laundering, including in Europe".

France will also introduce customs checks on the importation of cultural goods and incorporate UN Security Council resolutions into its legislation banning the transport, transit and trade of cultural heritage having illegally left certain countries, Hollande told the UNESCO conference in Paris. IS seized control of Syria's ancient city of Palmyra in May and has realised international fears by destroying some of the most prized sites in the UNESCO World Heritage listed ancient city.

The militants have carried out a sustained campaign of destruction against heritage sites in areas under their control in Syria and Iraq, including the important Iraqi sites of Hatra, Nimrud and Khorsabad, an ancient Assyrian capital. Islamist militants are also accused of being behind attacks on 10 religious and historic monuments in the Unesco World Heritage city of Timbuktu in Mali.

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

http://artdaily.com/news/82988/France-to-offer--asylum--for-IS-threatened-artworks--French-President-Francois-Hollande#.VlBmP79lbh4

Stolen Andy Warhol prints handed to L.A. police? Or were they?!?

I found this article to my surprise I had not heard about the Andy Warhol switcheroo, so I started to research on the developments in recovering the artworks... The article below states two of the prints have been returned the; Siberian Tiger and Bighorn Ram. However on the LA Police Art Theft unit webpage the two artworks are still listed as missing?!

- http://www.lapdonline.org/paintings_and_prints_w_/content_basic_view/58945

- http://www.lapdonline.org/paintings_and_prints_w_/content_basic_view/58946

Is this a mistake or is their something more to this investigation that is not being revealed ie. did the owners of the artwork do the switcheroo and are hoping to score the insurance money meanwhile selling the real artwork themselves - cashing in twice?! Seems logical who else would have that type of access to make such a grand theft go unnoticed for years?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LA - Two of the nine Andy Warhol prints stolen from a Los Angeles movie business in a theft that went unnoticed for years have been turned over to police, an attorney for a man who had the artwork said on Tuesday. Attorney Harland Braun said he arranged to have police come to his office on Monday and pick up Warhol prints titled "Siberian Tiger" and "Bighorn Ram," which he said were among three prints his client bought several years ago from a man involved in commercial construction. Braun represents Bryan Calvero, who he said works at apparel company Crooks & Castles and was named in court documents in the theft case. Braun said Calvero was unaware the two prints - as well as a third one that he sold through an auction house - were reported stolen until a journalist contacted him last week.

Los Angeles police art detail detective Don Hrycyk declined to confirm the prints were returned or comment on the case. The two pieces were among nine original Warhol prints quietly stolen from Los Angeles movie business Moviola and replaced with color copies in a burglary reported in July, police said in documents submitted to a court for a search warrant.

The nine pieces are worth an estimated $350,000. They include three prints from Warhol's 1983 series "Endangered Species" and six from his 1980 "Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century," according to a police report. In the affidavit, police said the theft was so seamless it was only was discovered years later after one piece was taken for reframing and staff noticed it lacked a print number and signature. "The idea that you can have a stolen piece of art and no one knows it's stolen, even the owner, that's a hard concept to wrap your head around," Braun said. "Bald Eagle" was sold through auction house Bonhams in October 2011. Braun confirmed Calvero sold "Bald Eagle" through Bonhams and said Calvero had little experience in art collection and relied on the auction house to ensure the piece was not stolen.

Bonhams spokeswoman Kristin Guiter said the firm has its catalogues checked against databases of stolen and lost art. She said Bonhams asked about specific provenance "and also obtained from the consignor relevant written representations and warranties, including to the effect that all information provided by him about provenance was true and correct." (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Bill Trott)

Read more at Reutershttp://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/16/usa-arttheft-california-idUSL1N11L2KR20150916#EYKD30m27ybp7mev.99

Monaco gives go-ahead to million-dollar art fraud trial between Dmitry Rybolovlev and Yves Bouvier

On Thursday, the Monaco appeals court rejected Bouvier's request that the case be dismissed, and ruled he should face fraud and money-laundering charges. Photo: Anouk Antony

MONACO- The fraud case against a Swiss art dealer accused of swindling up to a billion dollars from the owner of Monaco football club should go ahead, a court ruled Thursday. Russian billionaire and club owner Dmitry Rybolovlev bought a total of 37 masterpieces worth two billion euros ($2.1 billion) through art dealer Yves Bouvier over the space of a decade. But their relationship disintegrated last year after he accused Bouvier of inflating prices, rather than finding him the best price, and taking a commission. Rybolovlev's lawyers say Bouvier pocketed "between $500 million and $1 billion" from the inflated prices.

On Thursday, the Monaco appeals court rejected Bouvier's request that the case be dismissed, and ruled he should face fraud and money-laundering charges. The woman who introduced the two, Tania Rappo, Rybolovlev's translator and godmother to his youngest daughter, will also face prosecution for taking a commission on the sales, her lawyer confirmed. "I have been betrayed," Rybolovlev told Le Parisien in September. "(Bouvier) made us believe he was negotiating the price in our interest... while today he claims he was negotiating for himself as a salesman." 'I'm not crazy' Rybolovlev's lawyers say he became aware of the problem over dinner in New York, when an art consultant told him he had overpaid by $15 million for a Modigliani painting.

