State and Federal Legal Issues

1. NEW YORK - There has for some years been a trend for people to sue art historians and scholars who do not give the 'right' opinion on a work of art. An academic or curator says your picture is a copy? Sue them. Some famous cases have involved works by Andy Warhol, where lawsuits (or merely the threat of them) from disgruntled owners ultimately obliged the Warhol Foundation to shut down some of its activities. In France, the owner of a putative Monet (which we featured on 'Fake or Fortune?') sued the Wildenstein Foundation after they refused to list the work as a genuine Monet.

And even I've had threatening letters and emails after expressing a view on the attribution or identification of a painting.
To protect those who merely seek to give an opinion on works of art, and to freely publish that opinion, the New York legislature has now passed "An act to amend the arts and cultural affairs law, in relation to opinions concerning authenticity, attribution and authorship of works of fine art”.
The bill is not yet enacted, and for more details read Kevin P. Ray's blog here. But it's evidently a step in the right direction. For although those who give opinions on authenticity can sometimes be bone-headedly wrong, it seems to me absurd that anyone should be allowed to sue an art historian, and oblige them, via a court, to change their mind. So - well done New York, and I hope other legislatures follow suit.

http://www.arthistorynews.com/articles/3469_New_law_to_protect_art_historians


2. WASHINGTON DC -June 26, 2015 10:57 a.m. ET- The Internal Revenue Service is taking aim at the way wealthy families value certain assets they are passing along to heirs, a move that could crimp estate planning. Family limited partnerships and limited liability companies long have been used to help pass family-owned businesses to younger generations in a way that may reduce gift or estate taxes. They also have been used in recent years to pass down portfolios of publicly traded securities at a discount, something the IRS is looking to end, some estate lawyers say.
In a typical arrangement, a family limited partnership is set up by a husband and wife to own a

business or securities that they expect will increase in value over time. The couple acts as general partners and makes gifts of limited-partner interests to their children. Those gifts remove the assets from the couple’s estate for estate-tax purposes even though the couple retains control of the assets.

Getting a Discount

A key appeal of this strategy is that the combined value of the limited-partner interests is discounted, after evaluation by an appraiser, from the value of the underlying assets—which can mean a lower tax bill.
The value is lower because the limited partners don’t control the assets and the individual limited-partnership interests are less marketable than the underlying assets.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/irs-takes-aim-at-an-estate-planning-strategy-1435330543?cb=logged0.7048794540214798

3. 

Trending Art Markets Summer 2015

With Sothebys and Christies not accepting property that is below $5,000 per lot, there is a huge amount of money left on the table that many auction houses are scrambling to attract. Certainly since 2008 economic conditions have impacted on middle and lower markets, but somebody will figure out how to capture this market segment. Considering all associated costs clearly online sales is the only viable platform that makes sense. There will be more coverage on this topic. See past blog entries on Amazon and the Sothebys and Ebay partnership.


NEW YORK - Let's say you're not a millionaire but you're still interested in buying affordable art from the comfort of your living room. Where do you find something that is between craft-oriented websites like Etsy and high-end auction houses like Sotheby's? Now, new companies — like Paddle8,

Ocula, Artline, Saatchi Art, Artsy, Amazon Art — are trying to fill the gap.
In a sun-drenched loft near downtown Los Angeles, carefully coiffed curatorial assistants are talking art with buyers over the phone. This is the West Coast office of Paddle8, an online marketplace that sells mid-range art. It was co-founded in 2011 by Alexander Gilkes, 35, formerly the chief auctioneer for Phillips, the third-largest auction house.
Much of the art on his site is within reach of a middle-class consumer, he says: "Our average selling price across the site is $5,000."
Online art sales went up more than 30 percent last year, according to an analysis by the European Fine Art Fair. It found the online market is mostly mid-range art — a growing and lucrative — niche. Even Sotheby's teamed up with eBay this spring, after its online art sales shot up 100 percent last year, according to a company video.
Like eBay, Paddle8 is an auction site, but unlike eBay, everything's curated and authenticated. And being in the digital space comes with some economic advantages that Paddle8 says it passes along to its customers. For example, Paddle8 does not have to staff and schedule expensive viewings in posh locations or take months to produce costly catalogs.

