New York Magazine Caught Out Publishing Advice About How to Buy Antiquities at Source Attempts Damage Control

 

The editors of Inside Hook, in response to ATHAR's exposition of the real world context of their fluff article for the "affluent gent" about buying cultural artefacts (from other people's cultures)

InsideHook@InsideHookW odpowiedzi do @ATHARProject 

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have reached out to Casa Berbere and asked them for comment immediately. If they don't have a satisfactory response to everything you've laid out here, we will likely retract the article.

Article's still up. I don't know about you, but I would like to see that response... Maybe we got these dealers all wrong? 

New York "Affluent Gents'" Magazine and the Conflict Antiquities Trade

    Colonial loot on sale in US    

Inside Hook based in New York styles itself as “the go-to news and luxury lifestyle recommendation platform for the affluent, on-the-go gent”. Recently, their journalist Eli London talked to some 'veteran treasure hunters' Zaid Al-Hakim and Kai Hansen, in Los Angeles (How to Buy Cool Sh*t Abroad Without Getting Ripped Off' ["We talk to the veteran treasure hunters at Casa Berbere about what to do and where to go"], Inside Hook 11th Aug 2021 [title later amended to: 'Casa Berbere’s Guide to Buying Cultural Artifacts While Abroad'):

"Casa Berbere is a newly launched ecommerce business looking to bring cultural artifacts from all over the world into your home, no matter where you live [...] expanded to a huge showroom boasting not just rugs, but antiquities from the four corners of the world. They work with a wide network of reputable dealers from Thailand to Tunisia".

The journalist asked them for tips about how US buyers can purchase items in "a responsible, non-exploitative way", the answer was surprising:  

Cultural responsibility varies from region to region. If you are going to a country to purchase something specific, do a lot of research beforehand. Look up items to determine if they are on any export exempt lists. Look up companies. Email people. [...] Buying from someone who takes the time to engage with you is one of the easiest ways to be responsible. It also connects you to them in a way that goes beyond just the transaction, helping to forge a personal connection — that too is culturally responsible [...] if someone is too earnest in showing you anything — a certificate, a government document, etc. — it’s probably not legitimate. The real dealers do enough business where they don’t need to convince you of who they are.

There seems to be a problem here understanding what the paperwork associated with artefacts intended for purchase and export is for. The importers should assure themselves that the item is licit and then pass that on to their customre who can then legitimate their possession of it in any eventual resale. 

Asked if there were "any underrated regions collectors should look to explore" Casa Berbere announced:

 We are focusing on Southern Turkey for the moment, along with Tunisia. We are also planning a trip to Iraq. Now, we recognize many of these areas are unstable, and we would not recommend going there unless you have contacts on the ground, but this is also where the greatest opportunity to find treasure exists. 

The ATHAR project posted a reaction on Twitter starting here. According to them, there are a number of problems, for example Tunisia one of the countries they mention working with, doesn’t legally allow the sale/export of antiquities (and there is a CCPIA MOU on the topic between the US and Tunesia) so it is not clear how "reputable" the dealers Casa Berbere collaborates with really are. "The US-Tunisia MOU to stop the import of antiquities from Tunisia was signed due to a surge of antiquities looting in the country. The US is a major market for those looted goods". There are also comments on

"the sourcing of material for this new e-commerce platform for Casa Berbere’s “museum quality” pieces, which @InsideHook makes it a point to discuss. Lots of talk here about digital sourcing and authenticity. Zero about provenance or legality [...] What’s interesting is that it appears the owners of Casa Berbere are aware of expert restrictions and the existence of fake documents. That being the case, we have to assume they’re aware of the MOUs restricting imports of antiquities from Tunisia, Turkey, and Iraq… BUT" [...] Casa Berbere owners say that they are focusing on Tunisia, southern Turkey, and Iraq.* All places rife with looting and antiquities trafficking. All have laws banning antiquities sales and MOUs banning antiquity imports to the US. HIGHLY irresponsible of @insidehook to promote..