In another twist, Bouvier was in September charged with handling stolen goods for selling two Picasso watercolours to Rybolovlev. Picasso's daughter-in-law, Catherine Hutin-Blay, claims that "Woman Arranging her Hair" and "Spanish Woman with a Fan" were stolen from her collection and never approved for sale. Rybolovlev handed them over to authorities, saying he was unaware they were stolen. But Bouvier has maintained his innocence, saying he bought the watercolours, along with 58 drawings, from a trust in Liechtenstein that claimed to represent Hutin-Blay. "I am not crazy," he told the New York Times. "I'm not going to sell stolen art to someone who has bought two billion in art from me. He was my biggest client."

Bouvier is not only an art dealer, but also one of the leading organisers of offshore storage facilities for wealthy collectors, shuttling masterpieces between high-tech storage facilities in low-tax countries such as Switzerland, Luxembourg and Singapore. Rybolovlev, who made his fortune in the fertiliser business after the collapse of the Soviet Union, has an art collection to rival major museums, featuring works by artists like Van Gogh, Monet, Rodin, Matisse and da Vinci.

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

Stolen Chokwe masks and a rare statue to be returned to Dundo Museum in Angola

LUANDA.- Fundação Sindika Dokolo has acquired two ancestral female Pwo masks and a rare statue representative of the male figure of the Chokwe people from private European collections .The classical works, which have been identified as looted from Angola during the civil war, will be repatriated to the Dundo Museum in Angola, their original home and where they were last exhibited. These masterpieces, created around the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, hold historic and cultural significance for the Chokwe people. The Chokwe people inhabit north eastern Angola, the southern part of Congo (Kinshasa) from the Kwango River to the Lualaba and, since 1920, the north western corner of Zambia.

The ‘found’ pieces belonged to the Dundo Museum which held one of the most distinguished collections of ethnographic art from wooden traditional masks and wooden sculptures of the local heterogeneous Chokwe people to recordings of local folk music and a photographic collection dating to the 1880s. Located in a mining town in north-eastern Angola about 15 miles (24 km) south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo border, the museum saw many of its art works ‘disappear’ during the Angolan civil war from 1975–2002 and due to lack of archival documentation, the number of missing works and their whereabouts remain a mystery. The recovered works have been slightly altered from their original state: on both of the Pwo masks, the cord hair has been removed and the surface of the wood has been retouched and altered to hide original carved motifs visible on the surface of the wood; this is thought to be have been done to render the pieces unrecognisable and untraceable. They were sold on to private dealers and acquired by various collectors in the intervening years.

The return of the Pwo masks and sculpture is the result of diligent research by Brussels-based gallerist Didier Claes and Parisian dealer, Tao Kerefoff, both specialists in classical African art. The works were traced thanks to several publications by noted Belgian art historian Marie-Louise Bastin (1918-2000). Her publications remain a principal and definitive source in identifying the different cultures and styles of Chokwe art and its people.

The provenance of both Pwo masks were established through photographs in her book, Art Décoratif Tshokwe: Museu do Dundo (1961). Both masks are illustrated in the book: a photograph taken of an exhibition of “Sala da Crença Animista" or “Animist Belief Room” at the Dundo Museum at the end of the 1950s depicts one of the looted masks in a line-up of 30 Pwo masks belonging to the museum collection. The Chokwe statue is documented in an essay Les Entités Spirituelles des Chokwe (The Spiritual Existence of the Chokwe) written by Bastin and published in the academic paper Quaderni Poro in 1988.

This pioneering project to recover classical works of African art enables Fundação Sindika Dokolo to advance a local and a global dialogue of the epic story of African civilizations. Inspired by his father Augustin Dokolo Sanu, a great collector of classical African art, Sindika Dokolo created his foundation to document the journey of arts and culture from Africa with the aim of empowering future generations of Africans with the knowledge of their own cultural history. “We are honoured to be returning these symbolic works,” Mr Sindika Dokolo said. “Locating the works and negotiating their return to their homeland are the result of the strong collaboration between Fundação Sindika Dokolo and dealers Didier Claes and Tao Kerefoff.”

Before their return to the Dundo Museum, these important works will travel to Luanda where they will be exhibited at the new Currency museum as part of La Triennale di Luanda at the end of November. The occasion will also celebrate forty years of Angolan Independence.

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Three Syrian's tied to columns in Syria's Palmyra were blown up for execution by ISIS

Syria's UNESCO world heritage site of Palmyra is under threat from Islamic State fighters. The city was founded in the second millenium BC, and was an important stop for caravans crossing the Syrian desert. It became prosperous under the Roman empire, and reached its pinnacle of importance in the second century AD.While the Isil advance is not aimed at the ancient city itself, it has raised fears for its future

BEIRUT (AFP).- The Islamic State jihadist group executed three people in Syria's ancient city of Palmyra by binding them to three historic columns and blowing them up, a monitoring group said Monday. Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said IS on Sunday "tied three individuals it had arrested from Palmyra and its outskirts to the columns... and executed them by blowing up" three columns. Khaled al-Homsi, an activist from Palmyra, said IS had yet to inform local residents who the executed individuals were or why they had been killed. "There was no one there to see (the execution). The columns were destroyed and IS has prevented anyone from heading to the site," Homsi, who works with the local Palmyra Coordination Committee activist group, told AFP.

Mohammad al-Ayed, also an activist from Palmyra, said the columns were "archeological, and there are many like them still present in Palmyra." "IS is doing this for the media attention, so that IS can say that it is the most villainous, and so it can get people's attention," al-Ayed told AFP. The Islamic State group has captured swathes of territory across Iraq and Syria to create a self-styled "caliphate" where it enforces an extreme form of Islamic rule. IS considers pre-Islamic artefacts to be idolatrous and therefore worthy of destruction.

