Tuesday, November 2, 2010

PROTECTION MANAGER - CERTIFICATE COURSE USA

CIPM course in USA

The nationally acclaimed Certified Institutional Protection Manager (CIPM)
workshop offers a full day of objective training for facilities managers,
operations managers, owners, and others responsible for the protection of
company assets, property, facilities, and the lives of employees, guests,
and others (including small family-owned businesses). As the world security
situation changes, these programs have expanded to include topical
information and improved tactics for combating elevated threats using
increasingly limited resources.

CIPM PROGRAM TOPICS INCLUDE:

. Pre-Employment Screening, Hiring and Firing
. Staff Training and Security Awareness
. Workplace Violence Prevention
. Emergency Management Planning and Business Continuity
. Fire Protection Planning
. Protection of Collections and Assets
. Methods for Selecting and Managing Electronic Protection Systems
. Legal Considerations and Litigation Avoidance

This management-level training program involves a full day of intensive, hands-on, realistic training. Upon completion of course work and exam, attendees receive credit towards the Certified Institutional Protection Manager (CIPM) designation.

The registration fee includes:

- Course tuition
- Copyrighted training booklet, which incorporates detailed course handouts
and policy guidelines
- Daytime refreshments
- Certificate of completion

Advance registration required.

Fee: IAAPA member US$199; nonmember US$299

Presenter: Stevan P. Layne, CPP, CIPM, CIPI

Location : Orange County Convention Center

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Best Practices in Loss Prevention

Monday, November 15, 2010, 08:30am - 09:45am

Best Practices in Loss Prevention - Who Do You Trust?

Hosted by the International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions in
Orlando, FL

Friday, October 22, 2010

The National Conference on Cultural Property Protection


In the USA - The National Conference on Cultural Property Protection offers insight and proven solutions for new and seasoned professionals in the field of cultural property protection.

Learn from the best, discover new trends, and take away effective tools for your organization. Network with national and international peers from small and large museums, libraries, galleries and cultural centers.

http://www.natconf.si.edu/

Sunday, September 12, 2010



Bookkeeping and Inventory software

by ALYSON STANFIELD on JUNE 24, 2009

My recent series on finances has brought up the question: “What software do you recommend for keeping track of my art work and having the correct information for tax purposes?”

What you need are two different pieces of software: one for your inventory and mailing list database and another for your financial records.

Based on feedback I receive from artists, I speculate that these are the top three inventory-mailing list databases. They will keep track of your inventory, sales, and contacts.

  1. Flick!
  2. eArtist
  3. Bento (Mac only)

Both Flick! and eArtist are formatted for artist use. Bento is like “FileMaker Light” and requires formatting, but I’m told it’s quite user-friendly. There areother options, but I narrowed down your choices based on what I'm hearing in the field.

7/6/09 Update per Ron's comment. I should have been more specific in the above paragraph. Bento is not an art management platform, but a general database. Therefore, it requires significant formatting–unlike the others here. Because of this, you can use it for all of your database needs-not just for your art inventory or contacts. Also, because of this, you can personalize it and make it look however you like.

See these related posts:

As I say in I’d Rather Be in the Studio! Most of these options can handle every aspect of your art business except the detailed financial reports that a program like QuickBooks can provide.” (page 17)

So, for financial records, I recommend QuickBooks, although many people are very happy with Quicken. If you have a bookkeeper or accountant, I’d certainly ask them for their advice in this area before you purchase bookkeeping software. You want to be able to share files easily.

http://www.artbizblog.com/2009/06/bookkeeping-and-inventory-software.html


Egyptian officials to be tried in Van Gogh theft

CAIRO – Eleven culture officials from Egypt's government have been formally charged in last month's theft of a Vincent van Gogh painting from a Cairo museum that had no functioning security alarms.

The public prosecutor says he has referred the eleven Culture Ministry officials to trial on charges of negligence and harming state property. Among them is a deputy minister who says he appealed to his boss for funds to make security upgrades before the Aug. 21 theft but received little assistance.

