Old News

You might not know it from reading the AP Report, but the haul of antiquities Italian police have displayed in Rome likely were seized back in 2002 and 2005 raids in Switzerland. The larger question is whether cash-strapped Italy would be better served selling off at least some of these materials rather than holding onto large numbers of similar artifacts. 

Italian Archaeologist Arrested for Fakery

The Art Newspaper is reporting that prominent Italian archaeologist Edoardo David has been placed under arrest for suspicion of running a ring that has produced convincing forgeries of antiquities. Apparently, the ring duped an Italian count into trading real antiques for fakes. The Count had hoped to build a museum on the family estate.

It will be interesting to learn if this story gets any coverage whatsoever on the archaeological blogs that enjoy flogging collectors and museums over any sort of infraction, whether real or imagined.

Addendum (2-22-12): Here is the above mentioned Art Newspaper article: http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Police+raid+criminal+gang+suspected+of+faking+antiquities/25583

Italian Justice on Trial: Bob Hecht Vindicated?

Well, that is one way this sorry tale can be spun: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2012/01/italian-antiquities-robert-hecht-case-ends.html

After all the headlines, Bob Hecht, the alleged middleman at the center of an international conspiracy to launder looted art, has been freed because the statute of limitations has run under Italian law.

Paolo Ferri, Hecht's prosecutor, points the fingers at the "system." but presumably Ferri was responsible for moving the case forward, and with a little less show boating, perhaps that might have actually happened within the allotted time.

In any event, without a conviction in such a high profile case, perhaps Hecht can feel vindicated, at least to some extent.

The Italian show trial did convince US Museums to repatriate significant pieces to Italy. I wonder though, whether any have any nagging doubts about that now, at least with respect to some pieces. Also, the trial likely helped convince the AAMD and others to adopt a 1970 provenance rule. The foolishness of that decision is only now being felt, but nagging doubts about that one will grow too as fewer and fewer items become available for accession under these rules.

Saddam Hussein as a Role Model?

Paolo Ferri, the much criticized prosecutor of Marion True, has apparently advocated that Italy look to Saddam's Iraq as a role model for its antiquities policies. See
http://larryrothfield.blogspot.com/2011/01/italian-antiquities-looting-prosecutor.html and http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/“Clandestine%20excavation%20is%20a%20crime%20that%20is%20hard%20to%20prove”/22164

Ferri apparently likes Saddam's law because the dictate "was hard to contest." This speaks volumes about the mentality of Ferri and other "law enforcement types" associated with hard liners in the archaeological community. Obviously, fairness and interests beyond the state and archaeologists don't rate in this world view.

Hasty Retreat?

I understand from a reliable source that the Italian Government has apparently withdrawn its recent proposal to encourage the reporting of antiquities in private hands. Apparently, the Italian archaeological lobby is just as strong as the American one. The shame is that Italy knows its system is broken, particularly given severe budget constraints, but reform nonetheless remains elusive in the face of determined opposition. In the meantime, Italy remains full of hidden antiquities.

PAS Italian Style?

The Italian Associazione Nazionale Archeologi (ANA) is up in arms about a proposed law that would legalize archaeological artifacts in private hands that are declared upon payment of a modest fee. See http://www.archeologi.org/web/news.asp?id=609 The last Berlusconi government made a similar proposal, but it ultimately failed due to like opposition from Italian archaeologists.

What is different now? Italy, like other Western countries, is facing hard budget choices, and the proposal has been incorporated into other budgetary measures. According to the ANA, this will make the proposal difficult to defeat.

Archaeo-blogger David Gill predictably joins his Italian colleagues in condemning the proposal. See http://lootingmatters.blogspot.com/2010/07/italy-un-patrimonio-di-tutta-lumanita.html But, the proposal won't stop the Carabineri's efforts to catch looters. And it will bring objects in private hands to light that would otherwise stay hidden from scholars.

Hopefully, instead of complaining, archaeologists will ultimately join the effort to record useful information about any artifacts that are declared. I suspect those artifacts that are declared will be in the hands of otherwise law abiding Italian citizens. Although the ANA claims the proposal will be a boon to the Mafia, I doubt it. Does anyone really think the Mafia would want to declare antiquities to the authorities, particularly if it could lead to futher investigation?