Since the jihadists seized Palmyra from regime forces in May, they have destroyed multiple sites and historic artefacts, including its celebrated temples of Bel and Baal Shamin as well as several funerary towers. IS has used Palmyra's grand amphitheatre for a massacre in which child members of the group killed 25 Syrian soldiers, execution-style, in front of residents. It also beheaded Palmyra's 82-year-old former antiquities director in August.

Palmyra's ruins are on the UNESCO World Heritage list, and before the war around 150,000 tourists a year visited the town. Experts say the militants have used the destruction to raise their profile to attract new recruits, and are also funding their "caliphate" by selling treasures on the black market. Syria's archaeology association, the APSA, says that more than 900 monuments and archeological sites have been looted, damaged or destroyed during the four-year civil war.

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

Anish Kapoor sculpture "Dirty Corner" on exhibit in Versailles is Vandalized for the Second Time!

"Dirty Corner", a 2011 Cor-Ten steel, earth and mixed media monumental artwork by British contemporary artist of Indian origin Anish Kapoor. AFP PHOTO / PATRICK KOVARIK.

PARIS (AFP).- British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor has covered anti-Semitic graffiti on a controversial sculpture that was vandalised in France with gold leaf -- but only just. Dabs of white paint could still be seen Wednesday at the edges of the gold leaf placed on the massive, funnel-like sculpture at the Palace of Versailles, which has been dubbed the "queen's vagina" for its sexual overtones.

In an interview with the artnet website, Kapoor said the choice to leave bits of the graffiti visible was deliberate. "I have to transform it. Unravelling, finding an answer to a crime of hate and turn it into something else." The 60-metre (200-foot) long, 10-metre high structure, officially called "Dirty Corner", was first vandalised in June and then cleaned. Then two weeks ago it was covered in white paint with phrases such as "SS blood sacrifice" and "the second rape of the nation by deviant Jewish activism". Kapoor, 61, wanted the graffiti to remain to bear witness to hatred, and France's culture ministry said it was his choice. However a local government official, who saw the phrases as a "grave violation of fundamental rights", objected and a judge ruled on Saturday that the graffiti must be removed.

The scrawlings were covered with black cloth and a team from Kapoor's art studio has laid gold leaf on the rocks around the sculpture, which were also defaced. They said the operation would be completed Wednesday. Kapoor told artnews, in an interview in Moscow, that he was appealing the court's decision. "Culture is a victim of vandalism and hate," said Kapoor. "If vandalism and hate stops public experimentation, we all lose. If we stop that, we might as well live in a fascist state." Kapoor's work is not the first to be defaced recently in France. In October 2014, vandals in Paris's chic Place Vendome deflated a massive sculpture by American artist Paul McCarthy that was shaped like a sex toy.

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

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Spain banker Jaime Botin accused of trying to smuggle Pablo Picasso painting

Scoundrel Spain banker Jaime Botin

MADRID (AFP).- Courts are prosecuting a prominent Spanish banker accused of trying to smuggle a 26 million-euro Picasso painting out of Spain on a yacht, sources said Friday. Jaime Botin, former head of Spanish lender Bankinter and a member of the family that founded giant lender Santander, has been trying to get the painting out of the country for months. French customs seized the work "Head of a Young Girl", worth the equivalent of about $30 million, on July 31 on board the yacht in Corsica. The Spanish state has taken possession of the painting and handed it to the Reina Sofia modern art museum in Madrid.

Picasso painted it during his pre-Cubist phase in Gosol, Catalonia, in 1906. It was bought in London in 1977. A court in the affluent suburb of Pozuelo de Alarcon is investigating Botin, who has an appeal pending against the judicial procedures, sources close to the investigation said. He had been trying since 2012 to get permission to export the work but Spanish authorities refused on the grounds that it was a unique example in Spain of that period of Picasso's work. It was seized on board the "Adix", a British-flagged yacht.

Botin's lawyers have argued that the artwork counts as property under British law. But the Spanish courts in May ruled he could not export it on board the yacht which was moored in the Spanish port of Valencia. Auction house Christie's had already tried to export the painting to Britain on Botin's behalf in 2012 but the Spanish culture ministry blocked that move. Botin later claimed that the picture was not in Spain after all and that he owned it indirectly through a Panamanian company.

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Guggenheim relatives lose French court case over art treasures in Peggy Guggenheim museum

Peggy Guggenheim died 36 years ago, used her inherited fortune to amass an impressive collection of contemporary art.

PARIS (AFP).- The descendants of heiress and art collector Peggy Guggenheim lost their case in a French court Wednesday over her extensive collection of works housed in an 18th century palace on Venice's Grand Canal.

The French branch of the family launched legal action against the New York-based Solomon Guggenheim Foundation, which manages the collection. The relatives are angry at the way the collection of paintings by artists including Picasso, Miro and Matisse are displayed and have called for it to be restored to its original configuration.

One of Peggy's grandsons, Sandro Rumney, and other family members complain that works from other collectors are now being displayed at the Palazzo, diluting the quality of the collection. In the original hearing in May, lawyer Olivier Morice said the family felt moved to take the action "to respect the wishes of Peggy Guggenheim to see the collection intact". But the Court of Appeal in Paris rejected the family members' case and ordered them to pay 30,000 euros ($33,500) in legal costs.

