U.S. museum directors and antique dealers were being deluged with G.I. art "finds," a lot of them looted. Many a G.I. who had laboriously lugged home a third-class imitative painting on which he put a $10,000 price tag was highly incensed at dealers who offered a take-it-or-leave-it $10. Samples:
¶ A suitcase full of Roman statuary, oil lamps and coins, offered to the Detroit Institute of Arts. It had been "picked up" in Germany. Value: "a few dollars." No sale.
¶ Pottery of the "chop suey" period and other "terrible stuff" from China and...
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