Russian State Library theft

Stolen Set of Audubon's Birds of America

The case
In 1996 Christie's in London was offered a complete set of pages from Audubon's Birds of America by a Russian vendor. The pages had been neatly trimmed and although out of their bindings were in good condition. When the vendor claimed that he had inherited them from his father Christie's decided to research from which of the known volumes the pages had come. Academic and forensic investigations provided the authorities with evidence that the pages had been taken from a set owned by the Russian State Library in St. Petersburg. They were returned to Russia in 1998.

Procedures followed
The suspicions of the researchers were aroused when it appeared that the incomplete set of watermarks held in an archive in the USA indicated the pages could have come from the set owned by the Russian State Library in St. Petersburg. At this stage Christie's notified New Scotland Yard about their concerns but subsequent checks on the accessible databases of stolen art and antiques did not show that the pages had been reported as stolen. Christie's continued to assist the investigation by using their own representative in Russia to contact the Russian Department of Culture, whilst Scotland Yard requested the assistance of the Russian Police. It was quickly established that the bindings for all five volumes were still in the state library but that the pages had been ripped from them. Using the forensic science laboratories in London it was proven by a combination of the watermarks and the ink runs still in the bindings that the pages did indeed belong to the State Library.

Lessons learnt

When offered an item of outstanding quality from an unknown source be suspicious particularly if there is little proof of provenance;
A search of a database of stolen property whilst an essential part of the due diligence process is no guarantee that the object checked on is not actually stolen. In the case of the Audubon pages the theft had gone unnoticed and unreported;
Use experts within the relevant field to access academic records to establish the probable history/source of the object in question;
If in doubt do not purchase or deal in the object, and alert the authorities.

Quote
'There is sometimes reluctance in contacting the police out of a fear that their involvement may upset the client and ruin a new client/vendor relationship. This case shows that by working with the authorities when you first become suspicious of an item or a client may in the longer term be the safest option. Genuine clients would rather know that if it were their property that had been stolen you would take the necessary steps to prevent its sale.' (Dick Ellis, Swift-Find Ltd)

Further Information
Dick Ellis
Swift-Find Ltd – On line registry of valuables
Email: re@swift-find.com
Tel: +44 (0) 87 0767 3463
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7443 9027