Guns, Degas, and Legal Disputes

A work purportedly by Degas, at the center of a legal dispute in Florida

Details of an odd art dispute are unfolding in Florida. A law firm is being sued by its client for failure to release this work, allegedly by Degas. All the red flags are up in this case, yet it wasn't the auction house Sotheby's which delayed the auction, but rather a dispute over legal fees and a $1 million retainer.

In August, a pleasantly cool month in Chile, Bonati was in Santiago, where he and McInnis boarded the chartered, nine-seat Cessna. The plane refueled in Ecuador and landed in Fort Lauderdale after the 4,000-mile flight.
As the men headed for the terminal, they drew suspicion because of what the law firm later called their "bizarre'' conduct.
"Bonati carried the multi-million dollar painting in his arms as the pair made their way across the tarmac . . . while McInnis walked alongside with a gun holstered at his waist,'' the firm said in a court filing. 

"Bonati was also carrying in excess of $10,000 in cash on his person, a sum which he did not declare to U.S. Customs as required by law.'' 

Anyone taking more than $10,000 in currency into or out of the country must file a report with customs. 

Paintings and other original works of art also must be declared, though most are allowed to enter the United States duty-free. But with art theft a major international problem, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stepped up efforts to ascertain the ownership of potentially valuable works. 

In January, the agency returned to France a Degas painting stolen from a museum there in 1973. It resurfaced last fall in the catalog of a Sotheby's auction in New York. 

That episode "shows why we take an interest in these kind of cases and if it is stolen, returning it to its rightful owner,'' says Danielle Bennett, an ICE spokeswoman.

1. Susan Taylor Martin, Doctor's legal battle reveals potential art trove, St. Petersburg Times, March 6, 2011, http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/civil/doctors-legal-battle-reveals-potential-art-trove/1155579 (last visited Mar 8, 2011).

Armed Attack on Antiquities Storehouse in Egypt

After the resignation of Zahi Hawass, there are reports of looting and theft including one disturbing report from Kafr el-Sheikh on Saturday:

Forty armed men attacked an antiquities warehouse in the northern Egyptian city of Kafr el-Sheikh on Saturday, shooting at warehouse security men and injuring several, state news agency MENA said. The attack is the second attempt to rob Kafr el-Sheikh's Tal al-Faraeen (Hill of the Pharaohs) antiquities warehouse since Jan. 25, the first day of the nationwide protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11.
...
The warehouse doors were destroyed as were display cases, MENA cited the Head of the Central Department of Lower Egyptian Antiquities Mohamed Abdel Maksoud as saying. Some of the attackers had been caught, while others had escaped, he said.

In a statement on his blog yesterday, Hawass confirmed these reports.

So what concrete steps can be taken now? Chris Marinello and the Art Loss Register have pledged their support, but their efforts require the authorities in Egypt to notify them of the specific objects which have been taken. Larry Rothfield argues that while public statements are a necessary step, they have no real effect. He argues institutions should call on their members to help identify and reclaim missing objects, and to pool resources to hire locals and security personnel to protect storehouses and sites. He also suggest financial and logistical support could be provided by the United States to help Egyptians secure and guard their sites.

1. Forty armed men attack Egypt antiquities store-MENA, Reuters, March 5, 2011, http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFLDE7240E820110305 (last visited Mar 7, 2011).

Hawass Resigns

Kate Taylor of the New York Times is reporting that Zahi Hawass has resigned:

After Egypt’s prime minister resigned on Thursday and the army asked his replacement to form a caretaker cabinet, Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s powerful and controversial antiquities chief, said he would not be part of the new government. His comments came after he posted on his Web site for the first time a list of dozens of sites that have been looted since the beginning of the uprising that led to the fall of President Hosni Mubarak.

Reached by telephone Mr. Hawass, a member of the previous cabinet, said he was happy that he had made the “right decision” and lashed out at colleagues who have criticized him, including one who has accused him of smuggling antiquities.