In any event, the proposal also undercuts the AIA's claims that import restrictions on Italian cultural artifacts should be continued for another five years as part of the MOU with Italy. And, of course, given the proposed Italian law, the very idea of reversing the current exemption for coins seems even more ridiculous than before.

Hopefully, Assistant Secretary Ann Stock of State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has been apprised of this proposed law and will take it into account as she considers the renewal of the current MOU with Italy. Cultural cooperation can certainly continue without continuing restrictions on artifacts openly available for sale on markets abroad.

Repatriation Agreements Fail to Buy Peace

The New York Times has reported that an Italian prosecutor is considering charges against the curator of Princeton University's antiquities collection. See http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/arts/design/03curator.html

In the article, Hugh Eakin states,

As the museums have relinquished dozens of artworks that Italy claims were looted, receiving loans of other objects in exchange, officials on both sides have talked about a new era of collaboration.

But now an Italian investigation of a second American museum curator, in a case involving similar allegations of criminal conspiracy, seems likely to upend assumptions about any rapprochement. According to a 14-page legal notice from the public prosecutor’s office in Rome, J. Michael Padgett, 56, antiquities curator at the Princeton University Museum of Art, is a focus of a criminal investigation of “the illegal export and laundering” of Italian archaeological objects. Once again an American may be facing a drawn-out legal ordeal, and at least the hypothetical threat of incarceration in a foreign country, for acquiring art for a museum — something that was unheard of before the Getty case, and that many museum professionals believed was not going to happen again.

One wonders if the Italian Cultural Ministry was consulted about this issue, particularly because news of the investigation coincides with efforts to negotiate a renewal of the current MOU on antiquities with Italy. Museums had generally supported the renewal with some modifications to ensure that long-term loans would be available to all, but one suspects this news may prompt at least some of them to have second thoughts.

Knox Verdict Raises Further Questions About Italian Justice

The Amanda Knox verdict has raised serious questions about the quality of Italian justice. See http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/06/amanda-knox-she-devil-or-victim-of-anti-americanism/?icid=mainhtmlws-sb-ndl1link4http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicsdaily.com%2F2009%2F12%2F06%2Famanda-knox-she-devil-or-victim-of-anti-americanism%2F

Yet, Marion True has been in the dock for far longer than Amanda Knox and True's alleged crimes are nowhere near as serious as those for which Ms. Knox has been found guilty.

With every passing month, suspicions that True's trial is all for "show" can only increase. Already, a prominent Italian-American publication has called for her to be freed. See
http://culturalpropertyobserver.blogspot.com/2009/11/italian-american-magazine-calls-for-end.html

Hopefully, soon the Italians themselves will realize their prosecution of Ms. True has turned into a persecution in the eyes of many.

Does U.S. Law Enforcement Apply Our Law or Foreign Law?

I've been told by government officials that U.S. law enforcement "does not apply foreign law," but only applies "our law," i.e. the National Stolen Property Act (as construed by a number of courts) or import restrictions under the Cultural Property Implementation Act.

If so, I find the following information gleaned from Primo Magazine's recent interview with an FBI agent who worked on the Sisto case to be troubling. (For more about the Sisto case, see http://culturalpropertyobserver.blogspot.com/2009/06/strange-case-of-sisto-collection.html and http://culturalpropertyobserver.blogspot.com/2009/06/some-thoughts-about-materials-from.html)

According to [FBI Special Agent] Mondini, Michael [Sisto] had hoped to sell part of the collection [of his father John] to fund his children's college education.

"He wanted to make sure all the items were legally obtained," said Mondini. "FBI Agents searched the house and took inventory. If Italian authorities could prove his father's items were stolen, then he would allow the Italians to take them back. He would not fight it."

The FBI dd not remove the material at the home at first. "It was a big task because of so many items," says Mondini. "We photographed 400 manuscripts and religous books. Many had stamps on them from specific libraries, private collections and archives. There were papal seals and decrees in Old Latin. Italian authorities reviewed them and agreed that the sample material would never had been allowed to leave Italy. These conclusions were made by three experts on religious history, two of whom were priests."

