Modern Antiquities - The Looted and the Faked

Dr. David A. Scott, Professor, Department of Art History and Founding Director of the UCLA/Getty Conservation Program is currently devising a course on the subject of "Art: Fakes, Forgeries and Authenticity", and will be presenting some of his ideas in a lecture co-sponsored by the Bay Area Art Conservation Guild and the Ancient Art Council of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco: 
Modern Antiquities: The Looted and the Faked. 

The talk will discuss the perception of theft as it pertains to ancient art and the current crisis in terms of museum acquisitions or holdings acquired after the UNESCO convention date of 1970.  The conflicting arguments in favor of repatriation of art and its retention will be highlighted [...] The modern redefining and expansion of what we call theft complicates the status of these objects and their rightful ownership.  The increasing prevalence of art in our modern world which is either faked or looted, enhances the concept of using displayable copies much as Roman copies of ancient Greek sculptures came to be admired as authentic. The problems of copies and their use will be discussed in the context of the disputed origins of ancient art and the input which conservation has had on several of the important aspects of this subject.

This should be interesting.