$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
#2No post body was provided.
Re: $35 sculpture found at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII
#3Odd, why is this Roman sculpture being returned to Germany?
It’s obviously not a German artifact and while I might be wrong, I assume it was “looted” from Italy.
Re: $35 sculpture found at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII
#4Back 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 Amineddoleh.
I don't really understand why it would be hard or complicated, unless she wanted a payout.
Re: $35 sculpture found at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII
#5Odd, why is this Roman sculpture being returned to Germany? It’s obviously not a German artifact and while I might be wrong, I assume it was “looted” from Italy.
You generaly loot from occupied territories, not from peer nations.
If Britain invades and occupies Egypt, and starts digging up artifacts that end up on a British museum, that's looting.
If some Frenchman digs up some artifacts in France, and then sells/trades/gives them to a British museum, that's not looting. Because the sale/trade/gift is not done at gunpoint.
In this case, if the artifact was not plundered from an (occupation of)/(war with Italy) to begin with, the most recent rightful owner is someone in Germany, not the nation of Italy.
Re: $35 sculpture found at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII
#6Odd, why is this Roman sculpture being returned to Germany? It’s obviously not a German artifact and while I might be wrong, I assume it was “looted” from Italy.
“Another auction house managed to find the head in a catalog of items from a German museum in the 1920s and 1930s.” Per the article it was looted from a German museum.
How the german museum acquired it originally is anyones guess. But it’s possible it was legally acquired at some point over the past 1900 years.
Re: $35 sculpture found at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII
#7Back 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 -
Re: $35 sculpture found at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII
#8Back 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"
Re: $35 sculpture found at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII
#9Back 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…
Some points (IANAL):
* How is it going to be transported? Squashing it into airplane luggage is probably not a good idea, neither is sending it via a parcel.
* What happens if something happens to it during transport? Generally works of art are insured before they are being transported. Do you know insurers though? Before you insure it, you need to determine the value.
* For very important works of art, countries might put restrictions onto exports. Not sure if this includes the US, but customs are certainly an important question.
* You might get sued by the rightful owners for wrong handling... ideally you want an agreement that releases you from any requirements to pay for damages to the object.
* Ideally the insurance, transport, etc is paid by the rightful owners, which would be good to have in a contract. How do you enforce that they really pay? Ideally, the owners would take care about the insurer and transportation directly, so that it's them getting the bills instead of you getting them and then having to get the owners to pay them.
Re: $35 sculpture found at an Austin Goodwill was looted from a museum during WWII
#10Back 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…
Both for establishing the right of ownership of who she is sending it to, as well as requiring indemnification on the transfer should someone else step forward claiming it.
Worst case would be that she sends it to someone over there, then someone else shows up showing they own it. Imagine if someone in the US ended up showing they owned it and the Germans say tough luck. She would then have to defend herself wherever the claimant chooses (possibly even the US), with no actual object should a court decide she has to produce it.