The $50 million painting, titled "Poppy Flower," was stolen in the middle of the day from the Mahmoud Khalil Museum, where investigators found that no alarms and only seven of 43 security cameras were working.

If convicted the suspects could face three years in prison.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_egypt_stolen_van_gogh

Egypt culture chief sleepless over Van Gogh theft


Posted 2010/08/24 at 7:34 am EDT

CAIRO, Aug. 24, 2010 (Reuters) — Egypt's culture minister blamed "incompetent" security staff for the theft of a $55 million Van Gogh painting from a Cairo museum and said worries for the safety of the country's art treasures are depriving him of sleep.

A guard walks at the gate of Mahmud Khalil Modern Art Museum in Cairo, Egypt, August 23, 2010. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih

"I feel like I am working alone and that I alone spend time thinking of how to manage cultural affairs," the minister Farouk Hosni told daily paper al-Masry al-Youm on Tuesday.

"I can't work with these incompetent employees," he said. "I'm tired and I can't sleep, because I wake up in the middle of the night fearing for the artefacts and the museums."

The painting, known as "Poppy Flower" according to a statement in Arabic, was stolen on Saturday morning from Cairo's Mahmoud Khalil Museum, home to one of the Middle East's finest collections of 19th- and 20th-century art.

The museum houses works assembled by Mohammed Mahmoud Khalil, a politician who died in 1953, including paintings by Gauguin, Monet, Manet and Renoir, as well as the Dutch post-Impressionist master Van Gogh.

An early investigation of the theft showed "flagrant shortcomings" in security, with only seven out of 43 security cameras working properly, state media said.

Hosni, an abstract painter who has held the culture brief since 1987, said staff at the museum were guilty of negligence.

"The painting would have been stolen even if there were a thousand surveillance cameras, because of the negligence of the museum staff," Hosni was cited as saying by Al-Akhbar newspaper.

The culture ministry's head of fine art, Mohsen Shaalan, has been detained along with four other officials pending investigation for 19 days after being accused of "negligence and failing to carry out their employment duties."

Nine other employees were barred from travel.

Hosni said the ministry would create a central control room to monitor all museums, supervised by his cabinet, and set up a committee to review surveillance of museums across the country.

"We are currently setting up an additional 18 museums and they will all be supplied with state of the art security sensors against theft and fires," Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt, said in a statement.

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre67k205-us-egypt-painting-vangogh/

OTHER INFO : http://www.interpol.int/public/workofart/default.asp

Saturday, June 19, 2010



".....Zigerlig mentioned the importance of registering stolen art with databases such as Fine Art Registry. In fact, tagging and registering all of one’s artwork before obtaining insurance is an absolute must as it will reduce the risk of loss and increase the chances for recovery. Carriers who recognize the value of the Fine Art Registry system and its many additional benefits ideally should offer their clients a discount on premiums because the risk to them is much less than for insuring art that has not been tagged and registered with FAR®."


"Edvard Munch’s paintings The Scream and The Madonna were not insured against theft when they were stolen in Norway (since recovered). In the U.S., the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston did not insure its still missing 13 masterpieces, valued at 5 hundred million dollars, when they were stolen 17 years ago. Like the Munch paintings they were insured for loss and damage, but not theft. While these are more high profile, high value pieces, it does underlie the importance of insuring beyond just loss and damage. Insuring against theft should be included in any insurance plan."


(What Happens After Stolen Artwork is Recovered By Anayat Durrani)

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict adopted at The Hague (Netherlands) in 1954

The Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict adopted at The Hague (Netherlands) in 1954 in the wake of massive destruction of cultural heritage during the Second World War is the first international treaty with a world-wide vocation focusing exclusively on the protection of cultural heritage in the event of armed conflict.

It covers immovable and movable cultural heritage, including monuments of architecture, art or history, archaeological sites, works of art, manuscripts, books and other objects of artistic, historical or archaeological interest, as well as scientific collections of all kinds regardless of their origin or ownership.

