FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

EVENT: Secretary O'Neill Returns Valuable Renaissance Drawings to Germany on Behalf of U.S. Customs Service

WHEN: Thursday, July 19, 2001 at 11:00 a.m.

WHERE: News Conference/Ceremony at U.S. Customhouse: 6 World Trade Center - Room 716, New York, NY

Secretary of the Treasury, Paul H. O'Neill will return to officials of Germany's Bremen Museum late 15^th century drawings, among them works by Rembrandt, Jacob van Ruisdale and Albrecht Dürer. Dürer's "Women's Bathhouse" has been valued at $10 million. Germany's Appointed Ambassador to the United States Wolfgang Ischinger and U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White will participate in the ceremony.

The 12 ink and chalk drawings were stolen from the Bremen Museum in Germany during WWII, and resurfaced in 1993, when the Azerbaijan Museum in Baku planned to exhibit them. The cache of masterpieces ultimately ended up in New York City; the collection of rare drawings has an estimated value of $15 million.

Recovery of cultural and historical property is an important mission of the U.S. Customs Service. Over the past several years, U.S. Customs has seized in excess of $40 million worth of stolen art and artifacts.