After more were photographed, Italian authorities claimed all were historically valuable and illegally obtained. The entire collection was seized by the FBI. Objects wrapped in wax paper were boxed for a new home inside two empty offices at regional headquarters in Chicago.

Mondini admits much of Sisto's collection was illegal because of the simple fact they left Italy without official authorization. Italian law sets a high bar and permission to trade and export artifacts, even inside Italy itself, is rarely if ever given.

Was the FBI following U.S. law or Italian law in seizing the items? Did the F.B.I. merely let the Italians "cherry pick" what they deemed "culturally significant" from the collection?

And on a more basic human level, did our government's premier law enforcement agency effectively take advantage of a grieving son who apparently never consulted a lawyer as to the legality of the FBI's actions just to please the cultural bureaucracy of a friendly foreign nation?

For more about Primo Magazine, see http://www.onlineprimo.com/primo/ Primo interviewed Special Agent Mondini for an article entitled, "Father's Legacy, Brother's Dispute: The Case of John Sisto. That article can be found in the September-October 2009 issue of the Magazine at page 30. The Magazine also includes my own views about the Sisto case and Italy's approach to repatriation issues.

U.S. Customs Announces Recovery of Ancient Artifacts from Italy Just in Time for CPAC Hearing

U.S. Customs has announced the recovery of two ancient vases that Customs says were illegally shipped from Italy. See
http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/33099/us-customs-recovers-ancient-artifacts-looted-from-italy/

Cynics will wonder whether the announcement was timed to coincide with CPAC's upcoming Nov. 13th review of the current MOU with Italy.

In any event, it will be interesting to see if more details about the seizure comes out at that hearing.

Archaeologists Demand Investigation as 72-Year Old Italian PM Cavorts with Young Women Over Old Punic Tombs

Archaeologists and Italy's left-wing opposition hope that tape-recorded revelations that right-wing Italian PM Berlusconi failed to report Punic tombs under his Sardinian estate will gain more political traction than lurid reports about the PM's sex life, derived from the same surreptitious tape recordings. See http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1201885/Italians-finally-talking-Berlusconis-sex-tapes-sex-bit-talks-30-ancient-tombs-estate.htm

Apparently, stories about the 72 year-old Berlusconi cavorting with much younger escorts have only buttressed the Italian PM's standing amongst his supporters given Italy's machismo culture. My guess is that ordinary Italians will care even less that Berlusconi neglected to inform the authorities that his pleasure palace is built over the remains of a dead civilization. After all, in Italy, who doesn't live over something "old?" And, what Italian bothers to volunteer information about such things to cultural bureaucrats anyway?

This story, however, will certainly gain traction in the archaeological community. See http://paul-barford.blogspot.com/2009/07/silvio-sex-and-archaeological-scandal.html Archaeologists tend to hate Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi with the same passion they once reserved for former U.S. President George W. Bush. In their eyes, President Bush's crime was the Iraq war, and the damage it did to both to Iraqi archaeology and its status within Iraq. [Never mind that Iraqi archaeology was largely used as an instrument of state propaganda for Saddam Hussein's regime.] Berlusconi, in contrast, has taken on Italy's leftist cultural heritage bureaucracy directly, if not always successfully. See: http://culturalpropertyobserver.blogspot.com/2009/01/mario-resca-to-rescue.html Culture Minister Bondi has also taken a more conciliatory approach to repatriations, than his left-wing predecessor, Francesco Rutelli, "the Great Repatriator." See http://culturalpropertyobserver.blogspot.com/2008/06/italy-considers-additional.html and http://culturalpropertyobserver.blogspot.com/2008/04/arrivederci-rutelli-time-for-rational.html

Presumably, Italian archaeologists and their foreign colleagues would much prefer that former Cultural Minister Rutelli, and his left-wing party return to power. They will be quite satisfied in the unlikely event that these latest revelations help make that happen.