African Art - A Different Look - Summer 2015

1. Kuba Textiles: Geometry in Form, Space, and Time
Neuberger Museum of Art
Through June 14

Purchase, N.Y.
In 1885, German explorer Heinrich Ludwig Wolf (1850-1889) was the first European to enter the Kuba kingdom in the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo. United under one ruler in the 17th century, Kuba refers to both an empire and each of its 18 distinct African tribes. An engraving illustrating Wolf’s first encounter is reproduced in the catalog for “Kuba Textiles: Geometry in Form, Space, and Time,” a groundbreaking and visually stunning exhibition at the Neuberger Museum of Art.
The print depicts the moment when the Kuba prince, leading an immense procession, reaches Wolf’s camp. Enormous, stalwart and barrel-chested, the prince wears a feathered headdress, a richly folded woven raffia skirt and a beaded sash. Standing in a borne basket, he holds a buffalo-tail scepter and towers above everyone else. Unusual for its time, the illustration (c. 1887) gives pride of place—and scale—not to the “civilized” Wolf, but to the “primitive” prince. “Like many subsequent images,” Christraud M. Geary, curator emerita of African and Oceanic art at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, writes in the show’s catalog, “this first depiction seizes the spectacle and splendor of Kuba royalty.”
One might expect, then, that a Kuba exhibition would be resplendent—a stupefying array of exotic feathered headdresses and ornately beaded costumes. Nineteenth- and early 20th-century photographs, postcards and trading cards here show Kuba kings swaddled in multicolored armadillo-like regalia—riddled with glass beads, ivory and mottled seashells; as fireworks of plumage shoot from their crowns, and all but their tightly cropped faces disappear beneath bedazzling second skins.
Curated by Marie-Thérèse Brincard, the Neuberger’s show of more than 100 objects does include a gathering of superb shell-and-beadwork pieces—intricate, ornamental royal baskets, sashes, bracelets, anklets, armlets and a visored crown that exemplify the Kuba’s decorative embrace of horror vacui.
Here too is a section devoted to tukula—a reddish powder, or subsequent paste, extracted from trees and utilized for everything from money to sculpture. Dry, tukula was used to dye textiles. Mixed with oil, it served as a cosmetic, which stained the interiors of its wooden storage boxes the colors of blood and fire. Tukula hardwood, when shaved and mixed with clay and leaves, produced a malleable paste that was sculpted into talismanic animals, tools and human heads. These blackened, handheld abstract objects, known as mboong itool, suggest carved burned-wood and reddish sandstone. Made only by women, and incised with abstract patterns, they were often bestowed as funerary gifts.

Detail of ‘Panel (?) for a ceremonial skirt’ (late 19th-20th century). Photo: Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren

A remarkable ensemble of tukula, mboong itool and lidded wooden boxes—all never before exhibited—is on display. Though abstract, the mboong itool represent turtles, huts, headrests, boats, masks, insects, musical instruments and the moon. One ubiquitous form, the shinambwa, or the wagging “tail of dog,” is also believed to represent a knife or a catfish. Resembling those forms, and also a butterfly, bird, foot, hook, boomerang and amoeba, it is commonly found on the Kuba’s masterly, unassuming woven raffia fiber (palm leaf) textiles—whose richness, subtlety and understated power are the soul of this exhibition.
Abstract, spare and often monochromatic, the raffia fiber textiles—experienced here in numerous men’s and women’s ceremonial skirts and overskirts, some nearly 30 feet long—were also at the very heart of the Kuba. In the show’s catalog, Ms. Brincard reminds us that African sculpture, favored by Western collectors, was long-believed to be “Africa’s major art form,” but that “textiles, pottery, decorative arts, and furniture [are] of equal cultural importance in African societies.” “Kuba Textiles” redresses that misconception. And it does so much more.
Not only is this show overflowing with huge, gorgeous textiles, but it acts as an object lesson in the language of pure abstraction. The textiles’ decorations may at times suggest abbreviated or distilled forms from the natural world, but forms exist here as elemental forces. The Kuba skirts achieve what the Dutch abstractionist Piet Mondrian referred to as “dynamic equilibrium”—the energetic bond between figure and ground, energy and form, stasis and movement, the organic and the rational.
These extremely long rectangular skirts, completely unfurled here—hanging from the ceiling and mounted in enormous vitrines—expand like abstract landscapes. Earth-toned, their grounds are usually a natural tan or deep tukula red. They are starkly, geometrically decorated with black, blue, red, brown, tan and white checkerboards, rectangles, lines, diamonds, circles, dashes, dots, triangles, organic shapes and interlacing, zigzagging and overlapping patterns. When overlying sandy colored scraps of cloth are sewn together with darker thread, they conjure an undulating desert. At other times, as in “Central panel for a woman’s royal overskirt (ncák buiin)” (19th century?), interlacing, variously sized crosses—as if lifted directly from the carpet pages of the medieval “Lindisfarne Gospels”—suggest the strumming pulse of nature.
Since these ceremonial skirts were originally wrapped around their wearers, they were never intended to be experienced as full compositions. But, since they were created as a whole (woven into cloth by Kuba men; then hemmed, dyed and embellished by Kuba women), one senses in each skirt an evolving composition in which forms, patterns and logic develop, as if working out their own fates.
Most striking here is a sense of birth and evolution; of forms and forces interacting, responding, gathering and multiplying. The roughly 3-feet-by-9-feet “Panel (?) for a ceremonial skirt” (late 19th-20th century), made up of polyphonic series of multisized diagonals, lines, rectangles and triangles, is as rhythmically dynamic as the taut, pulsing plane, comprising variously sized, primary colored rectangles, in Mondrian’s “Broadway Boogie Woogie.” Other pieces, though sparer, are equally ordered and comprehensive. Or they are activated further with scalloped borders, fringe and pompoms.
In “Four panels for a ceremonial skirt” (20th century), within a series of consecutive rectangular mazes, we experience points becoming lines, which widen into planes and then group together, suggesting veins, limbs, deltas and archipelagoes. Explored here are notions of penetration, expansion, growth and progression. We experience the birth of the diagonal, the diamond, repetition and frieze.
Looking at this and other masterworks here, I couldn’t help but wonder if Wolf, who was first to write about and to sing the praises of Kuba textiles, felt as if he had encountered the cradle of civilization.
Mr. Esplund writes about art for the Journal.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/kuba-textiles-geometry-in-form-space-and-time-review-1431378503

2. ST. LOUIS -Bruno Claessens

“Kota: Digital Excavations in African Art” – an upcoming exhibition at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation (October 2015)

This October, the Pulitzer Arts Foundation will present Kota: Digital Excavations in African Art, an exhibition that examines new ways to study and reveal the hidden histories of antique Kota reliquaries from Gabon. The exhibition, co-curated by Frederic Cloth (a Belgian computer engineer and independent researcher) and Kristina Van Dyke, will present more than 50 reliquary guardian here.

figures from both public as private collections. Cloth (who also designed the software of the Yale University – van Rijn Archive of African art) developed a custom-build database and search engine exclusively used to analyze Kota statues. Using a series of algorithms, he was able to detect unprecedented patterns in his sample of over 2,000 reliquaries. I’ve witnessed this database first hand and must say it is very exciting to finally see somebody using digital tools properly to gain new insights in otherwise ‘silent’ objects. This new kind of approach presents exciting possibilities for groups of African objects that lack deep provenance and contextual data, although not all types of art obviously are as suitable to work with. The exhibition will explore both the algorithmic tool and the fascinating African sculptural tradition; you can read more about it
Earlier this year, Frederic Cloth already gave a sneak peek of his findings during a lecture, called Algorithms and Mathematics Applied to the Reconstitution of Lost Traditions, at the de Young Museum in conjunction with the opening day celebration of Embodiments: Masterworks of African Figurative Sculpture. You can see it below, it’s highly recommended:
http://brunoclaessens.com/2015/05/kota-digital-excavations-in-african-art-an-upcoming-exhibition-at-the-pulitzer-arts-foundation-october-2015/#.VcqCSP7bJGE