Egyptian Antiquities Chief Resigns - NYTimes.com

Why Get so Worked up over the Ka Nefer Nefer Mask?

I'm a bit puzzled by all the criticism being directed at the St. Louis Museum of Art. The looting of antiquities destroys archaeological context, but the Ka Nefer Nefer mask was not looted. Both the Museum and those who would have the mask returned to Egypt agree that the mask was professionally excavated in 1952. Egypt has claimed the mask was stolen from a storehouse at some point, while the Museum argues it researched the provenance and found no information to indicate it had been looted. One may argue that the acquisition procedures of museums are generally lacking. And we can certainly criticize the imperfect procedures implemented by the museum to ask questions of the mask in this case—though they did ask some questions in good faith. Though there was no export permit for the mask, but I'm not sure that justifies the criticism of the museum for its suit against the federal government. The museum is only asserting that the Federal government sat on its hands and waited too long to bring a forfeiture claim. This is a perfectly reasonable cause of action, particularly given the enormous benefits to the government and the claimant when a civil forfeiture is brought.

If you are upset that no claims were brought earlier, why not criticize the U.S. government for waiting so long to bring a forfeiture proceeding? I think one of the frustrating things about these repatriation issues are what I'd call the tone deaf nature of much of the rhetoric irrespective of the merits of the claims. This claim is not the same as every other repatriation claim, they all have their strengths and weaknesses. And though I'd agree that many objects need to go back, not all of them do. Universal repatriation should not be the preferred remedy. The Museum here certainly could have checked closer into the history of the mask, but Egypt also didn't realize the mask was missing. As Mark Durney pointed out, this might be a good reason for renewed emphasis on documenting objects which are in storage. If you don't, it will be difficult to leverage the trade into ending the sale of objects completely, and that argument loses persuasiveness when the same rhetoric is used for each and every dispute, irrespective of its strengths and weaknesses.

Conference at Cardozo Law School, Mar. 31, 2011

A number of partners will be presenting a one day conference at Cardozo Law School on March 31 titled "On Restitution: from the Holocaust to the Haitian Earthquake". The event is sponsored by the American Society of International Law, the Lawyers' Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation, the Art Law Society of Cardozo Law School, and the Hofstra Law School Art and Cultural Heritage Club invite professionals.

The conference welcomes "students and interested members of the public to join". This would seem to be a very promising event. The program is posted after the jump.

Congratulations (UPDATE)

I want to pass along my thanks to De Paul Law School, the Lawyer's Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation, Patty Gerstenblith, and all the folks who worked hard to put on a super competition last weekend in Chicago. The Appellate problem was a very difficult argument, which really let all the advocates shine. It involved a Nazi-era claim, and the attempts by a claimant to overcome the Federal Immunity from Seizure Act to sue for damages while the painting was on temporary exhibition in the United States.

 I'm especially proud of the South Texas team of Judith Westmoreland, Christopheer McKinney, and Jessica Kasischke who earned the runner up best brief award, and were also runners up in the finals, after arguing against a very impressive team from Chicago-Kent. I also want to congratulate the other team from South Texas, Omar Chawdhary, Brian Evans, and Lera Grabarnik who competed hard at the competition.

I have a lot of fun coaching the teams, as it allows me to channel my inner basketball coach. The competition also does a super job of highlighting cultural heritage law, and introducing these issues to a new group of students every year. Many thanks to all the teams and organizers for a super competition.

UPDATE:

I've tracked down the results of the competition, which are:


Best Brief: Team O - Chicago Kent School of Law
Best Brief Runner Up: Team A - South Texas College of Law
Best Oralist: Jennifer Bloom, John Marshall Law School
Best Oralist Runner Up: Bryan Bienias, Chicago Kent School of Law

Competition Runner Up: Team A - South Texas College of Law (Chris
McKinney, Judith Westmoreland, Jessica Kasischke)
Competition Champion: Team E - Chicago Kent School of Law (Caitlyn
Jones, Bryan Bienias, Stephen Gardner

Congratulations again to all the teams.

