She paid $35 for a piece of art that was stolen by Nazis and felt that she had the right to “negotiate” the terms of its return? How about just give it back?
$35 sculpture found at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII
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Re: $35 sculpture found at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII
#32> She was in possession of a looted piece of ancient art. She couldn't keep it. I don't understand. Museums in the West are full of looted ancient art [1]. Why are they allowed to keep it, but this woman cannot keep this one item? [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/16/learning/should-museums-r...
Can I recommend a podcast called 'Stuff the British Stole' by Marc Fenell (aka 'That Movie ... Guy'). It looks at exactly this, including situations where an artefact only exists _because_ it was stolen.
http://www.marcfennell.com/stolen (Sorry I couldn't find the RSS feed)
Re: $35 sculpture found at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII
#33She paid $35 for a piece of art that was stolen by Nazis and felt that she had the right to “negotiate” the terms of its return? How about just give it back?
From the article it sounds like it was stolen from the German people by an American soldier.
Re: $35 sculpture found at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII
#34Back at home, Young had a problem: She was in possession of a looted piece of ancient art. She couldn't keep it. She couldn't sell it. And giving it back to its rightful owners was a lot harder than it sounds. “At that point, I realized I was probably going to need some help,” Young says. “I was probably going to need an attorney.” So she hired a lawyer in New York who specializes in international art law, Leila Amin…
Under the 4th Geneva Convention - looting is a war crime. If you know you're in possession of ill gotten gains - one should always obtain legal advice -
Or you could just keep the receipt from Goodwill and use your money in more better ways than paying a lawyer.
Re: $35 sculpture found at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII
#35Back at home, Young had a problem: She was in possession of a looted piece of ancient art. She couldn't keep it. She couldn't sell it. And giving it back to its rightful owners was a lot harder than it sounds. “At that point, I realized I was probably going to need some help,” Young says. “I was probably going to need an attorney.” So she hired a lawyer in New York who specializes in international art law, Leila Amin…
"I'm not a lawyer and I don't understand international law, but despite that (lack of) knowledge I'm going to assume to assume this person was trying to do a bad thing"
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Re: $35 sculpture found at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII
#36What amazes me about all these stories is the ridiculously low prices the thrift store charged. Here in the Seattle area, everything seems to grossly overpriced in thrift stores.
Goodwill in particular moves items between markets and prices them based on the local economy. Gone are the days of 2010 when you could walk into the Bellevue Goodwill and find lightly used designer clothing that some retired Microsoft engineer was tired of. Now everything's priced higher than eBay and there's no reason to stop by. Everyone else wants to be a "Boutique" and charge high end prices for used goods. Blam…
My Goodwill in San Rafael takes all the good stuff that comes in the back, and it goes to the San Francisco store to put on ebay. The junk stays in the stores. Every once in awhile something of value does not automatically go to their internet store because it was missed by a back room staffer.
A few years ago my Goodwill went through three store managers in a row for stealing over a period of 10 years. One manager was pilfering the jewelry from the safe regularity, and loading up her van after everyone left.
I find it ironic they have cameras everywhere, and signs worning about shoplifting, when it was the employees stealing for years.
You can still get lucky on books, but you need to show up early. The professional resellers are there with their bar code readers at opening. Every once in a while a decent business suit can be found, but those days are kinda gone too. None of the clothing is cleaned before being put out.
Another manager had multiple antique dealers that he was selling to. He was so out in the open about it, the employees didn't batman eye. Good stuff would never leave the back room. He basically had everything sold within hours to his cronies.
There's a good book out their on how Goodwill is run.
It's eye opening. Supposedly the only employees making a real living wage were the Regional managers. 20 years ago they were getting $250,000/yr., and a car.
Don't get me completely wrong, I don't dislike Goodwill. They hire felons for a year.
They are a bit better than most of our 501c3. That's still a low bar though where so many, especially the nonprofits who incorporate in Deleware, are basically formed to reward the founders.
I won't even get started on In Defence for Animals because the founder died a few years ago.
Re: $35 sculpture found at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII
#37She paid $35 for a piece of art that was stolen by Nazis and felt that she had the right to “negotiate” the terms of its return? How about just give it back?
Give it back to whom exactly? How does she know who the "rightful" owner is without knowing its provenance? Possessing looted art is not a good look and neither is transmitting (wittingly or not) to a party that isn't the rightful owner. She did the smart thing.
Re: $35 sculpture found at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII
#38> She was in possession of a looted piece of ancient art. She couldn't keep it. I don't understand. Museums in the West are full of looted ancient art [1]. Why are they allowed to keep it, but this woman cannot keep this one item? [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/16/learning/should-museums-r...
Can I recommend a podcast called 'Stuff the British Stole' by Marc Fenell (aka 'That Movie ... Guy'). It looks at exactly this, including situations where an artefact only exists _because_ it was stolen. http://www.marcfennell.com/stolen (Sorry I couldn't find the RSS feed)
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Re: $35 sculpture found at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah the hiring a lawyer thing is mind boggling. If that’s the only option, then just donate the stupid head back to Goodwill and be done with it. Goodwill even says they don’t keep records about who makes donations!
Why is it mind boggling? I'd hire a lawyer instantly if I became aware I was in possession of stolen war loot. It's a war crime, and things can get quite iffy really quickly - especially if somehow it goes viral. Much better to just CYA and spend $500 on a lawyer so you ensure you don't go to prison or be held liable for something silly. Call it a hard lesson I've learned multiple times over throughout my life. When…
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Re: $35 sculpture found at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can I recommend a podcast called 'Stuff the British Stole' by Marc Fenell (aka 'That Movie ... Guy'). It looks at exactly this, including situations where an artefact only exists _because_ it was stolen. http://www.marcfennell.com/stolen (Sorry I couldn't find the RSS feed)
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Unfortunately a lot of the old art in the world only exists because by modern reconing it was stolen. Consider the fabulous collection at the palace museum in Taipei. Much just like it was destroyed in the cultural revolution.