Ukranian art buyer hands back stolen 18th-century Dutch masterpiece

THE HAGUE (AFP).- A Ukranian art buyer has handed back a missing 18th-century painting stolen a decade ago from a Dutch museum, bringing the total number of masterpieces retrieved from the heist to five, officials said on Monday. "A Ukranian resident returned one of the 24 paintings that were stolen from the Westfries Museum to the Dutch Embassy in Kiev," said Marieke van Leeuwen, spokeswoman for the Hoorn municipality in northwest Netherlands where the museum is based.

"The man had brought in the painting in good faith and with a certificate of authenticity," Van Leeuwen added in a statement. He did not say how the buyer came into possession of the latest returned painting, Izaak Ouwater's 1784 piece entitled "Nieuwstraat in Hoorn", valued at around 30,000 euros ($33,400). Twenty-four Dutch Golden Age masterpieces and 70 pieces of silverware were stolen from the Westfries Museum on the night of January 9, 2005. For years Hoorn's residents hoped that the stolen art would some day resurface.

At the time of their disappearance, the paintings were valued at a total of 10 million euros ($11 million). Ukraine last month announced it had recovered four of the paintings, but it did not give details of how the works were retrieved, saying only they were "in the possession of criminal groups". The Westfries Museum in December said the art is thought to be in the hands of an ultranationalist militia fighting pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. The Hoorn municipality hopes the five paintings, which are still in Ukraine, will be returned to the Netherlands soon. Dutch government officials have filed an international application for the paintings' return. "We hope to put them on display by the end of the summer, but first we need to see what restoration they would have to undergo," Van Leeuwen added.

Last July two men who identified themselves as members of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) presented a picture of one of the stolen works to the Dutch embassy in Kiev, the museum said. The men alleged they had found the entire missing collection -- containing works by landscape painter Jan van Goyen, among others -- in an abandoned villa in the conflict-wracked east. Dutch media reported that the alleged OUN members had initially demanded 50 million euros for the paintings' return before dropping the price to 5 million euros. The OUN later denied it was holding the art work, as Ukrainian authorities launched an investigation.

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Diamond-encrusted eagle worth $5 million stolen in Vancouver-area

A golden eagle sculpture is shown in a handout photo from Delta Police. The solid gold eagle sculpture encrusted with 763 diamonds and housing a world-renowned emerald was stolen in a violent robbery in suburban Vancouver. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Delta Police

VANCOUVER -- A solid gold eagle sculpture encrusted with 763 diamonds and housing a world-renowned emerald was stolen in a violent robbery in suburban Vancouver. Acting Sgt. Sarah Swallow of the Delta Police Department says the robbery happened on a street in the community of Ladner at about 10 p.m. Sunday. The Maltese Eagle, at about 30 centimetres and weighing more than eight kilograms, is touted by its owner as the world's largest such sculpture with a value of about $5 million.

The eagle's owner, Ron Shore, didn't want to release specific details about what happened but says the robbery was extremely traumatic and left him injured. The eagle had been on display for four days at Art Vancouver, an event showcasing the work of dozens of artists from around the world. Shore says he had the eagle made in an effort to raise money for breast cancer research after his sister-in-law gave birth and then died two days later from the disease.

THE CANADIAN PRESS
First posted: Monday, May 30, 2016 03:10 PM MDT | Updated: Monday, May 30, 2016 04:00 PM MDT http://www.calgarysun.com/2016/05/30/diamond-encrusted-eagle-worth-5-million-stolen-in-vancouver-area

Spain arrests seven suspects over theft of Bacon paintings worth $27.8 million

Spanish detectives were approached in February by British private investigators specialising in the recovery of stolen artworks who had received an email with photographs of the stolen works asking if they were listed as stolen, national police said in a statement.

MADRID (AFP).- Spanish police said Saturday they had arrested seven people suspected of involvement in the theft of five paintings worth 25 million euros ($27.8 million) by renowned British artist Francis Bacon. The paintings were reported stolen in July 2015 along with a safe containing coin collections and jewellery and have yet to be recovered.