Photographs - Around The World - Summer 2015

Afganistan

 Serbia Cave

 Dzitrup, Mexico

Uganda

1991 Kuwait Oil Fields Burning

South Africa - Rhino

My Word Summer 2015

This summer has been busy traveling to Tucson, Spokane, Omaha, Cleveland, Little Rock, and now finally Charleston, South Carolina. The journey brought us to camera with everything from a shrunken head to a Mississippian effigy figure proving you never know what will happen on the Roadshow. In Charleston we worked with Emma Mooney a student from Beloit College that was awarded a grant to study the Roadshow. This was a first for Antiques Roadshow. As you will see from the blog she is writing, Emma is a very special young lady with a bright future.
http://qualityjunkventuregrant.tumblr.com

In this issue we have again focused on the ivory ban which truly is at a crossroads with bills in the House and Senate and the environmentalists turning up the heat in the State legislatures. The auction market continues to be insane at the upper end and unpredictable in the middle markets. The major art sellers still recognize that a great deal of money is being left on the table and are trying to find a digital solution that solves this problem. There are some great buys now in small and middle size auctions that don't have  the overhead of the big auction houses.

On August 19th ArtTrak auctions will work with Igavel.com to present a tribal auction that will feature some great bargains from client collections that are downsizing. We will send out another notice of this event.

This already promises to be a very busy Fall with appraisals, auctions, and  client appointments scheduled all over the country. If you have need of any appraisal or authentication work, let us know we may be able to meet with you on one of these trips.

Ivory and The Metropolitan Museum

 When the public thinks about ivory, they pretty much are at the mercy of the negative pr campaigns waged by the state and federal governments The environmentalists would like you to believe its solely about murdering elephants, cheap ivory trinkets made in China, or evil dealers making exorbitant profits on the black market. No the problem is far more complex and does not lend itself well to simplistic solutions. No,  the approach should actually about identifying the problem, analyzing the data, coming up with a plan, and then managing the solution. The idea that attacking the market place solves all problems is not proven methodology. Without an established network of government and state officials that can identify ivory and can authenticate the art objects that get caught up in this mess, there is no hope that a government can efficiently manage an ivory program. But they will raise money through permits, fines. Unfortunately, they will also spend more that will come out of your pocket.  It is a sad day when our government can vilify some of the greatest works of art in the Metropolitan Museum. Contact your state and federal representatives to oppose this sledge hammer approach to resource management. In the meantime here are a few of some of the great works of art at the Met.

Tribal Art Magazine - Auction results Summer 2015

Click on the link below for printed pdf price results of many current tribal art auctions

http://www.tribalartmagazine.com/index.php?content=auctions&mode=list&page=1&lang=en

Igavel ArtTrak Auctions Summer 2015

 In the next ten days we will post  links and highlights of the sale on Igavel.com

U.S. Govt Ivory Ban July 2015

Fish and Wildlife has requested comments on the latest changes that have now been proposed after Directors Order 210 (see blog for background). Make no mistake this is just one more step in the government passing a complete ban on all commercial transactions involving any ivory. Many observers believe that the primary objective of the current administration and the environmentalists is the ban the ownership of all ivory. In this issue see the New York state ivory ban.


