Eiteljorg takes artifact ownership dispute to court: Quarrels over origins rare but troubling for museums
A New Mexico man claims an artifact in the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art’s collection was stolen from him in 1984 before it was purchased and donated to the Indianapolis museum in 1989. Artifacts dealer Robert Vandenberg says the American Indian war shirt-a long, fringed shirt made of hide-is worth as much as $200,000 and he is asking the Eiteljorg to hand it over. The museum, on the other hand, says Indianapolis businessman Harrison Eiteljorg had clear…