The Washington herald., 1910-10-15

New York, Oct 14-If Collector Loeb's $
guess Is correct as TO the amount that
Uncle Sam was defrauded through the
alleged differentiation of art objects and
other impOrtations made by Duveen
Brothers, the Fifth avenue art dealers.
whose offices were raided on Thursday.
the person who wrote the letter which
started the collector on the trail NAV be
IN a position TO claim a larger reward
than Richard Parr received for uncoy-
ering the sugar frauds.
Mr. Loeb said to-day that. while the
investigation is still only IN its infancy
the sum involved VIII probably exceed
by vast amount the sum involved in
the recoveries from the sugar companies.
Through PARIS efforts the government re-
covered $21S5. 1852 from the American
Sugar Refining Company alone. and Parr
was awarded 100000 for his work.
Patrons Goods Not Seized.
No attempt was made to-day . seize
paintings or other art objects sold 10
patrons Of the Duveens. and none will
be made unless the examination OF the
books OF tho firm dtscloses the fact that
any OF those who dealt with the art firm
acted in collusiOn with them in import
ing art objects
The undeTvaluation with which Duveen
Brothers are charged does not bv any
means apply only to importations made
previous 10 two years ago, when the
tarin schedule admitting pictures and
other art objects more than twenty years
old free Of duty went into eject. Col
lector Loeb said to-day that he had rea-
son 10 believe that the undervaluation
scheme had been worked right up to the
time the arrests were made. The coll
lector said that when the ANONYMOUS
letter Of Monday was received he at once
telephoned to the appraisers stores 10
ask II they had any Duveen Brothers
imports. He found that rugs imported ~
the firm were even then at the stores,
and ordered them 10 be held pending the
investigation lie said he had specific
information that these rugs were under
valued.
Accountants az Work.
The specific complaint against the
Duveens was the differentiation Of three
vases ScA4 W nave btE4i A4lNU4ttQ al Al,iUl
and sold here for $2S.000 Accountants are
now examining Duveen Brothers books
Tho investigation OF Duveen Brothers
AFFAIRS viii be a lengthy one. since II
VIII include all the operations Of the firm
during the thirty years It has been IN
business In this country.
4 member OF the firm OF Corbitt &
Stern. so Wall street. counsel for the
Duveens, said that while no statement
Of the Duveens' position could be made
Just yet. IL was certain 1t is foolish TO
talk about discrepancies between the in
voiced price OF a work OF art and the
Price for which II was later sold. He
had been asked about the vases said to
have been invoiced at $l,l00 and sold for
$500 and he said that he was sure that
if the vases had been purchased for s., 100
that was their market price: and that II
remained such until they were again sold.
when whatever price they fetched,
whether more or less. became the market
prize.
All Quiet mt Galleries.
At the Duveen Art Galleries il was
very quiet to-day. The two gold boxes
valued at 100000, were no longer on ex-
hibition in the windows. but that was the
only external sign OF trouble within. Ben
jann Duveen. who met all inquirers, said
that winthin a few days the firm would
explain the case fully and that every
thing would be cleared up"
The Federal grand jury. which went 70
work on the case on Thursday. continued
its work to-day. II is not likely that the
case will have a hearing before Commits
sioner Shields. as il is believed that in
dictments viii be found early next week
at the latest.