My colleague Lark Mason has provided responses below to both Congressional and Senate representatives in support of new legislation to counter the Adminstration's efforts in this area

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants: African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) Rule; Revision
July 29, 2015
Excerpts
We propose to allow sale and offer for sale of ivory in interstate or foreign commerce along with delivery, receipt, carrying, transport, or shipment of ivory in interstate or foreign commerce in the course of a commercial activity without a threatened species permit for manufactured items containing de minimis amounts of ivory, provided they meet the following criteria:
• For items located in the United States, the ivory was imported into the United States prior to January 18, 1990 (the date the African elephant was listed in CITES Appendix I) or was imported into the United States under a CITES pre-Convention certificate with no limitation on its commercial use;
• For items located outside the United States, the ivory is pre-Convention (removed from the wild prior to February 26, 1976 (the date the African elephant was first listed under CITES));
• The ivory is a fixed component or components of a larger manufactured item and is not, in its current form, the primary source of value of the item;
• The manufactured item is not made wholly or primarily of ivory;
• The total weight of the ivory component or components is less than 200 grams;
• The ivory is not raw; and
• The item was manufactured before the effective date of the final rule for this action.
We have intentionally crafted this exception to allow commercial activity in a very narrow class of items. While we have given careful consideration to the types of items containing African elephant ivory for which we could allow continued commercialization in interstate and foreign commerce (because we do not believe the trade is contributing to the poaching of elephants and we believe the risk of illegal trade is low)

Under all three of these exceptions, the importer or exporter would need to show that the African elephant ivory in the item was legally acquired and removed from the wild prior to February 26, 1976 (the date the African elephant was first listed under CITES). This does not necessarily mean that the current owner of an item containing ivory, a musical instrument, for example, acquired the instrument or the ivory in the instrument prior to February 1976. It means that there is sufficient information to show that the ivory was harvested (taken from the wild) prior to February 26, 1976, even though the instrument may not have been manufactured until after that date. It also means that there is sufficient information to show that the ivory was harvested in compliance with all applicable laws of the range country and that any subsequent import and export of the ivory and the instrument containing the ivory was legal under CITES and other applicable laws (understanding that the instrument may have changed hands many times before being acquired by the current owner).
(3) Interstate and foreign commerce of ivory. Except for antiques and certain manufactured items containing de minimis quantities of ivory, sale or offer for sale of ivory in interstate or foreign commerce and delivery, receipt, carrying, transport, or shipment of ivory in interstate or foreign commerce in the course of a commercial activity is prohibited. Except as provided in paragraphs

(e)(5)(iii) and (e)(6) through (8) of this section, manufactured items containing de minimis quantities of ivory may be sold or offered for sale in interstate or foreign commerce and delivered, received, carried, transported, or shipped in interstate or foreign commerce in the course of a commercial activity without a threatened species permit issued under § 17.32, provided they meet all of the following criteria:
(i) If the item is located within the United States, the ivory was imported into the United States prior to January 18, 1990, or was imported into the United States under a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) pre-Convention certificate with no limitation on its commercial use;
(ii) If the item is located outside the United States, the ivory was removed from the wild prior to February 26, 1976;
(iii) The ivory is a fixed component or components of a larger manufactured item and is not in its current form the primary source of the value of the item;
(iv) The ivory is not raw;
(v) The manufactured item is not made wholly or primarily of ivory;
(vi) The total weight of the ivory component or components is less than 200 grams; and
(vii) The item was manufactured before [EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE FINAL RULE].

(9) Antique ivory. Antiques (as defined in paragraph (e)(1) of this section) are not subject to the provisions of this rule. Antiques containing or consisting of ivory may therefore be imported into or exported from the United States without a threatened species permit issued under § 17.32, provided the requirements of 50 CFR parts 13, 14, and 23 have been met. Also, the provisions and prohibitions under the African Elephant Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 4201 et. seq.) apply, regardless of the age of the item. Antiques that consist of or contain raw or worked ivory may similarly be sold or offered for sale in interstate or foreign commerce and delivered, received, carried, transported, or shipped in interstate or foreign commerce in the course of a commercial activity without a threatened species permit issued under § 17.32.
(e) African elephant (Loxodonta africana). This paragraph (e) applies to any specimen of the species Loxodonta africana whether live or dead, including any part or product thereof. Except as provided in paragraphs (e)(2) through (9) of this section, all of the prohibitions and exceptions in §§ 17.31 and 17.32 apply to the African elephant. Persons seeking to benefit from the exceptions provided in this paragraph (e) must demonstrate that they meet the criteria to qualify for the exceptions.
(1) Definitions. In this paragraph (e), antique means any item that meets all four criteria under section 10(h) of the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1539(h)). Ivory means any African elephant tusk and any piece of an African elephant tusk. Raw ivory means any African elephant tusk, and any piece thereof, the surface of which, polished or unpolished, is unaltered or minimally carved. Worked ivory means any African elephant tusk, and any piece thereof, that is not raw ivory.