ATHAR point out that @insidehook in apparently promoting Iraq as "needing attention from collectors" "must have missed the 17,000 stolen Iraq artifacts being returned by the US" and in focussing attention on purchasing cutural artefacts from southern Turkey, they are promoting buying from a "known territory for antiquities trafficked from war-torn Syria (a war crime), and just this week Turkish authorities arrested 92 for trafficking antiquities to the US". Noting that the article beings with a picture of two "Nigerian" leaopard statues with no provenance stated for $10000, ATHAR suggest "Casa Berbere must be unaware of the fight to retrieve bronzes" from this region, "Nigeria has been fighting desperately to retrieve the priceless antique bronzes that were stolen during colonialization and distributed to wealthy museums across the world". As for

Any outlet that promotes antiquities collecting from southern Turkey and Iraq because that’s “WHERE THE GREATEST OPPORTUNITY TO FIND TREASURE EXISTS” is irresponsible. The opportunity exists because of conflicts. @InsideHook is quite literally promoting a war crime.

What is even more disturbing about this is that its editors providing news and advice "for the affluent, on-the-go gent" are apparently totally unaware of the issues raised in the trade in such items. One almost expects that with such lack of awareness, we will possibly find elsewhere in their website we will find artcles about ivory tie-pins and toilet seat covers made of real leopard skins. * In the case of iraq, the document is not actually a CCPIA MOU.

Afghanistan war: Taliban capture three regional capitals

                                         map: BBC                               

BBC: "The Taliban have captured three regional capitals in Afghanistan as they continue to make sweeping territorial gains in the country. They seized control of the key northern city of Kunduz on Sunday, as well as Sar-e-Pul and Taloqan. It means five regional capitals have fallen to the militants since Friday, with Kunduz being their most important gain this year. [...] Violence has escalated across Afghanistan after US and other international forces began to withdraw their troops from the country, following 20 years of military operations."

A Timeline

 

Welcome to oops

it seems to me we have the same process going on over failure to recognise the damaging effects of Collection-Driven exploitation of the archaeological record. 

Hat tip: Brendan Lewis

UKDFD Milestone

                           50k                        

According to a UK Detecting finds Recording Network news release:

UKDFD recently reached a milestone of 50,000 published records [...] For the large majority of records, our identifications are supported by cited references to respected sources. In turn, the material recorded on the UKDFD is cited in academic papers, popular publications and hobby websites. Students are using the database to conduct research and publish articles and guides. Our team member Bob Green, for example, has referenced UKDFD records in his Finds Research Group paper, 'Post-Cast Modifications to Anglo-Saxon Strap-Ends', and Rod Blunt has made much use of the records for his British Coins & Artefacts website. Brian Read's popular books on the identification of buttons, clasps, thimbles, etc. feature many illustrations based on UKDFD records. In addition to the above, many unique and significant finds have been recorded on the database. [...] Many of our members have been with us almost since we launched UKDFD in 2005, and have personal galleries of finds numbering many hundreds, or even more in a few cases!

Yet even so, the effects of 15 years effort is the equivalent of less than two finds each from the 27000 detectorists of England and Wales.* That's how much members care. And of course those members' collections of "many hundreds and often more" of artefacts show that the Heritage Action Artefact Erosion Counter may be way too cautious in more than one aspect. Some of those finds may well be unique and significant - but while the objects may be recorded on the database created "by detectorists for detectorists", the context it was ripped from will not be. Anyway, the sum of 50000 objects is in fact just 1/28th of the additions to the PAS record in the equivalent period (which in itself is just a fraction of the number of items pocketed by artefact hunters in England and Wales in that same time).
Note how these people are proud they used such a difficult tool "citing references to respected sources" (i.e., using books). I doubt very much "material recorded on the UKDFD is cited in academic papers" since teh academic would have to pay to access it. So the members of the public whose heritage is beiong pocketed by these folk will have no way of seeing what has gone. Also note:

We are sometimes asked if it is OK for a member to record other people's finds. This is fine as long as the finder's permission is obtained, the find-spot details are known to be reliable, and the required details and images are available. In such cases, the record will appear in the member's own gallery, and the upload used will be from their own recording package. We would obviously prefer that finders subscribe in their own name, but we understand that not everyone wants to make this commitment.