Peggy Guggenheim built up the collection with the enormous wealth she inherited at the age of 13 when her metal tycoon father Benjamin went down on the Titanic. She came to live in Paris in the 1920s, befriending many of the artists whose works are in her collection. She died in 1979 at the age of 81.

The Guggenheim Foundation hailed the court's decision, saying in statement it is "proud of having honoured the wishes of Peggy Guggenheim for more than 30 years, by keeping her collection intact in the restored Palazzo museum and by contributing to the knowledge of modern and contemporary art in Italy."

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© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

FBI announces return of painting by Krzysztof Lubieniecki believed looted by Nazis during WWII

"Portrait of a Young Man" by Polish painter Krzysztof Lubieniecki.

COLUMBUS, OH.- Special Agent in Charge Angela L. Byers of the Cincinnati Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced today that the painting Portrait of a Young Man by Polish painter Krzysztof Lubieniecki has been returned to officials with the government of Poland. The work of art is believed to have been looted by Nazi soldiers from the National Museum in Warsaw, Poland during World War II. “We are honored to return this painting to the Polish government and the National Museum,” stated Special Agent in Charge Byers. “This was truly a cooperative effort among the U.S. government and our international partners to ensure this work of art was returned to its homeland.”

The painting Portrait of a Young Man is purported to have been taken by the Nazis along with other artwork from the National Museum in Poland in October 1944. From there, the Nazis reportedly took the artwork to a palace in Austria. The Portrait of a Young Man was apparently later discovered by a U.S. serviceman while in Austria. The soldier is believed to have brought the artwork to the United States after his service abroad. Years after the former serviceman’s death, the painting was sold to innocent purchasers in the Columbus, Ohio area, where it remained for many years. In recent years, a relative of the former serviceman who was conducting family genealogy research came across photos of the painting. Upon further research, it was learned that the painting was taken from the National Museum and the relative made efforts to contact Poland’s Ministry of Culture. Upon learning of the historic rights of the painting, the possessors agreed to return the work to Poland.

During a brief repatriation ceremony in the FBI’s Columbus Resident Agency, the painting was turned over to officials with the Polish Ministry of Cultural and National Heritage. The Ministry’s Division for Looted Art works to gather information on cultural property lost as a result of World War II. The agency also searches for and recovers this lost cultural property when it is located in Poland and abroad. The painting, entitled Portrait of a Young Man, was created around 1728 by Polish artist Krzysztof Lubieniecki (1659-1729). Lubieniecki was a Polish Baroque painter and engraver active in Amsterdam during the Dutch Golden Age. SAC Byers thanked the FBI’s Warsaw Legal Attaché and the FBI’s Art Crime Team, including Special Agents assisting from the Chicago Field Office, for their work locating this piece of art and determining its historical significance.


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Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier charged in France with stealing Picasso works of art

Rybolovlev is considered the world's 160th wealthiest person according to Forbes, with a fortune estimated at $8.5 billion (7.6 billion euros). AFP PHOTO / VALERY HACHE.

PARIS (AFP).- Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier was charged Monday by a Paris court with stealing paintings by Pablo Picasso, a charge he categorically denied. The 52-year-old, under investigation for repeated theft, must hand over 27 million euros ($31 million) in caution money -- the sum said to have been paid by Russian billionaire Dmitri Rybolovlev for two Picasso masterpieces, including "Woman with Fan", and 58 drawings.

The investigation was opened after a complaint in March by Catherine Hutin-Blay, the iconic painter's step-daughter. She claimed, after a Brazilian restoration expert raised the alarm, that several artworks that belonged to her had been stolen.

Two years earlier, the expert had been commissioned to restore and prepare artworks by Picasso for use as murals using a technique known as marouflage. The artworks he was told to restore were part of a collection owned by 68-year-old Hutin-Blay, who believed they were in storage in Gennevilliers near Paris since 2008. But once they were restored, the paintings were taken to a Swiss company owned by Bouvier to be put on show and sold to Rybolovlev -- the majority owner and president of French football club AS Monaco.

In a statement on Monday Bouvier denied any wrongdoing, and said he handed over to the court proof that the artworks he sold to Rybolovlev had been "bought from a trust presented as being that of Catherine Hutin-Blay". The name of the art dealer whom Bouvier claims sold him the Picasso paintings and drawings "has been transmitted to the judge Rich-Flament, but won't be publicly released by Yves Bouvier", the statement said.

Hutin-Blay challenged Bouvier's defence, claiming in a statement she "never consented or received payment for the sales of 'Woman's Head', 'Woman with a Fan' or the 58 drawings". She added that she does not know Bouvier. Bouvier earlier this year had millions of euros worth of assets frozen after he was sued for fraud by none other than the Russian tycoon Rybolovlev.

Singapore's highest court unfroze Bouvier's assets in August, with the dealer rejecting allegations he had inflated the price of 38 artworks. Bouvier operates vaults in Singapore and Luxembourg where wealthy clients can store their art and other valuables.

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

Islamic State group publishes images of Palmyra's Baal Shamin temple destruction

Smoke rises from an explosion that destroyed the Temple of Baalshamin in Syria's ancient city of Palmyra.