The States that are party to the Convention benefit from the mutual commitment of more than 115 States with a view to sparing cultural heritage from consequences of possible armed conflicts through the implementation of the following measures:

  • Adoption of peacetime safeguarding measures such as THE PREPARATION OF INVENTORIES, the planning of emergency measures for protection against fire or structural collapse, the preparation for the removal of movable cultural property or the provision for adequatein situ protection of such property, and the designation of competent authorities responsible for the safeguarding of cultural property;
  • Respect for cultural property situated within their own territory as well as within the territory of other States Parties by refraining from any use of the property and its immediate surroundings or of the appliances in use for its protection for purposes likely to expose it to destruction or damage in the event of armed conflict; and by refraining from any act of hostility directed against such property;
  • Consideration of the possibility of registering a limited number of refuges, monumental centres and other immovable cultural property of very great importance in the International Register of Cultural Property under Special Protection in order to obtain special protection for such property;
  • Consideration of the possibility of marking of certain important buildings and monuments with a distinctive emblem of the Convention;
  • Establishment of special units within the military forces to be responsible for the protection of cultural property;
  • Sanctions for breaches of the Convention; and,
  • Wide promotion of the Convention within the general public and target groups such as cultural heritage professionals, the military or law-enforcement agencies.

Learn more about the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.


Sunday, June 6, 2010






FOLLOW THIS EXTRAORDINARY TALE

PARIS - Works by Pablo Picasso and Henri Rousseau have been stolen from a private villa in the south of France, in the country’s second big art robbery in less than a week. Police this weekend confirmed that some 30 works of art had been taken from the home of a private collector in the Provencal village of La Cadière d’Azur, in a haul reportedly worth at least €1m ($1.44m, £890,000).

The latest raid comes just days after thieves lifted the small pastel, Les Choristes (The Choir Singers), by impressionist Edgar Degas, from the Cantini Museum in Marseilles.

A person close to the inquiry told the Financial Times that it was still too early to say whether the two thefts were linked. But the incidents highlight deep concern in France over the illegal trade in works of art. A Modigliani initially believed to be part of the haul has since been found, police in Toulon said. The villa's French owner was holidaying in Sweden at the time of the break-in, which was discovered by the caretaker on Thursday afternoon.

Police last month uncovered a well-established and sophisticated criminal network operating at the heart of France’s respected auction house, Drouot. An auctioneer and eight commission agents, members of an elite corps from the Savoie region of south-east France, have been placed under formal investigation for organised theft.

A masterpiece by Gustave Courbet, the French realist painter, which was reported stolen in 2004, was among the treasures discovered in a police raid on Drouot warehouses and employees’ homes.

The latest theft remains shrouded in mystery, however. The owner is due to return from Sweden to take an inventory of the missing items, after which the true value of the works stolen could be established, the person close to the inquiry added.

It is believed the thieves broke into the property on Wednesday night or Thursday morning. The raid was discovered by a caretaker. A painting by Amedeo Modigliani, initially feared missing, was later found in the house, according to comments by the regional prosecutor’s office made in the Le Monde newspaper.

The investigation is being carried out by officials in nearby Marseilles, while the government’s Central Office for the Fight against Traffic in Cultural Goods is investigating the theft of the Degas painting. Les Choristes, valued at up to €800,000, is also thought to have been stolen on Wednesday – without triggering an alarm – and was discovered when the museum opened for business on Thursday.

The painting was on loan from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris for an exhibition in Marseilles which was due to close next Sunday, before travelling on to Italy and Canada.

Published: January 3 2010 18:12 | Last updated: January 3 2010 18:12 / Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010


Art crime represents the third highest grossing criminal enterprise worldwide, behind only drugs and arms trafficking. It brings in $2-6 billion per year, most of which goes to fund international organized crime syndicates.

Most art crime since the 1960s is perpetrated either by, or on behalf of, international organized crime syndicates.* They either use stolen art for resale, or to barter on a closed black market for an equivalent value of goods or services. Individually instigated art crimes are rare, and art crimes perpetrated for private collectors are rarest of all.

