Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1914-01-13
Stolen Works of Art Seldom
Located, Much Less Recovered

= ONDON jon l2.~lt is seldom
chat noted objects OF art whict
- haye attracted the attention OF
thc civilized world at the time Of their
disappearance nave ever been recor-
ered. There are. of course, instances
Ike chat Of The beautiful Mona
Lim,f whore the stolen work of ant
tas been run % earth but n The
great majority Of cases the disappear.
anco 81 as complete'as II The precious
object bad been ruthlossly destroyed.
Tho question is often asked, what
becomes u them ?" but q satisfaf tory
answer % thIs query IS very difficult
10 get Many ycars afterward some
times centuries stolen ara treasures
turn DIP ln some obscure European or
American museum, having On mo
course ~ the years passed through
many hands Cases IKE this. however
are extremely rare
49, ID general rule Il may be- taken
For granted that stolen works 90 arr
are lost 10 view in private collections
which are daily increasing ia number
und are often equal in yalne to those
of many public institutions An Illus
tration in point is chat Of The late j.
pierpont Morgan whose famous COLI
lection Of art objects represented
many millions Of dollars The o.
nous finanecr bought the now cclo-
brated Ascoi cope ia good faith. paid
a large sum for 10 in ignorance of the
means which had placed IL on the
market and inasmuch ns its former
possessor hal every nducemeni %
prevent tho knowledge or ts loss bee
coming known. i might havc been IN
Mr. inorganic private collection ON
this Day had hc not lent IT, along with
othcr exhibits, 10 the South kcnsine-
ton museum, whore cunnoisseur ~
era VINO mad accn IL at Aacoll rocog-
nizcd It ana thua announced 20 the
world The fact that t had been stolen.
Mr. Moran nc once restored the cope
ia The llnlian government. bearing the
loss without % word
Case Only Isolated One.
The instance Of Mr. Morgan's res
tltutlon Of the Ascot cope is, however,
merely an Isolated one and there must
be Thousands Of stolen pieces fieur-
ing In private collections throughon
Europe and America, particularly OH
the American side Of the Atlantic.
whore owners are moro chary about
admitting strangers 20 their galleries
u ia well known fact that stolen
works Of art undoubtedly FIN their
way 10 the levant ana Go the orient a.
tho same manner as 40 fnmous jewels
that are too wen known 10 connois-
aours 81 stones 20 admit OF their be-
ing disposed of Ia Europe At the
time Of me Arab rebellion in Egypt
the lootlne 81 the residences on
wealthy natives had the effect Of
bringing into the market All sorts of
magnificent examples of the jewelers.
art the goldsmHh's and the MINIMUM
lists art
Many ~ these objects discovered In
the hn1laa OF Alexandria and Cairo,
bad been nRen from the houses 9f
wealthy Egyptians, ana We're after
wards recognized as articles which
many yelu previously had mysteri-
ousy disappeared from famous col
leotiona throughout Europe The
same thing was discovered at Tien-
tain and Picking during the attack ou
these c.lics az the time of the Boxer
rebellion ana march of the allied
ormIcs There can be no doubt that
la the palaces. and especially m Tie
zcnHuaa of The native rulers 81 lndlt
aud Turkey many priceless art
treasures which hnyc hcen the prey
81 the emekwmcn are "a be found
Homo Market Impossible.
For the picture thief to find "a mar
ket at home for the disposal OF his
valuable booty i1 well-nigh impossible.
and one is almost compelled 10 roe