Italian police recover 2,000-year-old Egyptian sphinx stolen from Etruscan necropolis of Montem Rossulum

ROME (AFP).- Italian police on Thursday said they had recovered a 2,000-year-old Egyptian sphinx statue that was stolen from a necropolis near Rome and was about to be smuggled out of the country. "The investigation began with a random check of an industrial vehicle during which police found a decorative ceramic object from an excavation as well as many photos of the Egyptian sculpture," the police said in a statement. A search of the driver's residence turned up the statue from the Ptolemaic era (4th-1st centuries BC) packed into a crate and hidden in a greenhouse. The statue is believed to have been stolen from the Etruscan necropolis of Montem Rossulum near Viterbo, some 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Rome. The police "prevented the sculpture, as well as a series of ancient objects from being put on the clandestine international market," the statement said. The granite statue measures 120 centimetres and 60 centimetres. Egyptian sculptures began to be shipped to Italy following the Roman conquest of Egypt in the 1st century BC.

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Greek police crack Olympia robbery, recover artefacts after three Greek men offer them

Greek police crack Olympia robbery, recover artefacts after three Greek men offer them An array of ancient artifacts are displayed by police after they were recovered. Greek police say they have arrested three people in connection with an armed robbery that targeted the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, the birthplace of the ancient Olympics. The three men were arrested Friday in the western Greek city of Patras, close to Ancient Olympia, after they tried to sell the most ancient of the antiquities to an undercover policeman. AP Photo / Greek Police. PATRAS (AFP).- Greece officials announced on Saturday they had solved an embarrassing museum robbery in Olympia in February after a police sting operation netted three suspects and recovered dozens of archaeological artefacts. Earlier Saturday, police said they had arrested three Greek men aged between 36 and 50, and were seeking another two suspects. The three were arrested at a hotel in the city of Patras late on Friday after one of them tried to sell the Bronze Age gold ring for 300,000 euros ($387,000) to an undercover officer posing as a potential buyer. The original asking price had been 1.5 million euros, the police said. Officers were then dispatched to a village near Olympia where they found the remaining artefacts buried inside a sack in a field. "The discovery and arrest of the perpetrators of the robbery and the recovery of the stolen items are a great success," deputy education minister responsible for culture Costas Tzavaras said in a statement. Back in February, a pair of armed robbers made off with nearly 80 artefacts from a museum dedicated to the ancient Olympic Games. The stolen treasures included a 3,300-year-old gold ring, a bronze statuette of a victorious athlete, a 2,400-year-old oil jar, clay lamps, bronze tripods and miniature chariot wheels, as well as dozens of idols of charioteers, horses and bulls. "All the items were recovered," the ministry's general secretary, Lina Mendoni, told reporters in Athens. "Next week they will regain their place at the museum," she added. In February, police had described the robbers as amateurs who had turned up at the wrong museum. A female guard who confronted them said they had been looking for a pair of golden wreaths, which were not kept in that particular collection. Greece, rich in archaeological heritage, has been targeted by antiquity smugglers for decades. But the financial crisis rocking the country has brought hundreds of staff layoffs among archaeologists and guards, leaving museums vulnerable to theft. The Olympia robbery badly embarrassed authorities at the time. The then culture minister offered to resign but was allowed to keep his post. It came a month after thieves broke into the Athens National Gallery and stole a painting personally gifted to Greece by Spanish-born master Pablo Picasso, in addition to two other artworks. No arrests have been made in that case.

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Dutch police investigating art heist probe tips; heist was more "smash and grab" than "Ocean's 11"