§14.12   Designated ports.
The following ports of entry are designated for the importation and exportation of wildlife and wildlife products and are referred to hereafter as “designated ports”:
(a) Anchorage, Alaska.
(b) Atlanta, Georgia.
(c) Baltimore, Maryland.
(d) Boston, Massachusetts.
(e) Chicago, Illinois.
(f) Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.
(g) Honolulu, Hawaii.
(h) Houston, Texas.
(i) Los Angeles, California.
(j) Louisville, Kentucky.
(k) Memphis, Tennessee.
(l) Miami, Florida.
(m) New Orleans, Louisiana.
(n) New York, New York.
(o) Portland, Oregon.
(p) San Francisco, California.
(q) Seattle, Washington.


End.





Dear Friends,
You are probably aware of the changes by the USFWS to the Endangered Species Act but perhaps unaware that there are Senate and House bills which are pending that could dramatically improve the situation. We encourage everyone to distribute the below message to your clients and friends. In addition, the USFWS is proposing even more draconian restrictions. For now, we need to gather support for this effort among our elected representatives. The more calls and letters and emails sent in, the better. Please cut and paste as you think appropriate. The PDF attachment contains form letters that can be emailed or sent by post as well as a recap of the situation and a direct link to the Congressional offices.
Lark Mason

RE: Save the Elephants and Protect the Arts
The very stringent new policies recently imposed by The US Fish and Wildlife Service and new legislation in New York and other states have made it impossible and potentially criminal to import, export, sell and even possess any ivory regardless of age or artistic value.
Orchestras visiting the US from overseas have had musical instruments confiscated by US Customs officers. Exhibitors at antique shows have had antique ivories confiscated. A bill proposed in the New York State Senate calling for the possession of ivory to be declared to be a criminal act was narrowly defeated last month.