One of the greatest problems is that neither the general public, nor government officials, realize the severity of art crime. Art crime funds all organized crime enterprises, including terrorism. And yet it is often dismissed as a victimless crime, because it is not understood.

Italy has by far the most art crime, with approximately 20,000 art thefts reported each year. Russia has the second most, with approximately 2000 art thefts reported per year. Italy is the only country whose government takes art crime as seriously as it should. Italy’s Carabinieri are by far the most successful art squad worldwide, employing over 300 agents full time. Other countries have had great success with their art squads, despite lack of governmental support, while many countries do not have a single officer dedicated to art crime, the third largest criminal enterprise worldwide.

--------------------

Art Crime Facts: (Facts compiled from sources including Interpol, the FBI, Scotland Yard, Carabinieri, independent research and ARCA projects.)

142,258
Number of Forged Works of Art Recovered in Italy in 2001

20,000-30,000
Number of Reported Art Thefts per Year in Italy

845,838
Number of Reported Art Thefts in Italy since 1969

$6-8 billion
Estimate of Annual Criminal Income through Art Crime
(NOTE: this only covers known crimes—a greater percentage of crime go undiscovered, making this a low estimate)

3rd Highest-Grossing Criminal Trade over last 40 years (behind only Drugs and Arms)*

1961
The year in which Organized Crime first became proactively involved in art crime. Since then most art crime is perpetrated by, or on behalf of, Organized Crime, thereby fueling their other activities, including the drug and arms trades and terrorism.

Art Crime Funds Terrorism
The IRA are just the most obvious example, but art crime, particularly the trade in illicit antiquities, is a funding source for fundamentalist terrorists in the North Africa and Middle East.

$300-500 million
Estimated value of artworks stolen during one night from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

0
Number of Art Police Employed by Most Countries

50,000
Minimum Number of Reported Art Thefts Worldwide Each Year

The United States
The World’s Primary Art Consumer, For Both Legitimate and Illicit Goods

1
The number of research groups studying art crime in all its forms: ARCA

-------------------

*This information is agreed upon by a variety of reliable sources, including the US Department of Justice:http://www.justice.gov/usncb/programs/cultural_property_program.php


http://www.artcrime.info/facts.htm

Monday, May 24, 2010

'The Beffi Triptych, unlike many other works of art in the National Museum of Abruzzo, has now been repaired after suffering only minimal damage in the earthquake.'


LOS ANGELES, CA.- David Bomford, acting director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, announced the installation of The Madonna and Child with Scenes from the Life of Christ and the Virgin (The Beffi Triptych) in the Getty Museum’s permanent collection galleries over the summer months. The painting is the first work of art to be transported out of Abruzzo, Italy, in the aftermath of the violent earthquake that struck the region on April 6, 2009. One of the most important works from the National Museum of Abruzzo in the city of L'Aquila, the Triptych is on loan to the Getty from the Italian government and will be on view through September 5th in the Museum’s North Pavilion (Gallery N201), alongside other paintings from Italy that were created around the same time period (early to mid-fifteenth century).

Painted by an unknown artist, The Beffi Triptych is representative of the late Gothic period in Abruzzo and embodies all the qualities of figurative painting from the region during the fifteenth century.

Named for the nearby town of Beffi, where it once adorned the Church of Santa Maria del Ponte, the Triptych depicts scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary, who appears in the central panel, enthroned with the Christ child beneath an elegantly brocaded canopy. It has been suggested that the painter may have been a follower of the Sienese artist Taddeo di Bartolo, as works by the Master of The Beffi Triptych, like those of di Bartolo, are distinctive for their lively narrative detail, highly expressive figures, and brilliant colors. In addition to panel paintings, this anonymous painter also illuminated manuscripts and created frescoes. Experts identify him as the painter who frescoed the vault and walls of the presbytery of the church of San Silvestro in L'Aquila at the beginning of the 15th century.