Spanish detectives were approached in February by British private investigators specialising in the recovery of stolen artworks who had received an email with photographs of the stolen works asking if they were listed as stolen, national police said in a statement. Investigators then analysed the photo and were able to determine that the camera that took the images was owned by a photographic equipment rental company which supplied details of the customer who had rented it at the time the paintings were photographed.

The customer, who is suspected of involvement in the crime, was among those arrested, along with a Madrid art dealer and his son. Sources close to the investigation said in March that the theft appeared to have been a highly-professional operation which took place while the owner was away in London, with the perpetrators disabling the alarm system. The owner of the paintings was reportedly a close friend of Bacon.

Irish-born Bacon died in Madrid in 1992 aged 82 and his expressionist-surrealist works, which are often raw and emotional, remain hugely sought after. Bacon's death only enhanced his reputation and the 2013 sale of his 1969 work "Three Studies of Lucien Freud" fetched $142,405,000 (128 million euros) at auction, a world record at the time. Art market information leader Artprice lists Bacon as one of 10 frontline modern artists alongside the likes of Picasso and Andy Warhol Warhol whose works make up 18 percent of global sales.

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Christie's fined over elephant ivory sale

LONDON (AFP).- Christie's auction house has been fined £3,250 ($4,750, 4,270 euros) for selling a piece of elephant ivory without the correct documentation, London police said Tuesday. The silver-mounted tusk, put up for auction last year, did not have the right documentation under wildlife protection laws, a police statement said.

A representative for the auction house pleaded guilty in London for selling the ivory, in contravention of an article in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. "The tusk in this case was mounted on silver but was basically a raw, unmodified elephant tusk and therefore should not have been offered for sale without the correct documentation," said Rowena Roberts, wildlife officer for London's Kensington and Chelsea borough. "These laws were established to protect the world's remaining elephants." Christie's stressed that it took the protection of endangered species seriously and had a training programme in place. "Christie's unequivocally condemns the slaughter of elephants for illegal ivory and will not sell modern ivory, or unworked tusks of any age," a statement said. "This was an isolated incident and we believe that the honourable response was to accept the charge as made."

The 63-year-old owner of the ivory was charged with offering it for sale, police said. Elephant numbers are in decline with 30,000 killed every year in Africa out of a population of between 450,000 and 500,000 to satisfy demand for ivory in Asia, where raw tusks sell for around $1,000 (800 euros) a kilo (2.2 pounds).

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Israel hands back smuggled Egyptian antiquities to Egypt’s ambassador to Israel

MFA Dir-Gen Gold (center, right) with Egyptian Ambassador Khairat (center, left) at the ceremony. Copyright: MFA/Eleram Mendel.

JERUSALEM (AFP).- Israel on Sunday handed over to Egypt ancient artifacts it said had been illegally imported after they were smuggled out of their homeland through a third country. A foreign ministry statement said two sarcophagus lids -- one dated to between the 16th and 14th centuries BC and the other between the 10th and 8th -- were delivered to Egypt’s ambassador to Israel, Hazem Khairat.

The English-language statement said the objects were seized by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and stored until their return Sunday in climate-controlled conditions. It gave no further details but said bureaucratic procedures for their repatriation were eased by "the strengthening dialogue between the ministry of foreign affairs and the Embassy of Egypt in Israel". The Jerusalem Post newspaper quoted an IAA official as saying the wooden coffin lids had travelled from Egypt to Dubai and passed through London before arriving in Israel in 2012.

Although Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, ties have been formally cold over Israel's policies towards the Palestinians. Khairat took up his post in February, after more than three years when Cairo had no ambassador in Israel. Egypt, under then president Mohamed Morsi, recalled its previous ambassador in November 2012 after Israeli air strikes in Gaza killed a top Hamas militant and at least six other Palestinians.

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