Jamaica

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Dear All,



We have to advise you that over the past couple of weeks there has been a sad story of theft of some our valuable antiques, Spanish Jars. It appears that as many as 20 have been stolen.



These are not from Spain, they are Italian. They were used to ship olive oil to light the lamps in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century as best as we can determine. The seals on the sides indicate the merchant from whom they were shipped. Their story is interesting as highlighted by geologist Anthony Porter in his article on them published a while back in the Jamaica Journal. His evaluation is also that Jamaica possibly has the largest collection of these jars. Regardless it will be certainly a shame to lose any.



So what can we do?



Please photograph all your valuables and that includes your antiques. Please store these photographs. Today you can do that electronically on your computers and in particular on your "back up" systems, preferably on a cloud system, as even your computers are subject to theft.



Please report any theft quickly to the authorities and to us, especially with a copy of the photograph. We will circulate these so that the possibility of an "innocent" purchasing stolen goods is reduced.



Please try to keep all your valuables in a safe place.



We too have alerted agencies such as Customs and if you give us evidence such as photographs we can have Interpol be notified as well.



Ainsley Henriques

Antique Fair Group