BEIRUT.- The Islamic State group on Tuesday published images showing the destruction of the Baal Shamin temple in Syria's Palmyra, after international condemnation of the act. The series of images showed militants placing barrels and small containers, presumably containing explosives, into the temple, as well as similar containers placed on parts of its columns. The images, which appeared to be screenshots from a video, also showed a large explosion apparently as the temple was blown up, and then a pile of rubble at its former location.

The temple was reportedly destroyed on Sunday and news of its demolition sparked international condemnation. The head of the UN's cultural watchdog, Irina Bokova, called the act a "new war crime and an immense loss for the Syrian people and for humanity." Palmyra ancient ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage site and IS's capture of the town on May 21 raised concerns the group would lay waste to it as it has done with heritage sites under its control elsewhere.

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

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Italian "Flowers" painting damaged in Taiwan could be a fake: Expert Sean Hu

Organisers said the "Flowers" painting, which forms part of a collection of 55 artworks in Taipei, was by Italian artist Paolo Porpora and dated back to the 1600s.

TAIPEI (AFP).- Doubts emerged Wednesday over the authenticity of an Italian painting supposedly worth $1.5 mn, which hit headlines after a 12-year-old boy punched a hole through it as he tripped and fell during an exhibition in Taiwan. Organisers said the "Flowers" painting, which forms part of a collection of 55 artworks in Taipei, was by Italian artist Paolo Porpora and dated back to the 1600s. But a report in Taiwan's Apple Daily said the painting seemed identical to an artwork entitled "Composizione con vaso di fiori," a 17th-century piece by Mario Nuzzi, which was listed in the 2012 catalogue of the Della Rocca Casa d'Aste auction house, with a guide price of 25,000 to 30,000 euros ($28,700-$34,000). The work went unsold.

David Sun, head of TST Art of Discovery Co which sponsored the Taiwan exhibition, insisted that the two paintings were different, without going into details. His defence of the show, however, has failed to quell suspicions from professionals and the media. "From a professional's perspective, if the paintings are so old and expensive, they should not have been exposed to an environment without constant temperature and humidity," curator Sean Hu of Taipei-based Hu's Art Company told AFP. "There are too many questions about it.... No one knows if the paintings are genuine or fake."

Video footage released by the organisers shows the boy on Sunday tripping over a platform in front of the artwork and then bracing himself against the painting to break his fall. He then looks around helplessly before walking away. The 200-centimetre painting was restored on site Monday and is now back on display. The organisers decided not to seek damages from the boy's family, according to Taiwan's Central News Agency. A self-portrait by Leonardo Da Vinci worth 200 million euros ($231 million) is also on display, according to the exhibition's website.

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

ISIL and Antiquities Trafficking: FBI warns Dealers, Collectors about Terrorist Loot

Satellite imagery of Dura Europos, a 150-acre site in Syria dating to 300 B.C., shows as it appeared in 2014 covered by looters’ pits.

WASHINGTON, DC.- The FBI is alerting art collectors and dealers to be particularly careful trading Near Eastern antiquities, warning that artifacts plundered by terrorist organizations such as ISIL are entering the marketplace. “We now have credible reports that U.S. persons have been offered cultural property that appears to have been removed from Syria and Iraq recently,” said Bonnie Magness-Gardiner, manager of the FBI’s Art Theft Program. The Bureau is asking U.S. art and antiquities market leaders to spread the word that preventing illegally obtained artifacts from reaching the market helps stem the transfer of funds to terrorists.

In a single-page document titled ISIL Antiquities Trafficking, the FBI asks leaders in the field to disseminate the following message: · Please be cautious when purchasing items from this region. Keep in mind that antiquities from Iraq remain subject to Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions under the Iraq Stabilization and Insurgency Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR part 576). · Purchasing an object looted and/or sold by the Islamic State may provide financial support to a terrorist organization and could be prosecuted under 18 USC 233A. ·Robust due diligence is necessary when purchasing any Syrian or Iraqi antiquities or other cultural property in the U.S. or when purchasing elsewhere using U.S. funds.

In February, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 2199, which obligates member states to take steps to prevent terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria from receiving donations and from benefiting from trade in oil, antiquities, and hostages. As part of a broad U.S. government response, the Department of State this spring published satellite imagery showing industrial-level looting at Syrian and Iraqi archaeological sites. In a May raid against the now deceased ISIL finance chief Abu Sayyaf in Syria, U.S. Special Operations Forces recovered a significant cache of archaeological and historical objects and fragments. According to the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, “The cache represents significant primary evidence of looting at archaeological sites in Syria and Iraq, theft from regional museums, and the stockpiling of these spoils for likely sale on the international market.”

The looted materials, which were returned to the Iraq National Museum, included coins, pottery, glass, ivory, stone, jewelry, figurines, bowls, and manuscripts. Types of objects subject to looting appear in the International Council of Museums’ (ICOM) Red Lists of antiquities at risk posted on the State Department website. Here, collectors and dealers can view and learn to recognize the kinds of objects that have been looted from cultural sites, stolen from museums and churches, and illicitly trafficked. Syria and Iraq each have emergency Red Lists. The significance of valuable cultural antiquities as currency to ISIL was brought into sharp relief earlier this month in Palmyra, Syria—a UNESCO World Heritage site dating to the second millennium B.C.—with the public execution of a Syrian art scholar who reportedly refused to reveal to ISIL the location of valuable antiquities.

