Isabella wrote:
However, with all due respect, to me the view has an
element of paranoia in it. The fear expressed is an
exaggeration. It seems to imply that if repatriation
is instituted, it will cause an unceasing list of
claims for repatriation. It also seems to hold by
that, that all foreign objects in museums around the
world are going to be claimed! 



It may seem paranoid to you, but I don't feel that
way.  First it was Italy, and the case to be judged in
its own merits.  But, with the chiming in of Greece in
short measure, it certainly gives cause for concern.

Yes, I will acquiesce, it is an exaggeration, a
worst-case scenario.  Nonetheless, if the precedent is
set, chances are, there will more and not less claims
for repatriation.  I personally don't think all
nations will claim them, but there will be nothing to
stop nations who are hurting for money or who disdain
the country holding the treasures who want what is
theirs back.

I read your post earlier and had time to reflect.  I
thought of artists who, in their own lifetimes,
weren't regarded as having any worth.  Things they did
were considered of no real consequence in their own
time, but now that they sit in an institution and have
a big dollar value attached to them, now they are
wanted to be returned to sender.

I separate theft, outright stealing of treasures, in
this regard from those claims of simple repatriation
(a la it was made here, it belongs here).  We all have
probably heard of the Antiques Roadshow dumpster
divers who jump in a can after someone else has purged
their wares and come out with a plum Jack Horner would
be proud of.  There is no provenance to those
treasures (and most probably they are the real
exception), and yet that doesn't mean they are not of
worth.

We need to be careful not to judge the transactions by
today's lightening speed capacity to exchange
information.  I'm going to separate the artifacts
claimed by the Getty, Italy, and Greece.  I don't know
their histories or their exact worth.  But do we know
the history of how the artifacts came to be in
possession abroad?  Were they stolen or simply
uncovered at a time when there was no great national
pride in such things?

Goodness, we have people who were stolen from other
continents and with them came their treasures housed
now in museums.  Do we repatriate them?  Are we guilty
accomplices of that thievery?  What of the theft of
the land of others?  Whether it's Native American
lands stolen during the conquest by our country or
through the Trail of Tears or countries abroad that
were conquered by marauders from other nations, do we
return to sender all treasures?  The Goths, Visigoths,
Normans and more invaded the territories of other
lands and took with them booty they claimed as their
own.  Seems to me that if we take this to a Biblical
sense, all treasures should be returned to the Garden
of Eden (smile).

I think real caution needs to be exercised here.  I
also know that in many areas, there's anti-Americanism
being expressed for political reasons of which most of
us are aware.  That should not be the excuse of
snatching things that were paid for with real dollars.
 I do not know that to be the case in this regard, but
I await the evidence to see what comes forth.

If you've ever seen the King Tut exhibit, are you an
accomplice to the theft of the tomb's treasures? 
After all, you put down money to see something that
was stolen in the first place.  I know, this seems
another exaggeration, but really, where does it stop?

I don't think all nations will claim "their
artifacts".  But if precedent is set, a nation
asserting a claim should be honored no matter which
continent from whence they originated.

I see I'm not completely alone in these concerns, and
I will be interested in learning the outcome.  Here,
in the US, we have all heard of "the robber barrons"
who built great empires in ways that may not have
seemed ethical by today's standards.  But pulling
treasures from the museums that documents those
histories seems hardly fair.




Indigo Nights
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