Saddam Hussein - the goldsmith -

Among newspaper and magazine scraps packed in an inconspicuous shoe box purchased at the Sunday flea market, I found this unexpected article, which, in my humble view, depicted the multi-leveled characteristics of Saddam Hussein; of interest was also the comment on the liberal, often shadowy, trade laws (not only Swiss) that govern the marketing of prestigious collectables. I deduced the article came from an - Art News -magazine or newspaper, published in the UK at the end of the 1991 Gulf War.

Goldsmith's work

by Saddam Hussein for sale

"He finds it relaxing to use his hands"

Geneva. A large circular tray and a coffee-pot worked in solid gold by Saddam Hussein have surfaced in the Swiss market. It has been a surprise to discover that the Presidential palace resounded with the toc-toc of the metalworker's hammer and punch, as hobbies of this nature are not usually considered dignified in Middle Eastern countries, but an exiled Iraqi who was close to him, says Saddam Hussein found it relaxing to work up the elaborate embossing and punch-work that decorates such pieces, familiar to anyone who has visited the bazaars of that part of the world,

As is traditional, the pieces are decorated with pious invocations in praise of the owner, in this case, also the maker. The tray reads: "Glory to myself Saddam Hussein, the exalted sultan, the master that curbs the neck of nations, sultan of the sultans of the Arabs, and the non-Arabs, he that is supported by heaven... the exalted one, the most just, the most liberal, the most knowledgeable, the most glorious etc. etc. The long spouted coffee-pot is inscribed: "To Saddam Hussein, felicity and integrity. May I live as long as the dove coos".

Questions arise as the true ownership of these objects, which, whether one finds them attractive or repulsive from the point of view of their aesthetic qualities and associations, are worth at least their bullion value. ( 128 ozs ).

Have they been looted during the post Gulf War unrest in Iraq... or sent out by the dictator himself? Due to the extremely liberal Swiss laws regarding trade in object of uncertain origin or ownership, ( characterized by one curator at the department of Greek and Roman Antiquities of the British Museum, as belonging to the 'See no evil; hear no evil' school of thinking on cultural property), there will almost certainly be no inconvenient legal come-back for any buyer at the sale, scheduled to take place at the Hotel des Bergues on 1 April. Interest in the pieces is apparently growing: "After all", said one dealer, "the fact that Napoleon was defeated has not stopped a solid market of souvenirs of him, and there are people who collect Hitler's watercolours".