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Robert K. Wittman, a retired FBI agent, was instrumental in the recovery of the lost manuscript of Pearl S. Buck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "The Good Earth." contributed What: Priceless: The Recovery Story of Pearl S. Buck's "The Good Earth" manuscript and more, hosted by the Pearl S. Buck Volunteer Association Posted: Thursday, March 24, 2011 6:05 am | Updated: 8:09 am, Thu Mar 24, 2011. Art crime investigator to tell his tales By Theresa Hegel, staff writer Calkins Media, Inc. Doylestown - The former FBI agent played a role in recovering the lost manuscript of Pearl S. Buck's "The Good Earth." Robert Wittman's 20-year career with the FBI took him all over the world from Miami to Marseilles, tracking down purloined paintings and missing manuscripts.He recovered more than $225 million worth of stolen art and cultural property. But the founder of the bureau's Art Crime Team will tell you that art theft is not as glamorous as what you see in the movies."Armed robbery is armed robbery. + The only thing different is that you're going after art, not drugs," Wittman said. "It's much more interesting when you talk about recovering a Monet than a Chevrolet." Tracking down stolen art and other "pieces of cultural property" requires a different style of investigation, he said. For example, you generally can't use fingerprint dust, and you have to have some specialized knowledge of art history.But, Wittman added, "It's still a law enforcement activity that involves stress and danger." Wittman will be speaking Monday at the Doylestown branch of the Bucks County Free Library about his FBI career, and in particular his role in recovering the long-lost manuscript of Pearl S. Buck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "The Good Earth." The free program is hosted by the Pearl S. Buck Volunteer Association, which raises money for Hilltown-based Pearl S. Buck International to preserve Buck's historic farmhouse and run the organization's children's programs. "We are excited, it's really fun," said Sandy Weikel, president of the volunteer association. "Part of our mission is getting the story of Pearl Buck and her legacy out there." "The Good Earth" manuscript - all 400 hand-edited pages - had been lost for about four decades. It was recovered in June 2007 when Susan Dempster found the text and other documents in a wicker suitcase in her cluttered basement. Dempster's mother, Helen Shaddinger, now deceased, had been Buck's secretary for 25 years. Dempster brought the papers to a Philadelphia auction house. One of the experts there contacted the curator of Buck's Hilltown house and the FBI's art crime investigators.But the Buck manuscript - which was valued in excess of $150,000 - is only one of many cases Wittman plans to discuss at Monday's lecture.While he was working on the Buck case, he was also going undercover in Miami, Marseilles and Barcelona to recover several paintings stolen from an art museum in Boston.In fact, 90 percent of the work he did was undercover, posing as an authenticator, art expert, shady dealer or professor, Wittman said.It can take thieves quite a while to sell the pieces they steal, and the stolen art and artifacts are often missing for quite a long time. It took 138 years before Wittman and his team recovered an original copy of the Bill of Rights that had been stolen by a Union soldier in 1865. In 2003, a group of unscrupulous dealers tried to sell the historic document to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia for $4 million, he said."The real art in art theft is not the stealing, it's the selling," Wittman said. "It's very difficult to sell these pieces because they're so well-known. Oftentimes, they're good thieves, but they're terrible businessmen."Wittman retired from the FBI in 2008. Last year, he published a New York Times best-selling memoir "Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures" with John Shiffman. He also heads a private security and recovery consulting firm that serves auction houses, collectors, galleries and other groups to protect their art and cultural objects.Wittman hopes to give his audience Monday the "inside back story" on many of his cases and give them tips on how to protect their own collections."I think people will walk away with an appreciation of how important art is and how valuable it is," he said.
 * Art crime investigator to tell his tales                 **