Heritage thefts in Alaska, England and Wales

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Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation has offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of 13 pieces of Yupik artwork (including miniature baskets and carved walrus ivory pieces) stolen from locked display cases over the weekend. The items taken were small and said to have been chosen in a manner that made their disappearance unlikely to be noticed.

“These stolen items are part of our rich cultural heritage” said Dan Winkelman, YKHC managing director,  “they still belong to the community and should be returned. We feel absolutely violated in hearing about the theft”.

A Government spokesperson concurred.

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Meanwhile, across the pond, no-one was offering a reward for the recovery of any one of the 10 million bundles of historical knowledge legally stolen by non-reporting artefact hunters since 1975.  They included lots of good stuff but no-one knows exactly what, as that’s the awful nature of the theft and the blessed ally of denial. They are the ultimate instances of “disappearance unlikely to be noticed”.

“These stolen items are part of our rich cultural heritage” said a heritage busybody on a website. “They still belong to the community and our region and should be returned. We feel absolutely violated in hearing about the theft”.

A Government spokesperson pretended not to hear.

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Alaskan stolen article number thirteen is …. a carved ivory “story knife”.

Britain’s stolen bundle of historical knowledge number ten million is ….. gone.

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More Heritage Journal views on artefact collecting

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