Page 8 - Nov 2020 JOA
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World Marketplace News
AMSTERDAM – SWNS – Shocking video footage
Eurpoe’s museums shows a burglar in action at the
have opened up to Notions Antiques in Grantham,
the public, but not Lincashire, England. “We don’t have
many are coming to footage of them taking stock because he
partake. Visitors to went behind the counter to switch off
the Rijksmuseum’s the cameras then did what they wanted
galleries of Dutch old to do. But we have got him coming
master paintings can into the building, dropping into the
feel as if they’ve got hallway, coming through a hole [a
the whole place to hole made by the burglar large
themselves these days. Before the pandemic, around 10,000 people enough for a human being to pass
used to crowd in each day. Now, it’s about 800. In a time of Covid, through, shown] in the door, crawling
most European museums are suffering from visitor losses, but their across the middle of the shop toward
ability to cope depends almost entirely on how they are funded. the service desk, but that is all.”
Institutions supported by government funding are able to weather Following this move out of a James Bond movie, the burglar made
the storm with a little belt-tightening, while those that depend on off with thousands of dollars worth of gold and silver jewelry. No
ticket sales are facing employee layoffs and restructuring their suspects have been identified as of press time.
business models.
NYT NEWS SERVICE – The judge presiding over perhaps the
GERMANY – About 70 longest-running art restitution dispute had not been born when the
artifacts and art pieces family of Baron Mor Lipot Herzog, one of Hungary’s most prominent
were vandalized at several bankers, filed a claim in Budapest in 1945 for a collection of 2,500 art-
museums in Berlin on works, Renaissance furniture, and tapestries. After 75 years, the case
October 3, 2020. Ancient files from the still unresolved claim hold hundreds of thousands of
Egyptian sarcophagi, stone pages in ten different languages. There have been 11 court decisions,
sculptures, and 19th centu- five appeals, and 15 claims by roughly 30 lawyers in seven countries.
ry paintings are among the The heirs have focused in recent
works damaged wtih an years on reclaiming dozens of art-
oily substance. Some news works, including three El Grecos, a
agencies have described Courbet, and a Corot. Hungary
a possible link between has argued that the Herzog heirs
the crime and conspiracy no longer own the art, citing
theorists who deny the among other rationales that com-
coronavirus epidemic and pensation had been paid in 1973
claim that “the Pergamon Museum is the center of a ‘global and resolved any claims made by
Satanism scene’ which ... Chancellor Angela Merkel has been using U.S. citizens against Hungary, a
for ‘human sacrifices,’ noting that she lives opposite the Museum,” position the heirs dispute.
as reported by NPR. The Pergamon Museum, Neues Museum, and According to one of the Herzog family’s attorneys, “Last year, the
Alte Nationalgalerie are a few of the affected museums. French Supreme Court held that as a matter principle no lawful pur-
chase, and no application of property law can override the fact that a
property was taken as a result of Nazi persecution.”
NEW YORK TIMES – When it comes to
new collectibles for the holiday season of
2020, some companies are turning to BUSINESS INSIDER – Toy
comedy to make everyone’s holiday manufacturer Fisher-Price is
decor reflect the tinsel times of today. celebrating its 90th anniversary
Ornaments have been rendered in the in a very 2020 way, with a
likeness of Dr. Anthony Fauci, menorahs virtual museum. The museum
featuring an even-more-miniature Ruth lives on Instagram, taking viewers
Bader Ginsburg, and other decor for the season through some of the most popular
featuring the “lowlights” of 2020. This began toys of each decade the brand has
when vendors who deal in seasonal cheer had to been around, leaning heavily on
make a choice this summer: proceed with business as usual, nostalgia. The museum features
or lean into the grief, anxiety, and nihilism of this year, and 90 toys, broken out by decade.
hopefully make people laugh in the process. One shop
ordered more “topical” ornaments and was amazed as she
watched 1,500 of the ornaments walk out the door in TOMSK – The ornate wood-
one day. Be on the lookout for “Pandemic en homes dotting the Siberian
Collections” at your favorite shops city of Tomsk are cherished
both in person and online. As Ann landmarks. In 2016, a project
Sinclair, 39, the owner of the Fig was launched aimed at estab-
Tree in Chicago, said, “Humor and lishing a historic preservation
snark have always been part of my zone where the wooden houses
brand.” Time to get a few snarky could not be destroyed. The
ornaments to keep “mint in box.” initiative has been slow to get
off the ground.
6 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
