Steve Bourget
sends this call for assistance
in gathering data for a website he is preparing to list stolen
Peruvian artifacts (and those that have been recovered).
Dear friends and
colleagues:
Faced with the latest spate of robberies of pre-Columbian
antiquities in Museums and public institutions in Peru (Ica,
Trujillo, etc), I have decided to create a website listing all the
stolen artifacts I could find. This website will provide
descriptions and photos of these objects. I will keep it as up to
date as possible. I will also list the recovered artifacts. I also
intend to disseminate directly this website to all interested
parties including Museums, Auction Houses, Dealers, Antique
Associations, collectors, the authorities such as ICE and the FBI,
etc.
In order to make it an effective tool I will need your help. Could
those of you who have descriptions and images of these thefts
provide me with the information? It does not matter if these
artifacts were stolen 6 months ago or twenty years ago as
antiquities have the tendency to outlive their present keepers.
My intention and that of my eventual Peruvian counterpart is simple:
to recover these objects.
Thanks you for your attention and your eventual collaboration.
Please send your contributions at:
( sbourget @ mail.utexas.edu )
or by mail at:
Steve Bourget
2303 Lancaster Dr.
Austin, TX 78748, USA
Steve Bourget
Associate Professor
Art and Art History
University of Texas, Austin