In an indictment filed on March 15, 2001, in Philadelphia,
in a case investigated by the FBI, a grand jury
charged that Russ Pritchard, III, and George Juno
were engaged in the business of appraising, purchasing,
and selling military-related artifacts through their
business, American Ordnance Preservation Association
(AOPA). The grand jury alleged that the defendants
engaged in staged or phony appraisals to enhance
their reputation as experts in the appraisal of
military artifacts and to attract potential sellers
of military artifacts to AOPA. This indictment might
have garnered less national publicity had Pritchard
III and Juno not also been two of the most popular
appraisers on the hit Public Television Station
(PBS) series, the Antiques Roadshow. The FBI became
involved in the case in July 1999, when the appraisers
were sued by the decendants of General George Pickett
for defrauding them of their ancestor's property.
The Show
Antiques Roadshow viewers tune in to watch people
much like themselves - amateur collectors or history
buffs - learn whether their treasure is a rare find
or a reproduction. The men and women who volunteer
their services as appraisers are extremely knowledgeable
about specific periods of history. Their expertise
comes from years working in some of the most notable
auction houses in the country. They offer their
services for free in exchange for national exposure
on a highly-popular show.
The show's appeal stems from the drama which unfolds
each time an appraiser asks the collector, "Do
you have any idea of the value of this item?"
Some guests are surprised to hear that the odds
and ends pulled from their attics are actually worth
a great deal of money; others are disappointed to
hear a low appraisal of a treasured family heirloom.
Regardless of the appraisal, guests trust they have
been given fair and honest values by the experts,
which is a cornerstone of the popular show.
The Set-Up
Pritchard III and Juno used the Antiques Roadshow
to enhance their reputations as appraisers of military
artifacts. In July 1996, the two men met with a
man named "Steve" to rehearse a story
about a Confederate Civil War sword which they supplied
to him. On July 20, 1996, the three men staged a
phony Antiques Roadshow session for a later broadcast.
"Steve" recounted that the sword had been
in his family for years and that, as a child he
used it to cut a watermelon. While the cameras rolled,
he acted surprised when Pritchard III and Juno appraised
the "Watermelon sword" at $35,000.
While Pritchard III and Juno used their appearance
on the Antiques Roadshow to bolster their reputations,
they also relied on false appraisals and misinformation
to obtain valuables from unsuspecting collectors.
The
Wilson Sword
In early 1997, descendants of Major Samuel J. Wilson,
a Union officer in the Civil War, contacted AOPA
after watching the "Watermelon Sword"
episode; they asked the Association to appraise
a sword once used by their ancestor. Russ Pritchard
III and George Juno gave it a value of close to
$8,000 and persuaded the family to sell them the
sword. The Wilson family had no intention of selling
the sword prior to their meeting with the appraisers
but, believing their descendant would have a place
of honor for all time, the family sold it.
But instead of giving the Wilson sword to the museum,
George Juno used it as collateral to secure a loan.
Then he helped a family member sell the Wilson sword
to a private collector for $20,000 -- two and a
half times the value at which he and Pritchard originally
appraised it.
The Meade Firearm
Major General George C. Meade commanded the victorious
Union forces at the Battle of Gettysburg during
the Civil War and repelled the invasion of the North
by the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert
E. Lee. After the Battle of Gettysburg, Major General
Meade received a presentation pistol. The firearm
had been in the Meade family since the Major General's
death.
In August 1997, Pritchard reached out to a Meade
and represented himself as an expert in the field
of Civil War artifacts. He offered to appraise the
mahogany-cased, .44-caliber, Remington presentation
pistol with engraved ivory grips, silver-plated
frame, and gold-washed cylinder and hammer. Pritchard
appraised the Meade firearm at between $180,000
and $200,000 and, once again, falsely stated that
he was acquiring the firearm for the National Civil
War museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for permanent
display.
In October 1997, a private collector paid Pritchard
$385,000 for the firearm; in return, Pritchard paid
a Meade descendant just $184,000. Then, Pritchard
faxed a letter to the mayor of Harrisburg, stating
falsely that the Meade family was not interested
in selling the firearm for inclusion in the city's
National Civil War Museum.
