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description= The Hunt for Looted Antiquities in the World s Museums;
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to them looked at cuneiform tablets you would think if i m talking about you have to do this and that and they re already in negotiations they would have had some reaction to what i said i m pretty mystified why they bothered to have me do this for them ca did they ask specifically about laws pertaining to iraq or the middle east pg at the time i knew their reputation in terms of their interest in things that pertained to the bible after my presentation we had a little lunch that s possibly when i found out their interest in cuneiform tablets ca the complaint says you sent a written report to hobby lobby on october 19 2010 what was the purpose of that memo can you provide us a copy of it pg when i finished the presentation the in house counsel asked me to write up a summary it took me a while to get to it it summarized what i had presented but at this point i had been aware they were thinking of acquiring things from iraq so made sure this was included in the memo gerstenblith said she could not provide a copy of her memo on the law but the federal complaint quotes from it in part as follows i would regard the acquisition of any artifact likely from iraq which could be described as mesopotamian assyrian akkadian sumerian babylonian parthian sassanian and possibly other historic or cultural terms as carrying considerable risk an estimated 200 500 000 objects have been looted from archaeological sites in iraq since the early 1990s particularly popular on the market and likely to have been looted are cylinder seals cuneiform tablets any object brought into the us and with iraq declared as country of origin has a high chance of being detained by us customs if such an object has been brought into the us in the past few years and was not stopped by us customs then you need to examine the import documents to see if the country of origin was properly declared an improper declaration of country of origin can also lead to seizure and forfeiture of the object the complaint continues the expert s memorandum further advised hobby lobby that cultural property looted from iraq since 1990 is specifically protected by import restrictions that carry criminal penalties and fines the expert s memorandum was received by in house counsel but was not shared with hobby lobby s president consultant executive assistant international department outside customs brokers or anyone involved in the purchase and importation of the defendants in rem pg they didn t even pass my advice on i was surprised to learn that in the complaint why did they both having me do this the memorandum i wrote was never circulated beyond in house legal counsel and they were already in the process of acquiring these objects ca was there any follow up did they ask you to review any specific cases or documents after that pg my involvement as an expert for hobby lobby ended after i gave them the memo there was no follow up no review of specific cases or documents or any specific objects pertaining to importation i never evaluated anything for them ca according to the federal complaint they later did the very things you warned against do you think they used your advice to break the law rather than to follow it in other words do you feel used pg i suppose one can t rule that out which would be very upsetting to me i can t rule that out my goal was to discourage them from doing the wrong thing by telling them all the wrong things they could do i thought they would not want to do those things i can t rule out it was all the opposite that they used my advice to evade the law as opposed to follow the law ca many have asked why were there no criminal charges in this case as a law professor what s your answer pg there is a lot here that does read as a red flag shipping boxes to various locations mislabeling cuneiform tablets as ceramic tiles these have in many cases been the hallmarks of intentional violations of customs laws yes it looks like there was criminal activity but its not clear who committed the crime the government would have to prove criminal knowledge beyond a reasonable doubt a jury would have to find that these people knew not only what the law was but also that they were responsible for how the stuff was falsely labeled when it was imported i have to assume the government felt it would have difficulty proving who knew what one difference from the schultz case is the number of people involved schultz was doing it all himself here there were so many people involved they ve created plausbile deniability as to who knew what ca in your view what deterrent effect do seizures like this have without criminal prosecutions pg the trend has unfortunately been away from prosecution there s a tendency to be happy with forfeiture these cases in general have very little deterrent effect most collectors and dealers having to return an object thereby loosing the vaulue is not really a big financial loss in the case of hobby lobby not at all therefore its not a deterrent i have come to believe that criminal prosecution is the only effective deterrent i m not the only person who s made this comment share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on reddit opens in new window reddit email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print like loading 11 comments posted in news tagged antiquities cuneiform tablets hobby lobby looting museum of the bible patty gerstenblith scott carroll smuggling steve green the green collection updated help wanted we re tracking down objects sold by nancy and doris wiener posted on january 5 2017 2 comments in the wake of the arrest of the manhattan antiquities dealer nancy wiener we re teaming up with our friends at the india pride project to track down the ancient objects she and her mother doris wiener sold to museums and private collectors around the world and we need your help prosecutors allege the two conspired for decades with a network of smugglers and middlemen to obtain looted and stolen antiquities from across asia many of those objects passed through auction houses before being purchased by museums and private collectors see our earlier coverage here where are these objects today where did they come from and how many of them have a documented ownership history that stands up to scrutiny to answer those questions we want your help searching asian art collections around the globe for objects tied to the wieners as we find them we ll post them here examine their ownership histories and with ipp s help try to identify where they may have come from here s how you can chip in search the online archives of major asian art collections around the world for objects tied to nancy or doris wieners or their galleries for collections that don t have comprehensive online catalogs contact the institution and politely ask for information on any objects acquired or donated by either of the wieners when you find an object post a link to it in the comments below along with the object s stated ownership history if any is provided or email me at chasingaphrodite gmail com we ll credit you with the find unless you prefer to remain anonymous anonymous tips are also welcome especially when they come with documents we re serious about protecting the identity of sources as we find wiener objects we ll add them to a list below along with suggestions for additional