The very important and worthy goal of saving the elephants has led to drastic actions which imperil the arts. Collectors, curators and dealers who always avoid modern and illegal ivory of any kind, but appreciate the arts of the past which may include ivory, now are being deprived of their rights and even turned into criminals by these new laws and regulations.
Now there is an opportunity for us to simultaneously save the arts and save the elephants, but we must act quickly.
Two steps are needed:
1) Write to your congressional representatives.
2) Circulate the attached notice to your mailing list with a cover note urging all your friends to write to their congressional representatives.
Please do not delay – act now.
Two US Congressional bills with bi-partisan support have recently been introduced to
increase protection of elephants and other endangered species while allowing US citizens
to legally possess and sell antiques, musical instruments, chess sets, furniture and other
works of art containing ivory and similar materials are now advancing in the House and
Senate. Senators Daines (R-MT) and Alexander (R-TN) introduced Senate bill S.1769,
African Elephant Conservation and Legal Ivory Possession Act of 2015. Representative
Don Young (R-AK) has introduced companion legislation to achieve the same goals.
The House bill is designated H.R.697.
This legislation would end the unilateral moratorium on import, export, and sale of
lawfully possessed ivory recently imposed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and
would strengthen measures to stop elephant poaching in Africa and punish countries
engaged in smuggling and illicit trading in ivory. The US regulations governing ivory
import, export, and trade would adhere to the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES) which was ratified by the US in 1975. CITES is strictly
enforced in Europe and has 181 signatories around the world. The proposed legislation
would prevent the US Fish and Wildlife Service from promulgating or enforcing
regulations designed to criminalize possession of both legally imported and antique ivory
in the US and would do away with impossible retroactive documentation requirements
recently imposed by USFWS Director’s Order 210.
These bills would add new funding and new measures to fight against poaching in Africa.
Instead of criminalizing and penalizing innocent US citizens or US visitors for possession
of ivory which was legally obtained, these bills would join international efforts to stop
poaching. These bills would require the US Secretary of the Interior to certify any
country which is a significant destination or transit point for the illegal ivory trade. Those
certified countries would be subject to diplomatic and legal actions to pressure them to
stop violating international law.
PLEASE ACT NOW TO SUPPORT THESE CONGRESSIONAL ACTS:
S.1769 IN THE SENATE AND H.R.697 IN THE HOUSE.
Write to your Congressional Representatives today and ask your colleagues and friends to
do the same. Ask your Congressional Representatives to co-sponsor these bills.
To identify your Congressional Representatives and their addresses, go to:
https://www.opencongress.org/people/zipcodelookup
You may wish to write your own message, stating your own reasons for supporting
legislation to allow US citizens and visitors freedom to transport or use or donate legally
obtained ivory in the US. It is important for your representatives to know how the
Director’s Order has adversely affected you; the way to introduce the impact on you is to
add a sentence about your being a stakeholder. A suggested template for a letter to your
senators is shown below. If you use this template, please personalize the last sentence
(don’t cut and paste the entire letter).
Dear Senator,
I support Senate bill S.1769 - African Elephant Conservation and Legal Ivory Possession
Act of 2015 introduced by Senator Daines and Senator Alexander.
This bill would mandate strong measures to fight poachers in Africa and stop the illicit
trade in ivory and other endangered species. The bill would also protect the rights of US
citizens and institutions to transport, use and sell ivory which is lawfully owned by
ending the unilateral moratorium recently imposed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service
Director’s Order 210.
The United States has long been an active participant in the Convention on the
International Trade in Endangered Species. We should continue to enforce those
international regulations while increasing our active support of the fight against poachers
in Africa and illicit traders anywhere in the world, but US owners of antique and legally
obtained ivory should not be dispossessed or turned into criminals by US government
regulations retroactively imposed.
As a stakeholder in this issue who is a professional violinist / plays a 1930s Steinway
piano / has a collection of ____ (19th century netsuke/ 18th century portrait miniatures /
etc.) I urge you to please lend your support and co-sponsor Senate bill S.1769.
A suggested template for a letter to your representative is shown below. As above, please
personalize the last sentence should you use this example:
Dear Congressman,
I support House bill H.R.697 - African Elephant Conservation and Legal Ivory
Possession Act of 2015 introduced by Representative Don Young.
This bill would mandate strong measures to fight poachers in Africa and stop the illicit
trade in ivory and other endangered species. The bill would also protect the rights of US
citizens and institutions to transport, use, and sell ivory which is lawfully owned by
ending the unilateral moratorium recently imposed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service
Director’s Order 210.
The United States has long been an active participant in the Convention on the
International Trade in Endangered Species. We should continue to enforce those
international regulations while increasing our active support of the fight against poachers
in Africa and illicit traders anywhere in the world, but US owners of antique, and legally
obtained ivory should not be dispossessed or turned into criminals by US government
regulations retroactively imposed.
As a stakeholder in this issue who is a professional violinist / plays a 1930s Steinway
piano / has a collection of ____ (19th century netsuke/ 18th century portrait miniatures /
etc.) I urge you to please lend your support and co-sponsor House bill H.R.697.
Please send this notice to all your friends and colleagues, urging them to take action
immediately by writing to their congressmen and continuing to forward this message. We
have learned that our representatives care what we have to say. They have responded to
our dedicated efforts by drafting these bills. Tell your congressional representatives about
the harm that is being done to collectors, curators, musicians, antique dealers and all US
Citizens by the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s criminalization and policing of private
citizen’s legal possessions. For more information about proposed ivory legislation in your
state, go to http://www.elephantprotection.org/.
Please do not delay – act now.