Defending Aphrodite: Enforcing International Cultural Property Law

Embedded below you can see the conference brochure for a conference to be held in Siena, June 3-4.
2011 Siena Symposium Brochure - Web

Good Luck!

Good luck to all the teams competing at this weekend's National Cultural Heritage Law Moot Court Competition sponsored by De Paul and the Lawyer's Committee for Cultural Heritage Protection.

The National Archives Archival Recovery Team

The 150th anniversary of the Civil War has renewed interest in artifacts from that era, and the National Archives Art Recovery Team has ramped up its efforts to track down objects which have been stolen:

 FRANKLIN, TENN. - Among the Civil War buffs wandering through the tables of muskets and faded daguerreotypes of Union soldiers for sale here are four federal agents. 

One raids houses and carries a gun. But right now he's handing out innocuous-looking brochures to the relic hunters walking by, as the sweet smell of glazed nuts wafts from a concession stand. "Does that document belong in the National Archives?" the brochure asks. 

The agents have flown to a fairground outside Nashville to the country's biggest Civil War show to hunt for stolen treasure - robbed right from the nation's attic. 

Whether they know it or not, the dealers may be trafficking in stolen government property. The heist may have taken place in 1865. Or last week. Or a document may not have been looted at all, but made its way into private hands instead of the Archives. 

With the Civil War 150th anniversary drawing new interest, the trail could be warm. 

"We're friendly," says Paul Brachfeld, inspector general of the Archives, who has gotten out of the office this December weekend to see his team in action. For the dealers, "it's an authenticity thing," he says. "If you traffic in stolen documents, it taints everything." 

The tactic illustrates the new, more aggressive approach the Archives is taking in an effort to recover treasures that have disappeared from its holdings. Porous security and open access have allowed countless items to slip out of the Archives' 44 centers and presidential libraries, from the Washington headquarters to the Reagan Library in California. 

The missing items include telegrams written by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War; the Wright brothers' patent for a flying machine; Eli Whitney's patent for the cotton gin; Lyndon Johnson's class ring from the Coast Guard; an official portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt; and target maps for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. 

The most recent issue of the Journal of Art Crime also featured an interview with Paul Brachfeld.

1. Lisa Rein, National Archives hunts for missing treasures with recovery team, The Washington Post, February 23, 2011, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/22/AR2011022206661.html?sid=ST2011022300101 (last visited Feb 23, 2011).

Coordinating Heritage Crime Prevention in England

Graffiti on Clifford's Tower in York

Carolyn Shelbourn has drawn my attention to a promising initiative in England to help prevent and thwart heritage crime. It seeks a coordinated approach to pair the enforcement of legislation and also the prevention of destruction. The program brings together English Heritage, the Police, and the Crown Prosecution Service to "systematically tackle and reduce offences". It is a promising initiative which aims to bring together all of the various actors to coordinate their efforts.

Specifically the initiative will rely on the principles of neighborhood policing:

The model of Neighbourhood Policing, established to tackle the crime and day-to-day anti-social behaviours most affecting local neighbourhoods, provides a useful model for tackling heritage crimes. Local communities are urged to understand the heritage assets in their area that may be at risk of irreversible damage from crime and to report suspicious behaviours to their neighbourhood policing teams. 

The profile and accountability of heritage crimes among police officers will also increase. For the first time, there will be a national lead in ACPO on heritage crimes and there will also be a dedicated portfolio holder in many police forces across the country. 

Neighbourhood Policing and community involvement is expected to contribute considerably to improved intelligence and data on the ground, both of which are lacking at present.

1. English Heritage, English Heritage Calls on Communities to Help Tackle Heritage Crime (2011), http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about/news/643873/ (last visited Feb 22, 2011).
2. Robert Hall, New protection for old treasures, BBC, February 10, 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12426854 (last visited Feb 22, 2011).