The Vast Majority of Antiquities Sold Online Are Probably Looted or Fake, Report Says

Portable antiquities

This is what some of us have been warning all along: Julia Halperin, 'The Vast Majority of Antiquities Sold Online Are Probably Looted or Fake, Report Says' ArtNetNews November 1, 2017:

Planning to buy an ancient coin on eBay? Perhaps it would be wise to reconsider. Up to 80 percent of the antiquities for sale online are likely looted or fake, according to new research. [...]  novice collectors now have unprecedented access to un-vetted material thanks to the rapid growth of outlets like Facebook, WhatsApp, eBay, and Amazon. “Social media democratized the art market, but it also democratized who can be victimized by the art market [...]  The potent combination of new potential buyers, enterprising sellers, and an unregulated marketplace makes it financially viable to trade in low-value and potentially high-volume material 

In other words, precisely the cheap artefacts that dealers are unwilling to spend time documenting properly.