LONDON (ACNI) - In a move that has taken many of its employees by surprise, the London publishing conglomerate dmg world media has sold its antiques trade newspaper in England and will soon consummate the sale of its U.S. antiques titles. Among the publications affected are the London-based Antiques Trade Gazette (ATG), and the U.S. publications AntiqueWeek, AntiqueWest and Auction Exchange.

On Oct. 6, all staff members at the Knightstown, Ind., production offices of dmg's U.S. newspapers were asked to assemble for a meeting called by publisher Richard Lewis. At that meeting, Lewis advised employees that dmg's three antiques-related titles produced in the Knightstown plant, as well as a fourth title published on site - the agricultural special interest weekly Farm World - were under contract to be sold. Lewis said the sale would be finalized in 30 to 45 days and that he would be staying on as publisher, although it is unclear whether it would be in a temporary or permanent capacity. At this point in time, all staff are expected to be retained.

IOLA, Wis. - The antiques group of F+W Media has made two new antiques identification and price guides available on DVD: Warman's Fenton Glass Identification and Price Guide, Second Edition, and the Antique Trader Bottles Identification and Price Guide, Fifth Edition.

"At Antique Trader, we try to bring antiques enthusiasts information that will help enrich their enjoyment of the hobby," said Antique Trader associate publisher Scott Tappa. "For so long that information has been delivered in print, and more recently via the Internet. Now we are offering digital products, and we think collectors of bottles and Fenton glass will enjoy the searchability, image-enlarging capabilities, and tutorials offered on DVD."

WOLVERHAMPTON, England - Aspiring auctioneers will be bringing the gavel down on an innovative degree course at the University of Wolverhampton, in England's West Midlands region.

The new Foundation Degree in Auctioneering and Valuation is believed to be the first of its kind in the UK. Students will be taught how to value and auction personal property, including antiques and real estate.

The course has been developed with industry leaders and is designed to meet growing demand for a recognized university qualification in the field of auctioneering and valuation.

Dr. Felix Hammond, Lecturer at the University's School of Engineering and the Built Environment, said: "The course will cover subjects such as business skills, auction law, auction economics, auctioneering methods and techniques, valuation principles and applications as well as sales and marketing of goods and services.

"The foundation degree is a joint initiative by the National Association of Auctioneers and Valuers (NAVA) and The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), with the endorsement of the British Property Federation (BPF) and the University of Wolverhampton, and we are delighted to be working together on this innovative course."

NEW YORK (AP) - A historian and author was sentenced Friday to a year and a half in prison after apologizing for stealing letters that were written by George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and prized by Theodore Roosevelt.

Edward Renehan Jr., 52, also must pay more than $86,000 in restitution to a Manhattan gallery where he tried to resell the letters, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin ordered as he imposed the sentence.

Renehan admitted he stole the presidential letters in 2006 and 2007 from the Theodore Roosevelt Association, based in Oyster Bay, on Long Island. He was then its acting director.

"I have taken my golden bowl and foolishly and recklessly dashed it upon rocks of self destruction," said Renehan, who has written six books. "I alone am responsible for this one great, indelible stain which now and forever disfigures a life I am otherwise proud of."

Renehan, of North Kingstown, R.I., said the crime occurred when he was in the manic phase of what was later diagnosed as bipolar disorder.

He pleaded guilty this year to interstate transportation of stolen property. One letter was handwritten by Lincoln on March 1, 1840; two were written by Washington. One of those was dated Aug. 9, 1791, the other Dec. 29, 1778.

Renehan still faces a state charge of stealing and trying to auction off a 1918 letter that President Roosevelt wrote about his son Quentin's death in World War I.

Roosevelt Association director Jim Bruns said outside court that it was "a painful pill when a historian is caught in a position like this." But he said it was a significant breach of trust that must be faced.

Roosevelt bought the letters because they reminded him of the quality of character that Washington and Lincoln both had, he said.

One Washington letter was to a general and pertained to the treatment of some property, while the other Washington letter dealt with day-to-day concerns of the American people, Bruns said. The Lincoln letter was written to a friend and related to an 1840 election, he said.

Roosevelt kept all three letters in the library at his home until his death, he said.

The letters were stolen from a vault at the home where Roosevelt was born, on East 20th Street in Manhattan, Bruns said.
He said the association expected to have the letters back soon, though one of the Washington letters is now missing the ornate frame that Roosevelt had made for it. A buyer did not understand its value and destroyed it, Bruns said.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-ES-09-19-08 2008EDT  

KUTZTOWN, Pa. (AP) - At first, Patrick J. Donmoyer photographed only the hex signs that he found interesting.
Now, he's interested in all of them.

