Hot topics: Roman sarcophagus lid return
Receive Culture Crime News as a weekly newsletter! Sign up here.
General
Stealing relics: An ancient pastime that lives on today
25 February, The Globe and Mail
An Eye for Art—Crime
24 February 2014, The Wall Street Journal
The Art of Authenticating Masterpieces
25 February 2014, Property Casualty 360
Museums take action over works looted from India (Subhash Kapoor fallout in Australia and US etc)
26 February 2014, The Art Newspaper
Africa
Thugs raid war cemetery in search of scrap metal, relics (Kenya)
25 February 2014, Standard
No Stolen Artefacts From Nigerian Museums
26 February 2014, The Nigerian Observer
Americas
Big Time Theft at Cuba Fine Arts Museum
27 February 2014, Havana Times
Preserving the past: 3D printer recovers artifacts (3D printing Costa Rican vessels stolen from Miami University)
25 February 2014, The Miami Student
Authorities to Seize a Roman Statue in Queens That They Say Was Stolen
27 February 2014, The New York Times
Pissarro painting at University of Oklahoma under dispute
27 February 2014, The Los Angeles Times
Amherst College, FBI reopen investigation into 1975 heist from campus art museum (USA)
24 February 2014, Daily Reporter
Modern-day Monuments Men: The State Department’s Cultural Heritage Center (USA)
24 February 2014, Huffington Post
St. Mary’s College Remembers Dr. Marty Edward Sullivan (fromer chair of CPAC)
27 February 2014, The Baynet
Martin E. Sullivan, Portrait Gallery director who tried to widen museum’s perspective,dies
01 March 2014, The Washington Post
Photographer publishes pics of attempted Banksy removal in New Orleans
24 February 2014, The Times-Picayune
Discovery may prompt new gold rush (USA)
1 March 2014, SF Gate
Painting that took 200 hours to complete stolen from west-end gallery (Canada)
25 February 2014, City News
South and East Asia
‘Dancing Girl’ of Moenjo-daro (Pakistan/India)
24 February 2014, Pakistan Today
EOW Taking Steps to Retrieve Smuggled Idols from Australia, Singapore, Belgium (India)
27 February 2014, The New Indian Express
Idol of lord Ganesh Stolen (Nepal)
25 February 2014, Republica
Eight ancient statues missingin East Java
26 February 2014, Jakarta Post
Relics theft and damage (China)
25 February 2014, ECNS
US and China renew import deal
1 March 2014, The Art Newspaper
Import ban on Chinese art creates an uneven playing field
1 March 2014, The Art Newspaper
America’s agreement with China creates opportunities as well as challenges
1 March 2014, The Art Newspaper
Sotheby’s to Offer World-Record Jadeite Necklace (imply it was stolen from Summer Palace)
26 February 2014, ArtNet News
Headless Buddhas from Angkor. Photos by Dinh Q. Lee
West Asia
British national tried over antiquities smuggling charges (Yemen)
25 February 2014, Yemen Post
Yemen tries Briton accused of smuggling artefacts
25 February 2014, Gulf News
Jerusalem antiques dealer slams Israel-Egypt ‘plot’
23 February 2014, Haaretz
Smuggled amphoras returned to Turkey
27 February 2014, Hurriyet Daily News
Australia and Oceania
India seeks return of looted NGA statue (Australia/India; Paywalled)
24 February 2014, The Australian
The return of the horse (Ancient Chinese bronze horse stolend and returned in Australia)
26 February 2014, The Young Witness
Returning Mungo Man no easy task (Australia)
1 March 2014, The New Zealand Herald
Sale of ancient slingstones reported (Guam)
1 March 2014, Guam PDN
Europe
Ukraine says ‘Goodbye Lenin’ (destruction of statues)
25 February 2014, The Art Newspaper
Rublev Museum to Remove Ikons from Kiev Ahead of Schedule
26 February 2014, The Moscow Times
Verdict due in Rome on Getty’s Victorious Youth
25 February 2014, The Art Newspaper
Macedonian police arrest 8 for big museum theft
27 February 2014, Associated Press
Stolen relics arrest (Cyprus)
28 February 2014, The Cyprus Daily
Somme Heritage Centre, Newtownards, has items stolen
1 March 2014, BBC News
In other news
People stealing souvenirs from Isle of Man’s ancient forest (Fossils)
25 February 2014, IOM Today
Couple minted after stumbling across millions in gold coins (USA)
26 February 2014, The Guardian
Sotheby’s Says Buyer of Record Diamond Sold At Auction Defaults
27 February 2014, Bloomberg
George Clooney calls for Mona Lisa to be returned to Italy
14 February 2014, The Guardian
Questions? Comments? Ideas? Horrible mistakes in this post? Email me or get in touch via twitter.