Bookseller v. German Govt.

From today's St. Louis Post Dispatch:

Germany demands return of rare book found here
By Diane Toroian Keaggy
Of the Post-Dispatch
01/22/2005

Any of the usual suspects in the book world could have bought the book, but
only Rod Shene recognized the rare quality in the slender volume of old
German drawings. He put down $3,900 for the work and hoped that one day he
would be rewarded for his judgment....

First, the good news: Shene was right about the book's quality. Last year,
leading auction house Sotheby's valued the book of drawings at $600,000.

But Shene's good fortune came with some bad news: The book may have been
stolen from an unlikely victim - the German government.

Read the rest of the story he http://snipurl.com/c8as


I know Rod slightly--just from standing in line with him at local sales--and
I remember him talking about this book and the research he was doing on it.

(One of the other regulars here knows Rod much better than I do, and perhaps
he can tell us what the Post-Dispatch got wrong, if anything, or provide
additional info.)


--
Jon Meyers
(To reply, lose
your way)

Hi Jon

It's an interesting and well written article. My understanding is that the
last time the book was inventoried at the museum that owned the book was in
the late 1920's, so it isn't known precisely what happened to it after that
or when exactly it went missing. Apparently the high estimate by Sotheby's
shocked the museum and thus the law-suit.

I told Rod to sell it privately but he wouldn't listen. Obviously the
German's will drive a lot of transactions underground if they pursue this
all the way without settling for a reasonable amount, but they don't seem
to want to compromise. That's about all I know.

Randy

--

"Jon Meyers" wrote in message
...
From today's St. Louis Post Dispatch:

Germany demands return of rare book found here
By Diane Toroian Keaggy
Of the Post-Dispatch
01/22/2005

Any of the usual suspects in the book world could have bought the book,
but
only Rod Shene recognized the rare quality in the slender volume of old
German drawings. He put down $3,900 for the work and hoped that one day he
would be rewarded for his judgment....

First, the good news: Shene was right about the book's quality. Last year,
leading auction house Sotheby's valued the book of drawings at $600,000.

But Shene's good fortune came with some bad news: The book may have been
stolen from an unlikely victim - the German government.

Read the rest of the story he http://snipurl.com/c8as


I know Rod slightly--just from standing in line with him at local
sales--and
I remember him talking about this book and the research he was doing on
it.

(One of the other regulars here knows Rod much better than I do, and
perhaps
he can tell us what the Post-Dispatch got wrong, if anything, or provide
additional info.)


--
Jon Meyers
(To reply, lose
your way)