research steps findings updated 2 5 17 in our first month readers have found dozens of objects tied to nancy and doris wiener at museums around the world several require additional research the boston museum of fine art and the freer and sackler gallery have both reached out to share ownership histories of wiener objects in their collections smithsonian s freer and sackler gallery keri douglas keridouglas identified three objects at the smithsonian s freer and sackler galleries tied to doris wiener of particular note is this chola bronze f2003 2 from tamil nadu india the source of hundreds of looted objects identified in the case against subhash kapoor who did business with the wieners update 1 31 17 the freer and sackler s head of collections management elizabeth duly reached out to say the museum has posted provenance details for the four objects on its provenance research page we re grateful for the museum s openness the ownership history for the chola bronze has several red flags it includes an invoice stating that doris wiener bought the object from rajrama art galleries in london in march 1973 six months after india passed its national patrimony law in september 1972 wiener claimed in a 1995 letter to then curator vidya dehejia that she had actually purchased the bronze months earlier and that it was seen in 1973 by indian art authority pratapaditya pal it s unclear what motivated the letter the story suggests that wiener held the valuable bronze for 29 years without publication or sale before selling it to the smithsonian in 2002 we asked vijay kumar an expert on south indian art and smuggling networks who has consulted for u s law enforcement to review the museum s posting the given paperwork is straightaway problematic since the bronze has no provenance pre 1972 and no information on how it reached london pre 1972 kumar wrote as for the 1995 letter there is no apparent reason for this explanation but an attempt to push the objects acquisition back by a year observing the patina kumar noted the condition of the bronze especially the holes in the reverse and on the base pedestal suggest it may have come from a buried hoard rather than an active temple india should stake its claim for this bronze purely on the basis of no documented provenance pre 1973 and also take the official statements of the celebrated scholars in this case kumar concluded given the wieners have been accused of fabricating ownership histories for decades we agree it would be wise to further investigate these claims next steps as a federal agency the smithsonian museums are subject to freedom of information requests we should request all documents related to the acquisition of these objects boston museum of fine art female khmer deity victoria reed the curator of provenance at the boston mfa reached out pro actively to share five objects the mfa acquired from doris wiener they are recumbent bull 1988 434 11th century sandstone sculpture from cambodia sold by doris wiener inc new york to the mfa on october 26 1988 no known provenance no photo available female khmer deity 1988 484 doris wiener apparently told museum the sculpture had been discovered near wat phu champasak province laos and was first offered to a bangkok art collector in early 1980s wiener sold it to the mfa on december 21 1988 next step who is the bangkok art collector might it be douglas latchford are there archival photos of objects at war phu shiva as lord of dance 1992 12 the sandstone sculpture from central eastern madhya pradesh was acquired by doris wiener in 1991 she sold it to the mfa on february 26 1992 the museum has no other provenance next step stylistically what sites in central eastern madhya pradesh could this sculpture could be associated with were those sites documented during colonial times krishna celebrates holi 2002 901 watercolor dating to 1750 60 doris wiener claimed to acquire the painting in 1972 and sold it to paul f walter new york the painting was sold on november 14 2002 at sotheby s new york lot 29 to the mfa tibetan avalokiteshvara 2003 339 according to a july 29 2003 signed statement from art dealer leonidas aleko goulandris his gallery arjuna arts ltd acquired the sculpture at spink and son london in 1967 and sold it to doris wiener in 2003 that same year on september 17 wiener sold it to the mfa next step need someone to contact goulandris to confirm the story and learn whether there is additional information about the sculpture s origins prior to spink and son avalokiteshvara art gallery of new south wales reader judith gibson pointed us to this 10th century durga slaying the buffalo at the art gallery new south wales 163 1999 the australian museum currently run by former getty director michael brand says it is investigating the origins of the sculpture which was acquired from nancy wiener who claimed to have it since 1999 the australian has reported that wiener sold it to the museum in 1999 for 95 000 without any proof of prior ownership wiener did not respond to the newspapers inquiries next step inquire with the museum what steps it is taking to investigate the durga durga slaying the buffalo musee guimet a confidential source pointed us to this kushan buddha at the musee guimet in paris the source believes doris wiener may have sold the sculpture which is strikingly similar to kushan buddhas her daughter nancy sold with false provenance to the national gallery of australia and singapore s asian civilizations museum as the criminal complaint detailed these seated buddhas were allegedly stolen by the notorious convicted idol thief vaman ghiya next steps someone preferably a french speaker needs to contact the guimet and politely inquire about the guimet buddha s provenance we should also ask for details on any other objects acquired from the wieners additional leads here are some more leads to follow museums on her website nancy wiener boasts of selling asian art to museums around the world including metropolitan museum of art asia society the los angeles county museum the art institute of chicago the nelson atkins museum the asian civilizations museum in singapore doris wiener who started dealing asian art in the 1960s is said to have sold objects to the metropolitan museum of art the cleveland museum of art the norton simon museum asia society the brooklyn museum this is obviously an incomplete list so other museums with asian art collections should also be searched or contacted don t forget about university museums and collections as a starting point try the museum s online collection records which can often be searched by ownership history for example the metropolitan museum of art s online collection shows 10 objects tied to doris wiener and 6 objects associated with nancy wiener we ll contact the met about those and post their response for museums that don t have complete provenance information online which is most please contact the museum and politely request a complete list of objects from the wieners along with all available provenance information for those objects you may have to be persistent this is information should be readily available to the public but many museums are reluctant to release it it may be helpful to note the antiquities policy of the association of art museum directors which states aamd is committed to the exercise of due diligence in the acquisition process in particular in the research of proposed acquisitions transparency in the policy applicable 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