Kwame Opoku writes about the case of the crown of Montezuma, currently held by Austria. Mexico has been seeking the return of this artefacts for a number of years now, although Austria claims that it was legally acquired.

From:
Modern Ghana

>NOW IS THE TIME FOR AUSTRIA TO ACT ON THE RESTITUTION OF MONTEZUMA’S CROWN TO MEXICO
Author: Kwame Opoku, Dr.

27-01-11

According to information in the Austrian papers Standard, Kurier, and Kronen Zeitung, Austria seems finally willing to return the Montezuma Crown which Mexico has been claiming for decades without any success. (1) It appears the return will be a temporary loan in exchange for a temporary loan of a gilded carriage used by Emperor Maximilian I in the nineteenth century that is now in the National Museum of Mexico.

We have always been of the view that Austria should return this artefact which means very little to Austria (2) and a lot more to Mexico, the only State that protested against the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. This act alone, in our opinion, should be sufficient ground for returning Montezuma’s crown. But the Austrian authorities, misled by the ideas of the ethnologists, museum directors and the false prophets in the British Museum, Berlin, Chicago and elsewhere, have up to now refused to contemplate the eventuality of returning the crown. (3)
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Austria’s museum of ethnology in Vienna is in discussions about the return of an Aztec feather headdress to Mexico. There are suggestions that this could happen as some sort of artefact swap – possibly forming a template for how other similar cases could be resolved.

From:
Winnipeg Free Press

The Canadian Press – ONLINE EDITION
Mexico says possible deal to return Aztec headdress may be model for disputed artifacts
By: Mark Stevenson, The Associated Press
Posted: 01/18/2011 10:06 AM

MEXICO CITY – Talks between Mexico and Austria on the temporary return of an Aztec feather headdress could be a model for the return of other hotly-contested artifacts, and may provide a chance to resolve persistent questions about the five-century old piece, academics said Tuesday.

The exchange could give Mexico the headdress on loan from the museum of ethnology in Vienna where it is currently held, while Mexico could send back a gilded carriage once used by a member of Austria’s royal family who ruled Mexico in the 1860s.
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Egypt is holding a conference on stolen & looted antiquities, bringing together representatives from many of the nations that are requesting returns. Hopefully, many other countries can learn from some of Egypt’s recent successes in this field.

From:
BBC News

Page last updated at 01:23 GMT, Wednesday, 7 April 2010 02:23 UK
Egypt hosts meeting on recovery of ‘stolen treasures’

Global culture officials are to meet to discuss how to recover ancient treasures which they say have been stolen and displayed overseas.

Sixteen countries will be represented at the two-day conference in Cairo.
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In Mexico, many churches contain valuable artefacts, but because of their remote locations & lack of wealth, they are unable to protect them at all times. These artefacts provide easy prey to looters & often end up in galleries & with private collectors around the world. San Diego Museum of Art is returning one such painting to Mexico & in a lecture, its director has explained what other museums can be doing to try & avoid such situations.

From:
The Daily Transcript (San Diego)

Guarding against illegal traffic of cultural property
By Pamela Bensoussan, ASA
Monday, July 7, 2008

Appraisers, in exercising due diligence – particularly for donation appraisals – must investigate to the extent possible the provenance and legal title of cultural property.
On February 25 the new Director of the San Diego Museum of Art, Dr. Derrick R. Cartwright, spoke candidly to members of the Latin American Arts Committee on an important topic: cultural patrimony and the role played by museums in guarding against illegal traffic of cultural and stolen property.
The talk was particularly interesting in light of recent events surrounding an 18th century Mexican colonial painting, Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, purchased by SDMA in 2000.
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