Court Says U.S. Owns Historic Bell
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NEWARK, N.J. — A bronze bell salvaged from a sunken Civil War ship belongs to the federal government as a spoil of war, and the victor has no duty to pay the collector who purchased the bell, a federal judge ruled Monday.
U.S. District Judge Dickinson Debevoise ruled that there is “no legal basis” for the government to compensate Richard Steinmetz for the bell once mounted on the Confederate warship Alabama.
Steinmetz, who planned to auction the 15-inch bell stamped with the words “C.S.A. Alabama” for at least $100,000, called the ruling “nothing but legalized theft” and vowed to appeal.
“The doctrine of war is to the victor goes the spoils,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Susan Cassell said.
“The U.S. government never relinquished dominion over those treasures, sunken or not,” Cassell said.
The Union warship Kearsarge sank the Alabama off the French port of Cherbourg in 1864. The bell remained on the sea bottom until recovered by a British diver in 1936.
After passing through several hands, the bell was purchased by Steinmetz from an English antique dealer in 1979 for $14,000.
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