Repatriation - Summer 2015

1. LOS ANGELES, CA.- The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has ruled in favor of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation and the Kingdom of Spain in an artwork dispute that has spanned a decade. In its June 4th Order granting the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation's motion for summary judgment‎, the U.S. District Court confirmed that the Foundation is the rightful owner of the oil painting by Camille Pissarro, Rue Saint-Honore, après-midi, effet de pluie (1897). More Information: http://artdaily.com/news/79236/Spanish-museum-wins-ten-year-legal-dispute-over-ownership-of-Pissarro-painting#.VXtNgrN0zIU

2. BERLIN (AFP).- More than two years after masterpieces looted by the Nazi regime were discovered in a Munich apartment, the first artwork was returned to the heirs of its original owner Friday. The 1921 painting Seated Woman, also known as Woman with a Fan, originally belonged to Paul Rosenberg, but was looted as he fled from Germany to France in the 40s. It was discovered in 2012 among a trove of stashed artworks in the Munich flat of reclusive collector Cornelius Gurlitt. More Information: http://artdaily.com/news/78599/Henri-Matisse-painting-looted-by-Nazis-and-hidden-by-Cornelius-Gurlitt-returned-to-heirs#.VYSLrLN0zIU

3. BAGHDAD (AFP).- The United States returned Wednesday hundreds of Iraqi artefacts its special forces recovered during a raid in Syria against a man described as the Islamic State group's top financier. Some of the pieces were displayed at the Iraqi national museum during a repatriation ceremony attended by Antiquities Minister Adel Shirshab and US Ambassador Stuart Jones. More Information: http://artdaily.com/news/80041/United-States-returns-Iraqi-artefacts-recovered-in-Islamic-State-group-s-top-financier-raid#.VafuLBNViko

4. JERUSALEM (AFP).- An Israeli court has awarded a rare collection of Franz Kafka's manuscripts to the country's national library, ending a long legal battle worthy of one of the Prague-born writer's complex stories. The judgement, published Wednesday, ordered Tel Aviv resident Eva Hoffe to hand all the papers in her possession to the National Library of Israel. More Information: http://artdaily.com/news/79754/Prague-born-writer-Franz-Kafka-papers-belong-to-Israel-national-library--Israeli-court#.VafyBxNViko

5. LOS ANGELES It’s becoming more likely that a jury will decide whether the Norton Simon Museum's "Adam" and "Eve" can stay where they are despite having been looted by the Nazis during World War II.U.S. District Judge John Walter has tentatively set March 29, 2016, as the opening day for a trial in a case that's already gone on for eight years. Marei Von Saher, who lives in Connecticut, sued in 2007 for the return of “Adam” and “Eve” as stolen property the invading Nazis had seized from her family in 1940. More Information: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-adam-and-eve-nazi-looted-art-norton-simon-20150710-story.html

6. NEW YORK Congolese art collector and businessman Sindika Dokolo has launched a worldwide campaign to return to the African continent African art that currently resides in Western Institution and auction houses. More Information: https://news.artnet.com/people/sindika-dokolo-repatriate-african-art-315999

7. NEW YORK -July 1, 2015 8:04 p.m. ET A stolen bronze Indian religious relic worth an estimated $1 million was recovered Wednesday by federal customs agents as part of a continuing investigation into a former New York-based art dealer.The dealer, Subhash Kapoor, is now awaiting trial in India for allegedly looting artifacts worth tens of millions of dollars.
Mr. Kapoor operated a now-defunct gallery on the Upper East Side called Art of the Past. Prosecutors allege that between 1995 and 2012 he illegally imported and sold stolen antiquities from India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere, often using forged documents to pass the items off as legitimate.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit and the Manhattan district attorney’s office have together recovered more than 2,500 artifacts worth more than $100 million from the gallery and storage facilities in and around New York City.
Kenneth J. Kaplan, a lawyer in New York representing Mr. Kapoor, declined to comment Wednesday, but said his client had asserted his innocence both to him and to his counsel in India. Mr. Kapoor has not yet entered a plea in India, according to a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.