Particularly those who want to launder items using this database, but not having them traceable through it directly to them. How are the finder details "known (or verified) to be relable"?

*50 000 finds recorded in 15 years is the equivalent of 3,333 per year (64.1 per week).

Buying 'Ancient Jewellery?" Watch out for Ungrounded Fakes

                        Jack Ogden                   

Rob Bates, 'The Ancient Jewelry Market Has A Counterfeit Problem' jckonline.com August 06, 2021

As a celebrated jewelry historian, Dr. Jack Ogden (pictured) gets to see some of the most impressive pieces in the world. But lately, he’s been spending much of his time looking at equally impressive fakes.[...] Ogden, the founder and current president of the Society of Jewellery Historians, estimates that about half the “antique” gold jewelry on the market is actually fake. And while he’s able to catch most of it, he also suspects that well-crafted knockoffs have landed at auction houses, in high-end collections, and even in museums. Ogden has seen items that purportedly came from ancient Greece, Rome, and the Byzantine Empire; if one person made it, chances are, another has faked it. “It’s a huge business,” he says. “Some of these items fetch hundreds and thousands of pounds. In the last 20 years, it’s grown exponentially. You figure they use maybe £20,000 in raw materials, and they get maybe £200,000 on the other end.” The quality of the fakes varies wildly, he says. “I’ve seen some idiotic things. But some real nice ones.” [...] Ogden admits that, even though he’s a noted authority who authenticates for museums, he’s likely been fooled too. “I reckon I pick out about 90%,” he says. “Some of the really good ones are almost impossible to tell from the originals. They are done by incredible craftsmen. [The forgers] know the materials, they know what technology to use. They can easily research all this information online.”

The careless and underinformed collector is the loser:

Of course, even when a fake is spotted, it isn’t easy to catch the perpetrator. “It’s very tricky, legally. The dealer will say he didn’t know it was fake, and it’s hard to prove he didn’t. It becomes very hard to track these people down.” [we should] “Openly recognize that much of the ancient art on the market or displayed in a public or private collection is there on the basis of one or more opinions that [it is] genuine. An opinion is just an educated guess. As the quote says, ‘Assume nothing, question everything.’” “For the inexpert buyer,” he continued, “the wise advice is probably still what the Italian antiquarian Ricardo Nobili said almost exactly a century ago—buy old jewelry as if it were modern and be pleasantly surprised if it turns out to be old.”

Or perhaps just not buy this sort of thing at all. Thinking just two seconds will reveal where you'd get a matched pair of ancient earrings. No not lost in the bushes on the corner of a field in the fkluster of a summer's day amorous moment, but ripped out of graves. Fingerrings? Lost on a forest path while going to pick blueberries? Or ripped out of a grave where they were deposited by bereaved relatives? A complete necklace? Left behind after a dip in the river? Or stolen from a tomb? Who is buying this stuff kidding themselves that (a) it is genuine and (b) not largely from desecration of cemeteries? 

Map by AAAS (https://aaas.org/page/ancient-history-modern-destruction-assessing-status-syria-s-tentative-world-heritage-sites-7#Mari) on damage done to Dura-Europos by 2014. Red, looting in the city, yellow, looting of thousands of graves in the city's cemeteries. 

      

Amateur-driven, Object-centred "Best Practice" in British Archaeology Today

 

Partnership:

We Dig Heritage @WDHUK1 6 g.
W odpowiedzi do @Hillfortian @archaeologyuk i @ChilternsAONB
Great to see this partnership between a Responsible Dectorists and Archaeology leading to a correctly excavated find. Congratulations to all and great example of best prastice

and all done professionally for free. Way to go... Let's just leave it to the amateurs to dictate how and when to dig up the archaeological record - but refuse to fund any of the work. And while that all-important (for some) "find" has been dug out, what about its actual context? Not only within a particular below-plough-level (or in-pasture) deposit, but within its site context? How extensively and reliably that was investigated, analysed and reported can't be judged as part of the public debate, because it's in the form of a grey literature report.