AMSTERDAM (AP).- In Hollywood movies, heists usually feature criminals who plan meticulously and use high-tech equipment to avoid detection. But the thieves who snatched seven paintings by Picasso, Matisse and Monet worth millions from a gallery in Rotterdam appear to have taken a less glamorous approach, relying mostly on speed and brute force. In other words, the theft from the Kunsthal exhibition on avant-garde art was more "smash and grab" than "Ocean's 11." Dutch police said Wednesday they had no suspects in the case, the largest art heist in the country for more than a decade, though an appeal to witnesses had produced more than a dozen tips for investigators to follow up. As questions arose about security at the museum, its director, Emily Ansenk, rejected criticism of the facility's safeguards. Speaking at a news conference Tuesday evening, she defended Kunsthal's security as "state of the art" and noted that insurance companies had agreed to insure it. And yet the thieves got away. The paintings they took are estimated to be worth roughly $100 million if sold at auction. Experts said the structure and location of the museum, which was designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, may have attracted criminals. "Speaking as a museum-goer, it's fantastic," museum security expert Ton Cremers said. "Speaking as a security expert, it's a total nightmare." The gallery is located along a large road that leads to a roundabout, less than a mile away, connecting highways heading in three directions. The display space where the paintings once hung is a large square area, at ground level, visible from outside through glass walls. Though police and the museum have declined to discuss aspects of the heist that might help thieves, the main details of what happened are clear. The break-in occurred at around 3 a.m. Tuesday, police say, after someone triggered an alarm. Investigators have focused on an emergency exit behind the building. The exit connects directly to the main exhibition hall, with paintings hung just a few yards away. Tire tracks can still be seen in the grass behind the building leading away from the exit. Police on Tuesday dusted the exit for fingerprints and took samples of the tire prints. The paintings were yanked from the walls, leaving only white spaces and broken hanging wires dangling behind. Officers were on the scene within five minutes of the alarm being triggered, according to museum director Ansenk, but the thieves were already gone. Police spokesman Henk van der Velde said Wednesday that 25 officers have been assigned to the case, but the getaway car has not been found and there are no suspects. Agents were reviewing videotape from museum cameras. It is unknown what will happen to the paintings if the thieves are not caught. The thieves may "wake up and realize they can't sell the paintings easily" now that museums around the world have been alerted to their theft, said Chris Marinello, of the Art Loss Register. But the thieves may also sell them on the black market for a fraction of their true value, or try to extract money from insurers in exchange for returning them. Anthony Roman, a New York-based security analyst, said the Kunsthal's level of defenses appeared so basic as to be "astounding," given the value of the art it was housing. He said an alarm system alone would never be enough to stop criminals. Thieves "learn the distance the police have to travel," he said. "They understand the mechanism and the amount of time between when the alarm goes off and the time of a physical presence of law enforcement." Security expert Cremers said the museum was not at fault for relying on cameras and motion detectors, rather than human guards. Having guards on site is costly, and they would be instructed not to confront robbers during a break-in anyway. "The only thing they can do is call police," he said. Cremers said the museum should have looked at ways to slow potential thieves down. That might have prevented them from attempting to break in in the first place, or at least limited the size of their haul. He said the paintings should have been hung inside behind a second makeshift wall with doors, creating a "box within a box" in the gallery. In addition, the museum could have set up a barrier or fence preventing cars from being able to drive up right to the emergency doors. "I'm sure they'll be looking at that now," he said. Later Wednesday, museum spokeswoman Mariette Maaskant confirmed that the museum was installing stone planter boxes big enough to block cars "as an extra security measure." - AP reporter Lori Hinnant contributed to this story from Paris. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
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Lost Roy Lichtenstein painting "Electric Cord" surfaces in a warehouse in New York City

NEW YORK (AP).- A painting by the late pop artist Roy Lichtenstein that disappeared 42 years ago has turned up in a New York City warehouse and is in legal limbo. Lichtenstein's black and white "Electric Cord" was reported stolen after it was sent out to be cleaned by owner Leo Castelli in 1970 and never returned. The painting shows a tightly wound electrical cord. Court papers say it re-emerged last week when the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation notified Castelli's widow, Barbara Castelli, someone was trying to sell it. Castelli's court filings say the painting recently was on display at a museum in Colombia. They say Castelli is "deeply concerned" the painting may disappear again. A judge on Tuesday signed an order barring the Manhattan warehouse from selling or moving the painting until a hearing next week. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. More Information: http://artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=56867#.UCFrA6PhdI0[/url] Copyright © artdaily.org

Art collector Herbert Vogel, who with his U.S. postal clerk salary built a collection, dies at 89

WASHINGTON (AP).- Herbert Vogel, an art collector who amassed over 5,000 works despite a modest income, has died at age 89. Pieces from Vogel's collection have been distributed to museums throughout the nation. National Gallery of Art spokeswoman Deborah Ziska says Vogel died Sunday of natural causes in New York. Vogel was among the earliest collectors who championed minimal and conceptual art in the 1960s. He married Dorothy Faye Hoffman in 1962 and inspired her to join him in the art world. They used his salary as a U.S. postal clerk to purchase art while living on what she earned as a librarian at the Brooklyn Public Library. Earl Powell III is director of the National Gallery of Art. He says he will miss Vogel's astute eye and wry sense of humor. The Vogels built one of the world’s finest contemporary art collections in their small Manhattan apartment, using Herb’s income to acquire more than 5,000 works over a span of 50 years. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. More Information: http://artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=56691#.UA70o6P4KNg[/url] Copyright © artdaily.org

FBI in Miami arrests and charges two with possession of stolen Henri Matisse painting

