When buying American Indian artifacts, question the sellers about where and when they obtained the items, get as much as possible in writing and watch out for trickery.The rest (including criticism of Ted Gardiner from dealers) here: Tom Sharpe, 'Artifacts dealer: Don't get snared by 'tricks' of the trade', The New Mexican - August 16, 2010
That's the advice of an Arizona dealer who narrowly avoided arrest after he was approached by the government's chief informant in last year's Four Corners antiquities investigation.
"Fortunately, I was able to pick up on the subtle things he was saying, and I was able to turn down the items he was offering, but nevertheless it was very tricky," he said. "If you weren't listening very, very closely, you would have missed it."
Dace Hyatt of Show Low, Ariz., spoke on a panel hosted by the Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association on Monday, the opening day of the Whitehawk Antique Indian Art Show, where several dealers posted signs assuring buyers that everything for sale was legally obtained.
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Artefacts Dealer Warns
Good advice for those who would buy antiquities:
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2 comments:
Scary, but I don't believe a word of it when they pretend that prehistoric SW Native artifacts are both authentic and legally obtained. Unless they're robbing museums, then you can pretty much bet they come from grave robbing.
Well, no there are items legally on the market in the US, collected before certain laws came in, eroded from creek banks on private land etc etc. There are enough opportunities for legal artefact hunting on private land for example in the US to make illegal artefact hunting on protected sites wholly reprehensible.
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