By ERIC C. RODENBERG
Antiqueweek Associate Editor

PHILADELPHIA, Penn. — Hardly a week goes by that a major art theft isn’t a major news story.

Most recent cases in point:
On July 5, the priceless 12th-century manuscript, the Codex Calixtinus, the first guide for Christian pilgrims, was stolen from a Spanish cathedral.
Again, on July 5, a man “plucked” a Picasso from the wall of a San Francisco art gallery, making his escape by taxi cab.

Also on July 5, a New York art gallery was sued by a Luxembourg company for $6.5 million for allegedly selling and over-valuing Russian art. The buyer contends the gallery, which specializes in Russian art, sold  four forgeries and exaggerated the market value of 14 other works of art.

On June 28, an art thief made off with a $350,000 painting from the Carlye Hotel in Manhattan.

Art crimes, in all its forms, are big business – up to $6 million a year, according to the FBI and other investigative sources. It is the highest-grossing criminal trade – only behind drug dealing and illegal weapon trafficking.

Beyond that, art crime is said to be behind terrorism and other crimes. Trade in illicit antiquities is a funding source for fundamentalist terrorists in North Africa and the Middle East, according to the international, not-for-profit research group, the Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA).
“One of the greatest problems is that neither the general public, nor government officials, realize the severity of art crime,” according to ARCA’s officials. “Art crime funds all organized crime enterprises, including terrorism. And yet it is often dismissed as a victimless crime, because it is not understood.”

It is no wonder that museum curators, galleries, church officials and private collectors feel uneasy during this day and age.

With law enforcement resources stretched to the very limits, many of these owners and caretakers of the world’s cultural heritage are finding it necessary to learn how to best protect their assets.

On June 13, the first – and only – United States seminar to assist these caretakers in protecting their collections was undertaken in Philadelphia. The week, consisting of five days of intensive instruction and discussion with field experts, provided these participants – museum curators, attorneys, top echelon art dealers and security personnel – a “nuts and bolts,” no-nonsense approach to the ever-spiraling ascent of art crime.

The seminar was organized by Robert K. Wittman, a legendary figure in tracking down stolen art and returning it to its rightful owner.

From the port city of Marseilles, to the backstreets of Warsaw, to a farmhouse deep in Brazil, Wittman has “chased” art throughout the world.
As the founder and leader of the FBI’s Art Crime Team, Wittman is credited with playing a key role in the recovery of more than $225 million in art, antiques and antiquity.

Wittman, the author of The New York Times best seller, Priceless, How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Treasures put together a team of the nation’s top investigators and legal minds in hosting the seminar for antique and art industry professionals from across the country.

Although Wittman is now retired from the agency, he still teaches at the FBI academy. He brings that same direct approach to teaching his craft to art dealers and museum curators.

“The emphasis is on practical application in careers in the industry, no professors … just professionals,” Wittman said.

 “This seminar is not an art history or appreciation course,” he said. “It focuses on real industry career opportunities in the fields of national and international investigation, art law, insurance, appraisal, museum security, conservation and art financial services.”

Assisting Wittman at the seminar were Robert E. Golden, a former federal prosecutor who lead the FBI Art Crime Team’s legal thrust against criminals; James E. McAndrew, an expert on international art and antiquity, with more than 27 years experience with the United States Custom Service and Department of Homeland Security (DHS); and Herbert Lottier, director of Protection Services at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the fourth largest art museum in the United States.

With such a formidable crew, Wittman opened the first day with a discussion of resources available to art investigators and an in-depth analysis of property crime investigation techniques. The second day included topics ranging from international art investigation and homeland security concerns lead by retired DHS Special Agent McAndrew. The next day’s itinerary focused on understanding the structure of museum personnel and methods of collection security provided by the seasoned security director Lottier.

The following days covered art title law by attorney Jonathan Ziss, the importance of saving antiquities, and the role of conservation and forensic techniques in identifying frauds and forgeries.

“It’s really difficult to condense all the experience and knowledge into five days,” Wittman said, “but at least we gave our people a good taste of the whole field. Basically, what I gave them was the exact same course that I teach the FBI.”

In hosting his first seminar, Wittman emphasized that he’s not interested in “turning out a diploma mill.”

The 13 participants he selected for his first seminar were each asked to fill out an extensive questionnaire and requested to express reasons they needed to participate in the seminar.

Several applicants were culled out from participation, with Wittman maintaining an emphasis on teaching those who were working – or wanted – to work in fields related directly to art crime prevention.

“We weren’t looking for the art history major, or someone who was interested in solving his personal case of stolen art,” Wittman said. “We were looking for serious people who are interested in making a career in the art field.”
Wittman said he was intent on tailoring a curriculum which achieved the varied needs of these professionals.  Seemingly, he was successful.

 “It was a great learning experience,” Christopher Fox, curator of the Fort Ticonderoga Museum in New York, said. “I’ve already implemented some of things I learned at the seminar, and plan on implementing more.

“I think it (the seminar) will help me to better protect our collection here at Fort Ticonderoga. The possessions within our collection help us as a society to better interrupt our past, and I have always thought that was very important. Museums are in a public trust, and I think we need to do the best to preserve and protect these collections.”

For Donna Bright DeSorda of Tucson, Ariz., the seminar nicely complements her Bachelor Degrees in Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and Cultural Anthropology of the Middle East. Flying into Philadelphia from Egypt, where she was involved in a dig, she said the information should help her pursue her ambitions of helping preserve cultural artifacts.

“The seminar was unbelievable,” she said, “it was way beyond any of my expectations. The speakers were unbelievable, and they all made it so true to life. Already, when I read something in the news, I find myself employing critical thinking skills that I learned in the seminar.”