In the U.S., meanwhile, buyers may want to consult the Red Lists and should pay special attention to an object’s origin. Buyers should ask many questions such as: Where did this come from? When did it come into the country? Does it have an export license from the country of origin? “Check and verify provenance, importation, and other documents,” said Magness-Gardiner. “You have to be very careful when you’re buying. We don’t want to say don’t buy anything at all. There’s a lot of legitimate material circulating in the marketplace. What we’re trying to say is, don’t allow these pieces that could potentially support terrorism to be part of the trade.”

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Famed Russian art 'at risk' after Uzbek museum head Marinika Babanazarova fired

Staff say her firing was "illegal" signing an open letter of protest that was posted on Facebook which alleges Babanazarova was forced out and flatly denying allegations that she had stolen works from the collection.

ALMATY (AFP).- A world-renowned collection of avant-garde Russian art housed in a remote museum in Uzbekistan may be at risk after the director was abruptly fired on allegedly trumped-up charges of theft, staff say. The alarm was raised by staff working at the Savitsky Karakalpkstan Museum who claim the director, Marinika Babanazarova, was forced to resign over allegations she had stolen works of art. But the staff insist that nothing has been stolen from the state-run museum, which is located in the remote city of Nukus some 800 kilometres (500 miles) north of Tashkent and houses more than 50,000 pieces of Soviet-era avant-garde art.

They claim the move to oust Babanazarova, which has not been confirmed by the Uzbek authorities, is part of a ploy by officials to seize control of its valuable collection which has won world renown. Among the artists included in the collection are the famous cubo-futurist and suprematist Lyubov Popova, and other celebrated avant-garde painters from the first half of the 20th century such as Alexander Shevchenko and Robert Falk. Staff say her firing was "illegal" signing an open letter of protest that was posted on Facebook which alleges Babanazarova was forced out and flatly denying allegations that she had stolen works from the collection.

They said the allegations had been laid out in an anonymous letter published by the Uzbek media. And they insisted the collection was untouched. "The whole collection is intact and safe," the letter said. "It seems there are people for whom it is profitable to shame the good name of the director of the museum and her staff, now that the collection of the Savitsky museum has obtained worldwide fame," the staff wrote, demanding an investigation by the culture ministry.

The museum's founder, Russian artist Igor Savitsky, settled in Uzbekistan in the 1950s and began amassing works of art that ran contrary to state-endorsed Socialist Realist art, largely using funds from the local authorities. He opened the museum in 1966. The museum's remote location meant that its collection was largely forgotten for decades but it was rediscovered in the post-Soviet era and has become a must-see for art lovers. When Savitsky died in 1984, Babanazarova took over as director of the museum, which maintained its independence despite officially belonging to the Uzbek state. It is not the first time Babanazarova has been targeted before by the Uzbek authorities. Four years ago, they prevented her leaving to attend the screening of a documentary on the Savitsky collection in the United States.

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse
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Islamic State militants destroy ancient monastery in the central Syrian province of Homs

A file picture taken on March 14, 2014 shows a partial view of the ancient oasis city of Palmyra, 215 kilometres northeast of Damascus. AFP PHOTO / JOSEPH EID.

BEIRUT (AFP).- Islamic State militants have destroyed an ancient monastery in the central Syrian province of Homs, according to a monitor and pictures published by the jihadist group. "The Islamic State group yesterday used bulldozers to destroy the Mar Elian monastery in Al-Qaryatain, in Homs province," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman. He said the militants demolished the Syriac Catholic monastery "on the pretext that it was used for worshipping others than God." Photographs posted online by IS showed militants bulldozing parts of the monastery, although they did not appear to have completely destroyed the building with explosives as they have done with shrines and other religious buildings elsewhere.

IS seized Al-Qaryatain on August 5, kidnapping at least 230 people, including dozens of Christians. The town lies at the crossroads between IS territory in the eastern countryside of Homs and points further west in the Qalamun area bordering Lebanon. The Observatory said that IS had released 48 of those it took captive when it overran the town, and had transferred another 110 to its stronghold of Raqa province. The fate of the other 70 hostages was unclear.

The Mar Elian monastery dates back to the fifth century and is named for a Christian from Homs province who was martyred for refusing to renounce his faith. It is attached to a famous church of the same name, but it was unclear if that too had been damaged by IS. In May, Syrian priest Jacques Mourad was abducted from the monastery by masked men as he prepared to receive residents of nearby Palmyra fleeing an IS advance. Intolerant of any religious practice other than its own interpretation of Islam, IS has regularly destroyed religious buildings and icons in territory under their control. They have also targeted statues, which they consider idolatrous, and grave markers, including those of Muslims.

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Police arrest a 56-year-old man trying to sell a fake Vincent van Gogh painting

Copy of "The Harvest," by Vincent van Gogh.

THE HAGUE.- A 56-year-old man, has been arrested under suspicion of trying to sell, for 15 million euros, a fake Van Gogh painting, authorities have reported.

The man charged, who has been arrested for suspicion of fraud and whom was offering forged documents, has claimed he was attempting to sell a study for Van Gogh’s painting “The Harvest”. “The Harvest”, painted in 1888 and a masterpiece Van Gogh was reportedly very proud of, represents the view of wheatfields and farmers of Arles.

The police have reported that the suspect, whose identity has not been disclosed, had several interested buyers all around the world, since Van Gogh paintings are rare to come by and have astronomically high auction prices, the record being Portrait of Dr Gachet which sold for $148.9 million in 1990.

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Denmark police hunt pair who stole Rodin sculpture from the Glyptoteket in Copenhagen!

