Stolen goods in the Smithsonian?
Zeppistan
10-02-2005, 14:39
Researchers believe that they have confirmed that the largest diamond in the world - the Hope Diamond currently in the Smithsonian - was cut from the French Blue Diamond which was stolen from the French crown during the revolution.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&e=3&u=/ap/20050209/ap_on_sc/hope_diamond
Anyone care to bet how long it will take for a movement in France to start up requesting that their property be repatriated to them?
Pepe Dominguez
10-02-2005, 14:44
Anyone care to bet how long it will take for a movement in France to start up requesting that their property be repatriated to them?
Yes, about as long as it'll take for the government to give them the finger. So, however long it takes for a cable to make the round trip. :p
Jeruselem
10-02-2005, 14:47
Museums are full of stolen things, especially the bigger ones.
Keruvalia
10-02-2005, 14:47
If the US went around giving everything it owned back to the proper owners, we'd all be living in mud huts and trying desperately to understand why "fire burn".
Not since the Roman Empire has a nation so single-mindedly been built on the blood of others.
Pepe Dominguez
10-02-2005, 14:52
Museums are full of stolen things, especially the bigger ones.
Yup. And all the stolen treasures in our museums add up to nothing, compared to the British Museum.. but I doubt the mummies and pieces of Greek statuary are on their way back.
Zeppistan
10-02-2005, 14:53
Museums are full of stolen things, especially the bigger ones.
YEs, but in recent years the repatriation of items demonstrated to belong to others has been quite common - especially cultural artifacts or those with high intrinsic value. Witness the number of artworks stolen by the NAzis that have been returned to their rightfull owners, or the repatriation of mummies and other treasures to Egypt.
Now whether the research passes the bar of proof I am not qualified to say. I'm just just suggesting that it may be something the French people latch onto and use as a weapon in the ongoing bit of sniping between the two countries.
Zeppistan
10-02-2005, 14:57
Yup. And all the stolen treasures in our museums add up to nothing, compared to the British Museum.. but I doubt the mummies and pieces of Greek statuary are on their way back.
Oh yes, the British Museum does indeed have a number of things that should be returned to their rightful owners.
Jeruselem
10-02-2005, 15:01
Oh yes, the British Museum does indeed have a number of things that should be returned to their rightful owners.
At least they take care of them properly. :)
Eutrusca
10-02-2005, 15:03
If the US went around giving everything it owned back to the proper owners, we'd all be living in mud huts and trying desperately to understand why "fire burn".
Not since the Roman Empire has a nation so single-mindedly been built on the blood of others.
Tsk! Care to explain this?
Emmental
10-02-2005, 15:07
If the US went around giving everything it owned back to the proper owners, we'd all be living in mud huts and trying desperately to understand why "fire burn".
Not since the Roman Empire has a nation so single-mindedly been built on the blood of others.
HA HA HA! (funniest quote of my day!)
Keruvalia
10-02-2005, 15:08
Tsk! Care to explain this?
I shouldn't have to. It's obvious. This nation was built by the slaughter of the American Indian and built on the backs of Africans. Mt. Rushmore, for example, was a Lakota holy place which was deliberately marred by the faces of white conquerers.
It's all a matter of perspective, I suppose.
Pepe Dominguez
10-02-2005, 15:11
Not since the Roman Empire has a nation so single-mindedly been built on the blood of others.
Hey, just because we got to slaughter a bunch of tribes who hadn't even invented pulleys or the wheel doesn't make it more of a slaughter than those which took place in forming the nations of Europe and Asia.. just much funnier. :p