MIAMI, FL.- Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Jeffrey C. Mazanec, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, announced the arrest and the filing of criminal charges against Pedro Antonio Marcuello Guzman, 46, of Miami, Florida, and Maria Martha Elisa Ornelas Lazo, 50, of Mexico City, Mexico, for transporting and possessing what is believed to be an original Henri Matisse painting, “Odalisque in Red Pants,” which was reported stolen from a museum in Caracas, Venezuela. If convicted, the defendants each face a possible maximum statutory sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Marcuello Guzman and Ornelas Lazo, who were arrested in Miami Beach, made their first appearances in federal court Friday. According to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, this case was the result of an FBI undercover investigation. According to the allegations in the complaint affidavit, Marcuello negotiated the sale of the Matisse painting, which had been previously stolen from the Caracas Museum of Contemporary Art [Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas (MACCSI)] in Caracas, Venezuela, in December 2002. The painting is valued at approximately $3 million. Marcuello allegedly admitted to the undercover agents during a meeting that he knew the painting was stolen and offered to sell the stolen painting for approximately $740,000. As part of the negotiations, Marcuello further agreed to have the painting transported by courier to the United States from Mexico, where the painting was being stored. The courier was subsequently identified as co-defendant Ornelas. According to the affidavit, on July 16, 2012, Ornelas arrived at the Miami International Airport from Mexico City, Mexico, hand-carrying a red tube containing the painting. On July 17, 2012, defendants Marcuello and Ornelas met with undercover agents and produced the Matisse painting titled “Odalisque in Red Pants” from inside the red tube. Upon inspection by the undercover agents, the painting appeared consistent with the original Henri Matisse painting reported stolen from the MACCSI museum. At the conclusion of the meeting, Marcuello and Ornelas were arrested. Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI. Mr. Ferrer would also like to thank the Department of Justice Attaché in Mexico City and the Legal Attachés in Caracas and Mexico City. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elisa Castrolugo. A criminal complaint is only an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. More Information: http://artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=56602#.UA2uHqP4KNg[/url] Copyright © artdaily.org

Vandals smash duck-billed dinosaur fossil to pieces in Alberta

GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. - Paleontologists were thrilled when they found the fossilized remains of a duck-billed dinosaur in northwestern Alberta last month. But joy turned quickly to despair when they returned to the site near the Red Willow River a few days ago and found that vandals had smashed the Hadrosaur skeleton to pieces. The Pipestone Creek Dinosaur Initiative says the fossil was discovered by paleontologist Phil Bell and a University of Alberta team on June 15. They partially prepared it for removal, then reburied it for protection until it could be fully removed later this month. Bell returned to the site on Thursday and found the specimen — which was about one meter long and 80 centimetres wide — had been destroyed. "We still know very little about the dinosaurs that existed up here so every skeleton is crucial," Bell said in a statement. “Each bone is irreplaceable." RCMP say they are investigating but don't have any suspects. They say a number of fossils had either been removed or destroyed at the site. The group says it is at least the fourth act of fossil poaching and vandalism in the region in the last month and a half. At Pipestone Creek Park in the region, a bone bed has been harmed, and in late May, a Plexiglas cover protecting and showcasing several fossilized bones was smashed. In later incidents in June, a vertebra and several rib bones were stolen. The group says the University of Alberta and the Royal Tyrell Museum are also helping in the case. The group says it is illegal to alter, mark or damage palaeontological resources under the Historical Resources Act. Offenders may face up to $40,000 in fines or a year in prison. Bell said the destroyed fossils are beyond having monetary value, adding that he considers them priceless. "They are irreplaceable historical artifacts and illegal to sell," he said. However, a Tyrannosaurus bataar fossil which U.S. government seized last month on the grounds that it is alleged to have been fraudulently imported, previously fetched $1.052 million at auction. The bones were discovered in Mongolia in 1946, and Mongolia hopes to have them eventually returned there. In May, Bell stated in a blog post about the Mongolian case that in the last 10 years, fossils have been disappearing at alarming rates. "Recently, it has come to our attention that the illegal sale of dinosaur fossils on the black market is reaching new lows," Bell stated on the Pipestone Creek Dinosaur Initiative's blog. "What's worse, huge public auctions in the United States are creating a demand for these priceless treasures," he added. Police are asking anyone with information about the latest incident to contact them. A team of local volunteers had been organized to remove the fossil using quads and winches next week. Bell said the Hadrosaur would have warranted a major exhibit in a new museum that's planned for the area, scheduled to open next summer in Wembley, Alta. "It's a tragedy not only for our science but for the whole community that will benefit from the new museum," he said. — By Rob Drinkwater in Edmonton By The Canadian Press July 7, 2012