What used to be a hobby has grown into a quest to document every hex sign, or barn star, in Berks County.

"I'm literally going down every single road that is in Berks County," said Donmoyer, a Kutztown University student.
Donmoyer has collected 2,400 photographs of nearly 350 hex signs, some of which may not have been documented before.
Perhaps most impressive, and most inspiring to other scholars of this 19th century form of folk art, is that Donmoyer has shown such enthusiasm and he's only 22.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - With surgical gloves, S. Waite Rawls III pulls out a large drawer in the basement of the Museum of the Confederacy to reveal a startling display: dolls the size of children, neatly lined up like small bodies on a morgue slab.

The dolls are among what the museum calls the "world's most comprehensive collection of Confederate artifacts," a trove valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Rawls, the museum's president and CEO.

But at any given time, only 10 percent to 15 percent of the museum's holdings are on display on the building's three floors. The rest remains tucked away in gray cabinets, boxes stacked high and, in the case of delicate flags, in clear, sealed containers designed to hold the ancient stitching in place.

In 2011, a portion of the museum collection is scheduled to go on the road, journeying to three historic Virginia sites as part of a plan to bring the artifacts of the U.S. Civil War to the people.
The Confederacy was the group of pro-slavery southern states that seceded from the United States. The 1861-65 war ended in victory for the northern states, the abolishment of slavery and the return of the rebellious states to the union.

MIAMI (AP) - Three years ago, an elderly Italian man pulled his van into a South Florida park to sell some rare, 2,500-year-old emeralds plundered from a South American tomb. But Ugo Bagnato, an archaeologist, didn't know his potential customer was a federal agent.

Bagnato flashed the green gems, which were as large as dominoes, and explained to the immigration and customs agent that he had bribed South American authorities and used fake paperwork to smuggle the highly illegal goods into the United States.

Authorities discovered Bagnato had a cache of more than 400 artifacts from Peru and Colombia, all predating Columbus' arrival in the Americas: burial shrouds, jewelry, terra cotta pots and other treasures were wedged in boxes in his van and kept in a storage unit.

Bagnato was arrested, charged with the sale and receipt of stolen goods, and in 2006, pleaded guilty. He was later deported.

LA PLATA, Md. (AP) - It was spirits -- the alcoholic kind, not ghosts -- that led archaeologists to a 17th-century courthouse.

Around the 1670s, it seems, councilmen and judges spent a fair amount of their time guzzling liquor. Remnants of their wine bottles and beer tankards are, therefore, easy to find.

It was pieces of those stone and glass vessels that led a team of archaeologists to find the original Charles County courthouse, the oldest government building in Maryland whose remnants could never be located - until now.
"Oh, they drank at night when they were sitting around talking about the day, they drank on breaks and they might even have been doing it when they were in court," said Julia King. She's an anthropology professor at St. Mary's College of Maryland and she led a group of students in searching for the courthouse. "You can see pieces of their glasses everywhere you turn."

FREMONT, Ohio (AP) - Two rare books stolen from the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center library remained missing as of Friday, Sept. 12, including a book of Ohio laws that is believed to be the first book printed in the state.

Three people have been arrested, but authorities haven't been able to track down the books, valued at $130,000. Federal agents arrested the three in the Columbus area on Sept. 10.

Joshua McCarty, 31, and his girlfriend, Angela Bays, 19, both of Columbus, and Zachary Scranton, 21, of Marysville, were charged with theft of major artwork. They were released on bond after initial appearances in federal court. Messages seeking comment were left Friday with McCarty and Scranton. There was no listing for Bays.

The Hayes Presidential Center includes the library and the president's former home, which is about 35 miles southeast of Toledo. The estate has been open to the public since 1916.

Hayes, a Republican, served from 1876 to 1880. The former three-term governor of Ohio beat Samuel Tilden by one electoral vote in 1876 without winning the popular vote.

According to an FBI affidavit, McCarty and Bays visited the presidential center's library on June 27 and asked to look at a book called The Maxwell Code.

A library employee later confronted McCarty after seeing him leave a women's restroom with the book, which was printed in 1795 and contains the first printing of Ohio laws, the affidavit said. Fewer than 10 copies are known to exist.

