ADCAEA Dealers - Updated list

"In order to qualify for dealer membership within
ADCAEA, a dealer must have an established reputation for
honesty, integrity and professionalism among their peers". 

I see that despite a few problems at the beginning, the Association of Dealers and Collectors of Ancient and Ethnographic Art formed just over a year ago has been growthing itself. The organization has shown itself to fit all the stereotypes about antiquities dealers, beginning with the organization's views on the 'Culture war', then on US museums retaining artefacts stolen from foreign museum stores, their approach to discussion of the issues, their perverted Washington-tainted ideas of international co-operation. More recently there has been their cynical manipulation of the news from the Middle East to condone no-questions-asked antiquities trading (here too), their carelessness about the facts, and their opposition to HR 1993  (US 'Act to protect and preserve international cultural property at risk due to political instability, armed conflict, or natural or other disasters' - see here too). In other words a thoroughly bad lot. Here is my discussion of their "Code of Conduct" and what turned out to be the final draft of their so-called "Due Diligence Guidelines"

There are now some more dealers willing to add their name to their list of affiliated purveyors of pieces of the past. The original three dealers were:

Susan McGover-Huffmann's "Sands of Time Ancient Art" (Poplar St NW,Washington DC)
the Hixenbaugh family  Hixenbaugh Ancient Art Ltd (West 23rd Street, New York)
Guy Rothwell, "Antiquities Online" [a "trading arm of Ancient Relics - Old World Antiquities, Precolumbian Art and Historical Collectables"] ( [Guy Rothwell] High Street, Southampton Hampshire, UK) who had problems with the CCPIA and his pre-columbian artefacts.

To these has now been added

Gabriel Vandervort, 'Ancient Resource" Los Angeles, CA USA (he of the "Hamdy Sakr collection" - here too?)
Henk Dijkstra, "Anubis ancient Art" (Koopvaardijhof, 3071PK Rotterdam)
Allan J. Anawati,  "Medusa{ancient} art" (Medusa Ancient Art, Inc.) - Alexis Nihon Blvd, Montreal, Canada.
Alexander Biesbroek "Alexander Ancient Art" ( Papelaan street, Voorschoten, The Netherlands) 

It is interesting to see the guarantees offered up front.  

McGovern-Huffmann offers a guarantee of authenticity and provenance, "we conduct due diligence to ensure the item, to the best of our knowledge, has not been illegally obtained from an excavation, architectural monument, public institution or private property. Wherever possible, reference is made to existing collections or publications". The phrasing about "excavations" is unclear, it is the phrasing of the IADAA code  and the ADA code as well as Huffmann's own.   No mention of any paperwork supplied to purchaser confirming due diligence, licit origins and export, and collecting history.

Hixenbaugh apparently does not explicitly offer any on the website, beyond "guaranteed authentic" in the sales offers. No mention of any paperwork supplied to purchaser confirming due diligence, licit origins and export, and collecting history.

Rothwell - while the front page says "all our antiquities are guaranteed to be genuine ancient artefacts and are legally acquired from the open market" (sic), the wording of the actual details differs. No mention of any paperwork supplied to purchaser confirming due diligence, licit origins and export, and collecting history.

Vandervort says his antiquities are "older than dirt, guaranteed authentic [...] My artifacts are all authenticated and legally acquired, and come from old collections, museum deaccessions, auction houses and institutions throughout North America, Europe and Australia, and I stand by my coins and artifacts with a 100% guarantee of authenticity". No mention of any paperwork supplied to purchaser confirming due diligence, licit origins and export, and collecting history.

Anawati, merely says: "rest assured that all our objects are genuine ancient works of art, backed by our lifetime guarantee of authenticity". No mention of any paperwork supplied to purchaser confirming due diligence, licit origins and export, and collecting history. 

Biesbroek has the firmest on the front page: "Every object we sell is carefully vetted for ancient authenticity and is guaranteed to be genuine and as described [...] We only deal in artefacts that have been legally acquired and exported from their countries of origin and comply with all international treaties and laws governing the sale of Antiquities". The actual wording of the guarantee applies only to authenticity. No mention of any paperwork supplied to purchaser confirming due diligence, licit origins and export, and collecting history.

When you look at the sales offers themselves, the majority of the "collecting histories" cited are vague in the extreme with no indication that any documentation confirming details will be made available. But then to have an established "reputation for" best practice is not at all the same as continuing to demonstrate it.