Hot this week: Terrible Op-eds
Receive ‘Culture crime news’ as a weekly newsletter! Sign up here.
General
The archaeology paradox: more laws, less treasure
7 April 2014, The Los Angeles Times;
I include this OpEd with MUCH reservation and although rarely comment in Culture Crime News I must say the following. I highly recommend reading my and other comments on the OpEd as well as the blog entry written by Tess Davis that I have reposted in this blog. The author bases his statements on faulty data and junk ‘stats’. He is not to be taken seriously.
Letters: Archaeology and anti-looting laws
12 April 2014, The Los Angeles Times
Oceania and Australia
National Gallery of Australia director Ron Radford reluctant to admit Dancing Shiva is stolen
7 April 2014, The Sydney Morning Herald
NGA pays over odds for crucifix (Australia, Paywall)
10 April 2014, The Australian
Australia must return stolen Shiva statue to India: former diplomat from Natasha Chaku
11 April 2014, DNA India
NGA overpaid Kapoor for statue (Australia)
12 April 2014, The Australian (Paywall)
Africa
Taking on Art Looters on Twitter (Egypt)
9 April 2014, The New York Times
Egyptian police confiscate three mummies from smuggling gang
12 April 2014, Arahm Online
Looted marble Mask of Gorgon returned to Algeria
11 April 2014, The Art Newspaper
Use Diplomacy To Retrieve Stolen Artefacts – Adediran (Nigeria)
11 April 2014, Leadership
Americas
Up to 12 years in jail for looting monuments (Hasta 12 años de cárcel por saquear monumentos; Mexico, Spanish)
3 April 2014, El Punto Critico
Treasure Salvage Licence Hopes Are ‘Wrecked’ (Bahamas)
8 April 2014, Tribune 242
Florida pastor convicted in NYC fake Hirst art case
8 April 2014, KATV
FBI leaves scene of artifacts investigation, mum on details
9 April 2014, Shelby News
FBI doesn’t take all items from massive collection
9 April 2014, RTV6
Polish-Born Artist’s Missing Paintings Discovered in Santa Rosa Storage Unit
11 April 2014, NBC Bay Area
19th Century Schadow painting returned to Stern estate (Canada)
7 April 2014, The Globe and Mail
Vancouver Island First Nation recovers historic blanket that turned up at Paris auction 100 years after it disappeared (Canada)
10 April 2014, National Post
Highly Significant First Nations Cultural Artefact Brought Back to Canada
9 April 2014, Digital Journal
Europe
Getty Museum to return 12th century New Testament to Greece monastery
7 April 2014, The LA Times
“Socrates” seeks Royals’ help to return Elgin Marbles
10 April 2014, Scoopit
Reward offered over Henry Moore sculpture theft (UK)
11 April 2014, BBC News
Italy’s looted treasures found in Rome ‘museum’
7 April 2014, The Local
Italian collector’s ‘private museum’ seized by police
11 April 2014, The Art Newspaper
International treasures missing (Catholic art from Italy)
9 April 2014, Catholic Herald
Hunt for Nazi art shows museum failings: former minister (Germany)
8 April 2014, Reuters
Russian ministries set to return Scythian gold collection back to Crimean museums
12 April 2014, Voice of Russia
West Asia
What happened to Gaza’s Apollo statue?
8 April 2014, Aljazeera
Will a Syrian victory at a posh London auction house accelerate Global Cultural Protections?
9 April 2014, OpedNews.com
Overcoming looting and years of war, Iraq Museum moves to reopen
11 April 2014, Yahoo News
Drones: Archaeology’s Newest Tool to Combat Looting (Jordan)
11 April 2014, National Georgraphic
South and East Asia
‘Panchaloha’ idols of Sitarama, Lakshmana, Anjaneya seized (India)
8 April 2014, The Hindu
Profiling of Idols to Ward Off Smuggling Yet to Begin in State (India)
7 April 2014, New Indian Express
State-level idol records bureau mooted (India)
10 April 2014, The Hindu
Villagers questioned about stolen idol (India)
10 April 2014, The Times of India
Indian police search for sculptures’ homes
11 April 2014, The Australian
In Other News
Uncut diamond stolen from New Mexico museum
10 April 2014, Albuquerque Journal
Should ancient bones be up for sale? Shoppers in Dubai say yes! (dino fossils)
10 April 2014, Green Prophet