Some Other Thoughts About the Materials from the Sisto Collection Repatriated to Italy

A scholar and expert in the international trade in cultural artifacts provided me with the following thoughts on reviewing the list of materials repatriated from Italy:


As with all reports about the repatriation of apparently stolen items to their country of origin, those on the Sisto collection emphasize its great value and cultural importance. In most cases, however, we never really know what the collection includes. We read about rare coins or precious artefacts, but we seldom get to see photographs of them or have accurate descriptions. With the Sisto material anyone who wishes can get a copy of a list (with what appears to be well over 2000 items on it, not 1600 as given in the reports) with vague details on all the things returned. Looking through this list the observer is going to be rather shocked: some of the material is certainly interesting but as a whole, everything I see here is virtually useless junk. I can not conceive that any Italian governmental functionary would have any use for the vast, vast majority of what the crates that are being delivered to Italy actually contain.

Let's look at some, shall we?

There are (1-30 passim), loads of 'suspected Etruscan or early Roman' items. Suspected?

33 is "partial, suspected metal, cylinder (2"x2.5"), possible part of ax, possibly iron age"

285 Book preface written by Mussolini (3 pages

)286 Territorial map of Cassano 1858

317 Archeological artifacts - four metal pieces, suspected tools

323 Archeological artifacts - six possible iron age pieces (possible spear heads or handles)

345 Archeological artifacts - Four heads from female statues

375 Book Elementi de Geometria di Euclide 1845

382 Book Vocabolario Italiano - Latino 1791

417 Book Studi su Dante 1905

490 Boarded document King Umberto I January 6, 1898

498 Boarded document Victor Emmanuele III June 10 , 1909

585 Box of documents (?)

601 Private correspondences, business receipts (approx. 3000 pieces)

671 Book Ortografia Moderna Italiana

893-921 (some intervening numbers missing) Book, Nouvelle Bibliotheque des Autheurs Ecclesiastiques -Tome Premier - XIII (missing 4)

1573-1578 Book Repertorio Generale Annuale della Giurisprudenza Italiana Anno XV, XVI, XXVII-XXIXand one undated (but obviously all post 1870)

1673 Book Enciclopedia Tascabile Repertorio di cognizione utili per tutti (i.e., a pocket encyclopedia)

1724 Book Gran dizionario Italiano-francese

2066 Book Enologia Teorico-Practica

2206 Routledge's New Pocket Dictionaries...

2952 Book (Greek lettering)

3015 Il Rosario e la nuova pompei Periodico mensuale

3122 Book Il Conte di Monet Cristo

Yes there are tons of manuscripts but they all sound like the kind of decrees that are in every archive and no one looks at. There are massive numbers of ecclesiastical books, lives of saints and the like, many in Latin, which presumably date from the 17th through the 19th centuries. Could all this stuff be stolen from libraries? Yes. Could it also equally have all be thrown out from libraries? Yes. Could it be from a private library the heir of which wanted to clear out? Yes. Could all the manuscripts have come from archives that were being cleared out (people still dump this kind of stuff and sell it to old paper merchants) because no one wanted any of it and it was all duplicate anyway (papal decrees were invariably sent it in multiples to everyone concerned by them)? Yes.

It is truly inconceivable that all but the smallest fraction of this material is of any importance at all. If it is really stolen they really should say from whom. I think the Sisto family is probably lucky to have gotten rid of all this, but the son who did this is going to have to have a lot to answer for. If we ever know more it will be interesting ( and I bet that the Italians will never show more than a tiny number of things that actually look good - if any do - because they will otherwise will be lose face showing totally unimportant stuff like this). If no real expert in America was asked to go through this material, a reputable book or manuscript dealer, and the FBI relied only on the Italians on the question of importance of possible theft; this is a major scandal.

The Strange Case of the Sisto Collection

The FBI has repatriated to Italy a large collection of antiques and antiquities found in the home of John Sisto, a deceased Italian immigrant from Bari. Mr. Sisto's heirs apparently did not know what to do with the trove. They called the police, who were only too happy to turn it over to Italian cultural authorities. See: http://chicago.fbi.gov/pressrel/2009/cg060809.htm

It's unclear from the press release exactly why the FBI concluded that 1,600 items of some 3,500 found in the home were "stolen." The Chicago Tribune reports that Mr. Sisto received the artifacts from his own father-- a University Professor-- who is said to have purchased the items at estate sales in Italy. See:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-antiquities-09-jun09,0,237014.story

Italy evidently requires export licenses for artifacts over 50 years old. However, US authorities only enforce Italy's export controls on ancient artifacts (excluding coins) and then have only done so since 1999. Those restrictions cannot relate to any of these artifacts. The FBI Press Release suggests that Mr. Sisto stopped receiving shipments from Italy after his own father died in 1982.