The Patterson Collection
In 1996, an employee of AOPA contacted Mrs. Donald
Patterson and expressed interest in acquiring a
collection of militaria that she and her husband
had accumulated over the years. Between August and
December 1996 Pritchard, again falsely representing
himself as an agent for the National Civil War Museum,
appraised the Patterson collection and chose items
-- including swords, rifles, pistols, uniforms,
and other Civil War artifacts -- he said he was
acquiring on behalf of the Museum.
Three days after Mrs. Patterson agreed to sell
a portion of her collection to Pritchard to preserve
and display at the Museum, Pritchard sold the majority
of the items to a private Civil War dealer for $50,000.
In May 1997, he sold the remainder of the collection
to another private Civil War dealer for an additional
$15,000.
The Hunt Uniform
In September 1996, a descendant of Lieutenant Colonel
William R. Hunt, an officer in the Confederate States
of America during the Civil War, asked Russ Pritchard,
Jr., (himself a cousin of the Hunt descendant) to
appraise a Hunt uniform. Russ Pritchard, Jr., delivered
the uniform to his son, Russ Pritchard, III, who
made repairs to the uniform. In December 1996, the
Hunt uniform was sent to a textile expert to confirm
its authenticity.
In January 1997, the Pritchards falsely advised
Mr. Hunt that the uniform was not authentic and
that they had given it away to a clothing collection
agency. More than a year later, Pritchard III, sold
the uniform to a private collector for $45,000.
It eventually made its way back to a museum in Tennessee
which bought it from a private dealer for $67,500.
In May 2001, Russ Pritchard, Jr., was indicted for
the theft of the uniform.
The Zouave Uniform
In early 1995, AOPA, Pritchard III, and Juno acquired
a collection of Civil War-related artifacts from
Mr. Ronald Weaver. A sergeant's Union Zouave uniform
was included in the Weaver collection. Pritchard
III and AOPA sold the collection, including the
Union Zouave uniform, to the National Civil War
Museum for $1.8 million. In March 1997, Pritchard
III purchased what he thought was another authentic
Zouave uniform. He later learned that the uniform
was from a Belgium rather than Union military unit,
and was of negligible value.
In March 1997, Pritchard III stole the Union Zouave
uniform from the Harrisburg museum's inventory and
replaced it with the Belgium Zouave uniform. In
the fall of 1997, Pritchard III and Juno sold the
stolen Union Zouave uniform to a private Civil War
dealer for $20,000.
Indicted
In total, the three men -- Russell Pritchard, Jr.,
Russell Pritchard III, and George Juno -- were responsible
for more than $1.2 million in historical memorabilia
fraud. In early 2001, George Juno pleaded guilty
to the theft of the Wilson sword. On December 21,
2001, Russell Pritchard III pleaded guilty to more
than twenty counts including wire fraud, mail fraud,
theft from a museum, and Interstate Transportation
of Stolen Property. On January 18, 2002, Russell
Pritchard, Jr., and a former museum curator at the
Civil War Library and Museum in Philadelphia with
twenty years of experience, were found guilty of
theft from a museum and aiding and abetting after
the fact in the case involving the Hunt uniform.
On July 11, 2002, Russell
Pritchard III was sentenced to one year in prison
and was ordered to repay $830,000 for staging phony
appraisals and defrauding Civil War militaria collectors.
Pritchard III, 39, pleaded
guilty to making false TV appraisals. He also admitted
defrauding artifact owners by giving them low appraisals
on items, then reselling them at much higher prices
and keeping the profits for himself.
The case was investigated by the Philadelphia Division
of the FBI which has been at the forefront of cultural
property investigations for years. Cultural property
crimes include the theft of nationally and internationally
important historical items as well as antiques and
art.
Some other cases that have been successfully investigated
and prosecuted by the FBI are the recovery of more
than 200 items stolen from the Historical Society
of Pennsylvania, valued at more that $2.5 million
and considered to be the largest recovery of United
States historical items in history; the recovery
of an eagle feather war bonnet worn by the Apache
Indian medicine man Geronimo; the recovery of a
Civil War battle flag that was carried in battle
by a black U.S. regiment and one of only five known
to exist; and the recovery of a 2,000-year-old Peruvian
artifact known as a "backflap". These
cases represent the commitment of the FBI to cultural
property crime investigations.
A wise man once said, "Nations flourish or
are destroyed to the extent that their art, literature,
and history are protected or destroyed."
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