Surveillance camera footage shows two men taking down the bust from its base, putting it in a plastic bag and then placing it into another bag, before calmly walking out of the museum in broad daylight during normal opening hours.

COPENHAGEN (AFP).- Two robbers have made off with a bronze bust by French sculptor Auguste Rodin from a Copenhagen museum in a bold theft in broad daylight, the museum said Friday. "So far we have no indications of where it has gone and police investigations are ongoing," a spokesman at the Glyptoteket museum, Jakob Fibiger Andreasen, said. Andreasen declined to put a price on Rodin's 1863 "Man with a Broken Nose" but Danish media have estimated its worth at around two million kroner (268,000 euros, $304,000). The theft occurred on July 16 but the museum has only just announced it. Surveillance camera footage shows two men taking down the bust from its base, putting it in a plastic bag and then placing it into another bag, before calmly walking out of the museum in broad daylight during normal opening hours.

Another surveillance camera film shows the men had visited the museum over a week earlier, on July 7, to disable the alarm. "They were inside the museum to reconnoiter about a week prior to the theft," inspector Ove Randrup of Copenhagen police's robbery and theft unit told daily Politiken. "Whoever may have taken the statue will have difficulty in moving it, as it has been reported to both Interpol and Europol," Andreasen said. "They will meet a wall of refusal. But that depends, of course, on which type of market they may choose. It will, however, be difficult for them to offload," he added. Police have issued descriptions of the two men, saying they were "fair-skinned, of east European appearance," one of whom was wearing a Panama hat and the other a cap.

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse
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Renowned Antiquities Scholar Khaled al-Asaad, 82, Beheaded by ISIS Militant Scum!

A 2002 picture of Khaled al-Asaad in front of a rare sarcophagus from Palmyra depicting two priests dating from the first century. Photograph: Marc Deville/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

Islamic State militants beheaded a renowned antiquities scholar in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra and hung his mutilated body on a column in a main square of the historic site because he apparently refused to reveal where valuable artefacts had been moved for safekeeping.

The brutal murder of Khaled al-Asaad, 82, is the latest atrocity perpetrated by the jihadi group, which has captured a third of Syria and neighbouring Iraq and declared a “caliphate” on the territory it controls. It has also highlighted Isis’s habit of looting and selling antiquities to fund its activities – as well as destroying them.

Syrian state antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said Asaad’s family had informed him that the scholar, who worked for more than 50 years as head of antiquities in Palmyra, was killed by Isis on Tuesday.

Asaad had been held for more than a month before being murdered. Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, said he had learned from a Syrian source that the archaeologist had been interrogated by Isis about the location of treasures from Palmyra and had been executed when he refused to cooperate.

Isis captured the city from government forces in May but is not known to have damaged its monumental Roman-era ruins despite a reputation for destroying artefacts it views as idolatrous.

“Just imagine that such a scholar who gave such memorable services to the place and to history would be beheaded … and his corpse still hanging from one of the ancient columns in the centre of a square in Palmyra,” Abdulkarim said. “The continued presence of these criminals in this city is a curse and bad omen on [Palmyra] and every column and every archaeological piece in it.”

Palmyra-based activists circulated an unverified, gruesome image on social media of Asaad’s beheaded body, tied to a pole on a street in the city.

A board in front of the body set out the charges against him, which accused him of loyalty to the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, maintaining contact with senior regime intelligence and security officials and managing Palmyra’s collection of “idols”.

Isis, which follows a puritanical interpretation of Islam, considers maintaining such ancient statues to be apostasy. According to Syrian state news agency Sana and the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Asaad was beheaded in front of dozens of people on Tuesday in a square outside the town’s museum. His body was then taken to Palmyra’s archaeological site and hung from one of the Roman columns.

Amr al-Azm, a former Syrian antiquities official who ran the country’s science and conservation labs and knew Asaad personally, said the “irreplaceable” scholar was involved in early excavations of Palmyra and the restoration of parts of the city. “He was a fixture, you can’t write about Palmyra’s history or anything to do with Palmyrian work without mentioning Khaled Asaad,” he said. “It’s like you can’t talk about Egyptology without talking about Howard Carter. “He had a huge repository of knowledge on the site, and that’s going to be missed. He knew every nook and cranny. That kind of knowledge is irreplaceable, you can’t just buy a book and read it and then have that. “There’s a certain personal dimension to that knowledge that comes from only having lived that and been so closely involved in it and that’s lost to us forever. We don’t have that any more.”

Before the city’s capture by Isis, Syrian officials said they moved hundreds of ancient statues to safe locations out of concern they would be destroyed by the militants. Isis was likely to be looking for portable, easily saleable items that are not registered.

Azm said Asaad had played a role in evacuating the contents of the museum before Isis took control, which meant he faced certain arrest. “He’d been there for so long and been part of that city for so long, maybe he figured he lived there all his life and he would die there too, and that’s unfortunately what happened,” he said. “It’s terrible.”

Historian Tom Holland said the news was distressing. “For anyone interested in the study of the ancient world, it comes as – to put it mildly – a shock to realise that ideologues exist who regard the curating of antiquities and the attendance of international conferences on archaeology as capital offences.”

Palmyra flourished in antiquity as an important trading hub along the Silk Road. Asaad had worked over the past few decades with US, French, German and Swiss archaeological missions on excavations and research in Palmyra’s famed 2,000-year-old ruins, a Unesco world heritage site that includes Roman tombs and the Temple of Bel.