Is this really a case of "stolen property" or more of one of Italian authorities "cherry picking" artifacts of cultural interest for repatriation? Without more information, we will never know whether the FBI acceded to Italy's "guilty until proven innocent" mentality or whether some real evidence was provided that the material was actually "stolen." See: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/weekinreview/07donadio.html?_r=2&ref=weekinreview ("In Italy, the general assumption is that someone is guilty until proven innocent. Trials — in the press and in the courts — are more often about defending personal honor than establishing facts, which are easily manipulated. ").

Hopefully, at a minimum, Mr. Sisto's son will keep tabs on what Italian authorities actually do with his deceased father's beloved collection. Wouldn't it be a shame if the trove just ended up in storage somewhere or, even worse, if it was displayed as a "trophy" in Italy's ongoing campaign to repatriate artifacts?

Addendum: At my request, the FBI Press office kindly provided me with some additional information. This is my understanding from our discussion.

1. The investigation started because John Sisto's son contacted the police. Sisto's son indicated that his deceased father told him that his own father had sent him stolen material. [The FBI Press Release does not directly speak to this issue. The Chicago Tribune only states, "Around 2005 (this text as originally published has been corrected), Joseph Sisto learned that many of the items were likely illegal and confronted his father, telling them that the artifacts should be returned to Italy." There is of course a difference under U.S. law between an artifact being "illegal" because it was "illegally exported" and being "illegal" because it was "stolen." The former is irrelevant. The latter is actionable.]

2. The FBI relied on Italian cultural officials to examine the material and decide what was stolen and what was not. The FBI did not conduct an independent investigation (nor was it in a position to do so), but rather relied heavily on the Italians. The Italians indicated that the antiquities were state property under their 1909 law and that the many manuscripts and books repatriated were stolen in the traditional sense from libraries, etc. The Italians also indicated that the material should be returned because it was exported illegally, which, of course, is nonsense, at least under U.S. law during the relevant time period.

Overall, I remain a bit dubious that Italy's determinations that the material was "stolen" would really stand up in a court of law in a contested case. Antiquities remain widely collected in Italy itself and it could be demonstrated that Italy's antiquities laws were not really enforced in the period when the items came to America (the 1960's to 1982). As for the books and manuscripts, I suppose there could be good enough records of thefts in the 1960's to 1982 to trace the artifacts, but I would be a bit surprised if that were actually the case. In any event, the Sisto family asked for the FBI's help in sorting this out and they received the assistance they requested.

Addendum 2: The following NPR story was brought to my attention: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105218287

Apparently, the collector's son was indoctrinated as an anthropology student about the UNESCO Convention. That presumably explains why he considered the items which -- at least according to the articles seem to have been bought from legitimate sources-- to be "stolen":

"Sisto [the son of the deceased collector] eventually realized many of the antiquities had been smuggled out of Italy. Later, when he was getting a degree in cultural anthropology, he says, he learned about the UNESCO treaty that says if something is considered a cultural artifact, it should be returned to its country of origin."

The article also notes the son's admiration for his father's self-taught knowledge of history:

"Amazing for a man who ... never went to college. He was completely self-taught," Sisto says. "He learned even how to translate ancient Latin, which was in script Latin, which almost nobody knows how to read, and he learned how to do that all by himself until he became an expert in the 1970s and '80s and ... universities started calling him asking him for help."

Sisto says that in the final years of his life, his father did not want to sell his collection.
"He wanted to document it and spent years and years translating over 1,100 ancient manuscripts," he says. "And the translations are included along with the material that the FBI has seized and is returning to Italy."

The son evidently believes his father's collection will be well cared for in Italy. Let's hope so, but as noted elsewhere on this blog, Italy has an embarrassment of cultural riches and its record in caring for all in its possession is not a very good one.

