Loot is too valuable to sell

Art expert says artifacts stolen from the Iraq National Museum are too well-known and will resurface eventually.

By SHARON TUBBS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 22, 2003

Saddam has left the building Casinos? Luxury hotels? State museums? Experts wonder what will happen to Hussein's opulent palaces, which now stand empty.

In just 48 hours, looters managed to pillage Baghdad's renowned Iraq National Museum of thousands of artifacts, historical documents and relics from an area that scholars call "the cradle of civilization." The fact that U.S. troops did not protect the museum enraged antiquities experts nearly as much as the looting. Last week, we talked with Aaron Paul, curator of Greek and Roman art at the Tampa Museum of Art, about the impact of the looting and what could happen next.

People are saying that this was one of the world's most important antiquities collections. Why was it so important?

That's because the Tigris and Euphrates valley is rich, and they have an incredible collection of Mesopotamian art from the third, second, first millennium B.C. The works of art in the Baghdad museum were among the most unique, important, beautiful, fascinating objects that we have from the periods covered in Mesopotamian art. That's the tragedy. But being optimistic, I think many of these objects will come to light, sooner than later, and be returned to the museum.

What are some examples of things that may have been taken that are widely known?

They're beautiful ivories that are known from the Baghdad museum. . . They've been showing them on TV. They're in every basic introduction to art history textbook when you study the Near East.

Is this type of wartime looting anything new?

In war it's horrendous. People are destroyed, cities are destroyed, but also cultural property is destroyed. It has happened throughout history. World War II is probably the most current and biggest example that we can point to.

Have you had to deal with materials that were found to have been stolen?

Not really. Usually, we ask for provenance for objects we would purchase, a collection history when available. . . . There are ethical guidelines that people follow. We follow U.S. law and self-imposed ethical guides. In Baghdad, many of those objects are so well known and published you might say they're priceless. . . . They have no market value because they can't be sold. No museum or even most ethical private collectors would ever purchase something like that. I don't think the people who stole realized it at the time. I think some of those objects will be returned; they'll surface quickly in Baghdad and Iraq. But they can't go on the art market, especially if they're published. People will know where they come from.

How can archaeologists, curators and governments working together prevent those items from being totally lost, even to private collectors?

Contrary to public opinion, most private collectors are also scholars. The joy of collecting is to be able to share objects. And people don't collect stolen objects in order to share them because they're stolen and it's just unethical -- even among private collectors and dealers. Dealers and major auction houses do not knowingly engage in the purchase and sale of objects that are stolen.

So the people who took these artifacts might be stuck with them?

Exactly. This is why, this is a situation that has not played out yet. That's important to remember. These objects will eventually surface. The challenge now is getting them back because they're certainly in the Near East, the Middle East. The objects like the ivories, those are very well known, so they're very valuable, but they have no salability.

In previous wars where this has happened, what has been the process in terms of retrieving looted cultural goods?

Think about things that were missing from museums after World War II. We're still finding them 50 years later. Eventually people realize maybe they don't want to have this or do this, or it's not the rightful place. The rightful place for those objects is in the museums so everyone can enjoy them. Not only the people of Iraq, but as is pointed out by many, many people in the media, this is world cultural heritage. That's why the world is getting involved, and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is sending a team of people into Baghdad to address the situation. Call them the cultural phalanx.

After World War II, how did some of those things start turning up?

People start doing research and finding out about the objects that they might own. Like for World War II, we have the Nazi looted art. Nazis removed paintings and works of art from peoples' homes. Years later, people might unknowingly purchase them, and then they come to light again and they're published, and then people recognize them. So, like I said, this has not played itself out (in Iraq). Fortunately, I would be fairly certain that many of these objects will be retrieved again.

There was a story in the news probably several months ago. Someone broke into a house in Naples and they stole some Impressionist paintings. And I thought, "Oh, well it's only a matter of time that they turn up." And sure enough, they turned up in Miami, the paintings and the people trying to fence them, because people in the field recognize these objects. The objects from the Iraqi Museum are so important and part of the world cultural heritage that all eyes will be out now, looking for them. I, myself, am sort of shocked that people went in there and thought that they were even marketable or salable.

There was some speculation that people who participated in the looting were, in fact, experts.

Well, expert thieves, yes. . . . Expert thieves, but certainly not art experts. By the nature of the field and the profession, that's not what people do.

Comments on whether or not the U.S. military should have secured the site?

I think that's very difficult to say because I wasn't there and it's always easy to be Monday-morning quarterbacking. Certainly, they could expect things like this. And I don't know all the situations, all the information. The important thing now is to make sure that other museums and cultural sites in Iraq are secured, of course. And then, how do we go about recovering these objects in Baghdad? We can't reinvent what just happened. But it's very, very difficult as we sit here in the comfort of Tampa and St. Petersburg to know exactly what's going on in a particular situation. That was a war zone. It's not normal. It's not even like people had a demonstration and rioted. There was virtually a power vacuum, so anything could happen. The day after they went to the museum, they went to the national library and burned the books. I don't understand. . . . Of course these people have suffered greatly for decades, so who knows what kind of frame of mind they're in?

How difficult will it be to track these thousands of artifacts?

They have to start from where they are, which is a few steps above scratch. But I think associations like the American Association of Museums and other museums throughout the world will be aware. Interpol is aware of stolen objects. Then, in New York, there's the International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR). . . . When things are stolen in the United States from private homes or museums, or businesses, a good way to record them is to send a photograph to IFAR. And most museums get reports via Internet about robberies and what's been stolen. So there's a tremendous network out there. UNESCO will probably set up a Web site. This is where our technology counteracts. In the old days, you wouldn't even know something was stolen from someone's house. The trail's hot now. It's only a matter of time.

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