The Sana news agency said he had discovered several ancient cemeteries, caves and a Byzantine graveyard in the garden of the Palmyra museum. He was also a scholar of Aramaic, the lingua franca of the area before the rise of Islam in the seventh century. “Al-Asaad was a treasure for Syria and the world,” his son-in-law, Khalil Hariri, told the Associated Press. “Why did they kill him? Their systematic campaign seeks to take us back into pre-history. But they will not succeed.”

In June, Isis blew up two ancient shrines in Palmyra that were not part of its Roman-era structures but which the militants regarded as pagan and sacrilegious. In early July, it released a video showing the killing of 25 captured government soldiers in the Roman amphitheatre.

Unesco warned last month that looting had been taking place on an “industrial scale”. Isis advertises its destruction of sites such as Nimrud in Iraq but says little about the way plundered antiquities help finance its activities. Stolen artefacts make up a significant stream of the group’s estimated multi-million dollar revenues, along with oil sales and straightforward taxation and extortion.

Archaeological experts say Isis took over the already existing practice of illegal excavation and looting, which until 2014 was carried out by various armed groups, or individuals, or the Syrian regime.

Isis initially levied 20% taxes on those it “licensed” to excavate but later began to hire its own own archaeologists, digging teams and machinery. The group invested more when the US-led coalition began to bomb oil fields and other targets and enforced punishments for looting without a licence.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/18/isis-beheads-archaeologist-syria

"Looted antiquities are smuggled into countries such as London and sold in antiques shops dealing in artifacts. These artifacts are then disseminated through the market and are lost forever! By purchasing a looted black-market artifact it encourages and further benefits terrorist activities. Art collectors must due their due diligence and ask for the provenance of the piece before purchasing and if there is none RUN and tell others to boycott the antiques shop! If not this will never end and more cultural heritage will be lost thanks to terrorism scum!" - Julianne Larson.

Lawyers insist Spanish banker Jaime Botin can sell seized Pablo Picasso painting

Pablo Picasso’s Head of a Young Woman, not allowed to leave Spain, was found on a boat in Corsica, French authorities have said. Photograph: AFP

MADRID (AFP).- Lawyers for a Spanish banker accused of trying to illegally export a Picasso worth 25 million euros claimed Friday that the painting is officially British and can be sold abroad. The painting, "Head of a Young Woman", was seized by customs officials a week ago from a yacht off the French island of Corsica. The 1906 work is considered a national treasure in Pablo Picasso's native Spain and was subject to an export ban. Its owner Jaime Botin, a well-known Spanish banker whose family founded the Santander banking group, is accused of trying to illegally export it to Switzerland. But his lawyers said Friday that the picture had been painted abroad and acquired in London in 1977 and was therefore British, not Spanish -- and that Spanish authorities have no right to ban its export. "The work was painted and purchased abroad and has always remained there. As a consequence, it cannot be exported (from Spain), either legally or illegally," the lawyers said in a statement sent to AFP. "For years the painting has been kept permanently on a British-flagged boat -- which effectively constitutes foreign territory, even when docked in Spanish ports," they argued. But Javier Garcia Fernandez, a constitutional law specialist at Madrid's Complutense University, said there was a "huge contradiction" between this claim and the fact that Botin had tried to apply for an export licence for the painting, which is valued at more than 25 million euros ($27 million dollars).

Botin had been trying since 2012 to obtain authorisation to export the painting, but the culture ministry refused to grant permission, a decision backed up by one of Spain's highest courts in May. When customs officials boarded the yacht last week, its captain could only present two documents concerning the painting -- one of which was the court judgement ordering that it be kept in Spain. "If they say the painting was bought abroad and has always stayed there, why did they ask for an export permit? It's a huge contradiction," Spanish news website ElConfidencial quoted Fernandez as saying. "From the moment you apply for authorisation to export a good, that is then denied and has been taken before a Spanish court, there is recognition that it belongs to Spain." The painting was completed during Picasso's so-called Gosol period and Spanish officials argue that it is "the only work of its kind" in the master's home country.

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

http://artdaily.com/news/80595/Lawyers-insist-Spanish-banker-Jaime-Botin-can-sell-seized-Pablo-Picasso-painting#.Vcj62vnj1-4

Stolen Roman Artifacts Returned - Brought thief 'nothing but trouble'

A thief returned two stolen ancient artifacts along with the following note: "These are two Roman ballista balls from Gamla, from a residential quarter at the foot of the summit. I stole them in July 1995 and since then they have brought me nothing but trouble. Please, do not steal antiquities!" (Israel Antiquities Authority/Supplied)

JERUSALEM -- Israel's Antiquities Authority says an anonymous Israeli robber left two 2,000-year-old Roman sling stones at a museum with a typed note saying the stolen artifacts "brought me nothing but trouble." An employee of the Museum of Islamic and Near Eastern Cultures in Beersheva, Israel, said Monday he found the artifacts in a bag in the museum courtyard last week.
The robber wrote that he or she stole the artifacts 20 years ago from ancient Gamla, a Jewish town in the Golan Heights that was the site of a Roman siege in the first century. The robber ended the note with the message, "Do not steal antiquities!" There was also a map of the site in the bag with an "X" marked on it, likely marking where the stones were taken.

http://www.calgarysun.com/2015/07/13/stolen-roman-artifacts-brought-thief-lots-of-troubles