Report of the Spoliation Advisory Panel: Wooden tablet in the British Library
Report of the Spoliation Advisory Panel in respect of a painted wooden tablet, the Biccherna Panel, now in the possession of the British Library (HC 209)
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The Spoliation Advisory Panel has published a report on a claim for the return of a painted wooden tablet, the Biccherna Panel, now in the possession of the British Library. After careful consideration, the Panel’s opinion was that the just and fair resolution of the claim is the transfer of the Biccherna Panel by the British Library Board to the Claimants in accordance with the provisions of the Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act 2009.
The Panel concluded that the Biccherna Panel formed part of an inventory owned by a Munich art gallery, of which the Claimants are the surviving heirs of the Jewish shareholders, and that the sale of the Gallery’s contents in 1936 by the Aryanised Berlin auction house of Paul Graupe in response to an extortionate tax demand, constituted a forced sale.
The Spoliation Advisory Panel was designated by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport as the Advisory Panel for the purposes of considering the claim under Section 3(2) of the Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act 2009. The Panel was established in 2000.