The Beffi Triptych, unlike many other works of art in the National Museum of Abruzzo, has now been repaired after suffering only minimal damage in the earthquake.

In announcing the loan, Bomford said, “We are grateful to the Italian Ministry of Culture for lending us this important object that we are showcasing alongside our own extraordinary collection of European paintings. In doing so, we are pleased to play a part in helping create awareness for the devastation in the Abruzzo region and the need to preserve the region’s cultural treasures.”

“The Beffi Triptych serves as Italy’s cultural ambassador, explains Italian Minister of Culture Sandro Bondi. “We are loaning the altarpiece to the Getty Museum so we can share this treasure with people outside of Italy and as a testament to our commitment to restore fully the cultural heritage of this region.”

According to Minister Bondi: “The commitment of the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali in this project is to make the recovery of Abruzzo’s cultural heritage possible. We are working to implement the government’s pledge to return to Aquila, the capital of the Abruzzo region, its important cultural wealth of which the greater part – more than 50% - was damaged or completely destroyed during the April 2009 earthquake. My office is committed to finding financial support for the restoration and conservation of these important treasures.”

Mario Resca, director for the management and promotion of Italian Cultural heritage adds: “The Beffi Triptych was a very fortunate ‘survivor’ of the devastation. The National Museum of Aquila is currently in the progress of being rebuilt and when the Museum opens again, the Triptych will once again take its place amongst its permanent collection.”

Nicola Faganello, Consul General of Italy in Los Angeles adds, “We are delighted that the Getty has agreed to put the Triptych on view as part of its international tour. This is a wonderful opportunity for Angelenos, for the Italian community in Los Angeles, and for the many tourists who will visit the Getty Museum to see a masterwork of the ancient cultural heritage of Abruzzo.”

Visit The J. Paul Getty Museum at : www.getty.edu

Earthquake in Abruzzo, Italy

Thursday, May 13, 2010

STOLEN BIRD - is it you're object that use to sit on the abook shelf ? ...Possibly not....
Bird is 510 year old. Three dimensional driftwood from West Greenland

"But it could be your own treasured ornament - how would you describe it and identify it if it was damaged in a flood, fire and lost to theft"

Keeping Object Inventory is just as important in a domestic home as it is in museum, art gallery, church etc.


WHY INVENTORY of ART etc ? - Firstly, for easy establishment of your investment valuation and allow better negotiation with ones insurance requirements, Secondly, to monitor and keep ones investment secure. Thirdly, in the case of theft, a stolen object must, have been, adequately documented before it can be returned to its rightful owner. Fourthly, in the case of theft, the information about the object should be able to travel rapidly and circulated among a number of organisations. - so efficient action can take place - the results can be as follows :


FOUND!

AXA Art are delighted to announce the recovery of a Thomas Tompion clock, which was stolen last year from Levens Hall in Cumbria.

"It is with huge thanks to the Cumbrian police that this rare clock was recovered and that it will soon be back in the hands of its owners. It is extremely rare for clocks to be recovered, which makes this recovery even more of a wonderful result."

-Clare Dewey
Claims Manager, AXA Art UK

The clock was stolen from Levens Hall, near Kendal in the early hours of the 19th September 2009. A man from Wakefield has been charged with theft after the clock was recovered by police officers at a Service Station on the M62.

AXA Art takes an active approach in pursuing stolen works of art, antiques and musical instruments. In working closely with the police and specialist art loss adjusters, AXA Art takes every possible measure to help aid the safe recovery of its clients’ prized possessions.


FOUND!

AXA ART INSURANCE can announce the safe recovery of a stolen barometer worth tens of thousands of pounds.

The 17th century ivory and brass-plated barometer - one of the Fairfax House Museum in York’s most prized possessions - was the victim of acaught-on-camera theft that occurred at the Museum towards the end of May 2009. The recovery was made after a voluntary, confidential tip-off allowed the Police to locate the valuable piece and arrest the thieves.