Italian Tomb Robbing Down

This story has been circulating around archaeological blogs: http://www.sundayherald.com/mostpopular.var.1528401.mostviewed.art_hit_squad_takes_on_tomb_raiders_after_relics_looted.php

It is actually somewhat dated (note the reference to the deposed Culture Minister Rutelli). Anyway, it has been cited for the proposition that Italy's aggressive enforcement policies have been working. That may be true, but presumably there are other factors at work, like increased wealth in places like Sicily and S. Italy. Looting is less likely to happen where people are not so poor.

I also disagree with commentators that suggest this proves that systems akin to treasure trove and the PAS are unneeded. As long as people have metal detectors, they will find things like ancient coins. It is important to record them, and systems like treasure trove and the PAS make that far more likely.

In any event, this good news from Italy begs the question whether US import restrictions currently on a wide variety of Italian cultural artifacts are still necessary. Certainly, one would hope there would be no push to extend restrictions to ancient coins, particularly now that the situation on the ground in Italy has improved so markedly.

Italian Show Trial Goes On and On and On ...

David Gill ("Looting Matters" Blog) has a link to this short news item about Italy's trial against Robert Hecht and Marion True starting up again. See: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/24/arts/design/24arts-TRIALRESUMES_BRF.html?_r=2&ref=design Gill asks whether the resumption of the trial will herald a new round of repatriation claims. See: http://lootingmatters.blogspot.com/2009/01/rome-trial-resumes.html

I rarely agree with Gill, but I do agree with his implicit suggestion that this trial (now going into its fourth year!) is at this point probably meant to help validate any efforts to seek further repatriations as much as anything else.

The real question is whether the trial has gone on so long that it will be increasingly viewed as a farce. Certainly, whatever problems there may be with the US legal system, our Constitutional protections would preclude such never ending show trials like that going on in Rome. God Bless America!

Italy Considers Additional Repatriations

"Culture GRRL" has reported that the new Italian Culture Minister has signalled a desire to seek more antiquities repatriations. Hopefully, to the extent he follows through, the new Culture Minister will take a "kindlier and gentler" approach to repatriations of artifacts that left Italy decades ago (when few seemed to really care) than his predecessor. For more, see: http://www.artsjournal.com/culturegrrl/2008/06/italys_new_culture_minister_si.html Repatriation demand by press release may help stir up nationalistic support at home and accolades from some in the archaeological community in the short run, but it does little to win Italy friends abroad in the long run. Let's hope Culture Minister Bondi avoids the defeated Minister Rutelli's histrionics in that regard.

Arrivederci Culture Minister Rutelli-- Is It Now Finally Time for a Rational Cultural Property Policy in Italy?

The electoral defeat of Italian Culture Minister Rutelli's Center Left Coalition by flamboyant billionaire politician Silvio Berlusconi's Center Right Coalition demonstrates that efforts to divert the public's attention from political and economic problems with nationalistic exhibits of repatriated "trophy art" like the "Nostoi" exhibit simply do not work in the long run.

If so, Italy may have also in a sense come full circle on the issue. Indeed, it has been suggested that the investigation that culminated in the Nostoi exhibit was at least in part a politically motivated effort to embarrass the last Berlusconi government, which, after all, had taken some steps to change Italy's outdated and ineffective cultural property laws in favor of ones that recognized the obvious-- that many otherwise law abiding Italians hold unregistered antiquities. If nothing else, this theory may help explain why an obscure Italian Magistrate decided to press his investigation decades after the antiquities were illicitly excavated and some ten years after after poloroids picturing antiquities in several American Museums were discovered along with other illicit antiquities in a warehouse in Switzerland.

In any event, the Italian electorate will now rightly expect the new Berlusconi Government to tackle Italy's immense economic problems, but after that, perhaps the new Government will again consider reforms to Italy's outdated and unrealistic cultural property laws. Hopefully in doing so, Italy will recognize that the State and the Archaeological community are simply incapable of being good stewards to everything and anything "old" and that collectors deserve to be recognized as the best custodians for at least some types of "cultural property."