The employee returned the book and another book, but he did not realize the pages had been torn out of The Freeman Code, which was printed in 1798 and contained laws of the Northwest Territory, the affidavit said.

A few months later, Scranton visited the library and asked to view The Maxwell Code.
Scranton left the library, saying he had to make a phone call and didn't come back, the affidavit said. Employees realized he stole the book and called police, the affidavit said.

Scranton's court-appointed attorney, Alan Pfeuffer, said Friday his client didn't intend to keep the book and that it was going to be given to someone else. He declined to elaborate.

Library officials alerted book dealers and auction houses about the missing book. Several book dealers said they were contacted by McCarty and said that he recently sold a copy of The Freeman Code through a Philadelphia dealer who was unaware it was stolen, according to the affidavit. The dealer told authorities he sold the book for $35,000 to someone in England.

Police and FBI agents traced cell phone calls made to the dealer from McCarty, the affidavit said.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-CS-09-12-08 1501EDT  

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) - Police in northern Greece say they have arrested four people for trying to sell two religious icons and a golden cross dating to the Middle Ages for euro5 million ($7 million).

The arrests follow a sting operation in which an undercover officer posed as a prospective buyer. Police say the icons - religious paintings on wood - represent Greek Orthodox saints. All three artifacts were confiscated.

Under Greek law, all ancient and medieval artifacts are state property. Their sale by anyone except a small number of licensed traders and collectors is strictly prohibited.

Police said on Thursday that a large number of other antiquities was confiscated following raids on the suspects' homes in Serres, a town 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Thessaloniki.

The suspects were identified as Greeks aged 56 to 74.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

LONDON (AP) – A rare Islamic crystal jug mistaken earlier this year for a cheap French claret pitcher is expected to sell for millions of dollars at auction.

The 1,000-year-old carved rock crystal ewer – one of only seven of its kind known to exist – is the highlight of Christie's King Street's Oct. 7 sale of Islamic and Indian art, with an estimated price of at least $5.3 million.

But in January Lawrences auction house in southwest England identified it as a 19th-century French claret jug and offered it for sale with a presale estimate of $175-$350.

Christie's said it has now been identified as “one of the rarest and most desirable works of art from the Islamic world.”

The auction house said Thursday that the original sale had been annulled by agreement between the purchaser and the original owners, who wish to remain anonymous.

The slim-necked vessel, carved from a single piece of rock crystal and decorated with elaborate engravings of cheetahs, was made for the court of the Cairo-based Fatimid dynasty, which ruled a swath of the Middle East and North Africa between 908 and 1187 A.D. According to Christie's, the ewer was mounted by Jean-Valentin Morel Sèvres between 1852 and 1860.

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - The Duluth City Council has postponed selling the city's historic Tiffany window until next month.

The council postponed selling the stained-glass window until Oct. 13th, in hopes of finding a local buyer.

Two weeks ago, the council voted to sell the 115-year-old window to help balance the budget. But after an outcry in the community, council member Jay Fosle sponsored a resolution to give more time to find a local buyer.

The window depicts a fictional American Indian princess, Minne-Ha-Ha, or "Laughing Water."

Council member Sharla Gardner says she spoke with the city's purchasing director, who said the deadline for a local buyer to express interest is September 17th. If no one comes forward with a reasonable plan, the window will be sent to an auction house.

BATLEY, ENGLAND – Police in West Yorkshire, England are investigating a major theft of Clarice Cliff Art Deco pottery from an upscale retail establishment in the town of Batley. According to Detective Constable Sophie Lawrence of Dewsbury CID, the apparently premeditated theft of approximately 55 articles – mostly Clarice Cliff pottery, with the addition of three Lalique bowls, bronzes and an Etling bowl – occurred either late on the night of July 25 or in the early morning hours of July 26.

The items were taken from Muir Hewitt Art Deco Originals, a shop located on the top floor of Redbrick Mill, a stylishly refurbished four-story shopping complex at 218 Bradford Road in Batley. The stolen goods are valued at approximately $150,000.

Police say that, in what has become an all-too-familiar pattern, the thieves probably hid somewhere in the Redbrick Mill after the shops had closed for the night, made their entry into Muir Hewitt’s shop, then exited through a fire escape with the stolen articles.

Muir Hewitt’s Clarice Cliff collection was built over a 25-year period and contains several extremely rare and distinctive examples. One of the most valuable items stolen, a yo-yo vase in the Coral Firs pattern, is pictured here, along with other key pieces.