The York Civic Trust-owned property in Castlegate was visited by a man and woman whose removal of the barometer was filmed by the museum’s security cameras. The footage, which showed in detail the thieves unscrew the barometer from the wall in the Georgian townhouse and conceal it under one of their overcoats, was released by police shortly after the theft.

As a result of the publicity generated, both locally and nationally, information was provided to the police that enabled them to mount an operation, recover the item and to make an arrest.

"We would like to express our thanks to the North Yorkshire police for recovering this item safely and returning it to Fairfax House." says Clare Dewey, Claims Manager at AXA Art UK - the museum’s insurer - "The David Quare barometer is now back where it belongs."

Mark Dalrymple, AXA Art’s appointed Loss-Adjuster, said: "It seemed an extremely well-planned theft. I have no doubt that the pair had been to the museum on a number of occasions planning the theft.”

The three-foot artefact, which has been reinstalled at the museum, is part of the renowned Noel Terry Collection (of Terry’s Chocolate Orange fame) of English Furniture and Clocks - an important part of the city's history. It is attributed to either Daniel Quare, the English clockmaker, instrument maker and inventor, or to John Patrick, another eminent manufacturer of this style of barometer in the period between 1690 – 1710.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Missing Munch lithograph, taken from the Oslo-based Kaare Berntsen Gallery’s collection this time.The loss of “Separation II” was discovered on 25 of June 2009, and believed to have occurred whilst they were moving premises. Although police have kept quiet about the missing Munch until now, they only confirmed it had been taken after NRK had published the story, having conducted a search in Interpol’s stolen art database. According to Interpol, the actual lithograph is coloured in Berlin-blue on cream-coloured, handmade Japan paper in a unique wooden frame. Approximately 47-48 centimetres high, and just over 66 to 66.5 centimetres wide, the lithograph has the artist’s signature in the lower right hand corner in pencil. Its value is estimated to be 2.5 million kroner, and it’s feared that it will be easier to sell than “History” because it isn’t unique.

http://theforeigner.no/pages/news/new-munch-lithograph-theft/


In sight of volcanic eruptions one is more a aware of the chance act of a natural disasters ..."and how they could affect our art" ...'what do you do once your Rodin bronze is standing ankle-deep in water or your favorite Rosenquist print got scratched? Damage control is a matter of foresight and more often swift, smart action. Putting wet art works on paper into the freezer until professional help arrives, and pre-prepare a list of conservator specialists ............'
http://www.axa-artinsurance.com/about/m_060101.html

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Alphonse Kann (14 March 1870 1948) was a prominent French art collector of Jewish heritage. He was a childhood playmate and adult friend of the writer Marcel Proust, who incorporated several of Kann's features into the character Charles Swann (in Swann in Love).
The name Kann, written with double "nn", was said in Paris to be "le plus chic du chic". Known for his discerning taste and shrewd collecting instincts, Kann shocked the art world in 1927 by auctioning off most of his Old Master collection (including works by Bruegel, Cimabue, Fragonard, Pollaiuolo, Rubens and Tintoretto) in order to concentrate on the acquisition of 19th century and modern art, which he collected vigorously over the following decade.
Kann left France for England in 1938 without making an inventory of his eclectic art collection, which was kept in a St.-Germain-en-Laye mansion and subsequently looted in October 1940 by Nazi occupiers. Kann recovered only a small fraction of his large collection before his death in England in 1948. Although he did not live to see a copy, the Nazi inventory of Kann's art collection ran to 60 typed pages. Decades after the war, several paintings from Kann's collection were discovered in prominent European and U.S. museums. "Smoke Over Rooftops," a 1911 painting by Fernand Léger, was returned in October 2008 to Kann's heirs by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts after an eleven-year investigation.
In the 1990s, eight antique manuscripts once owned by Kann turned up the vaults of Wildenstein & Company, still bearing the distinctive Nazi catalog numbers ("KA 879" to "KA 886", in red pencil) likely made by Bruno Lohse as he processed the Kann collection in the Jeu de Paume. The discovery of the missing manuscripts prompted a lawsuit by Kann's heirs against Wildenstein & Company.