"Serious collectors", "Recommended dealers"

.
In the previous post I quoted a sales spiel which said that an (apparently - let's wait and see) previously undocumented sawn-off inscription from Larsa in Iraq was:

"a very serious collector's item".

This raises the question what is understood on the market by the term "serious collector". Is a serious collector:

- one that takes their responsibilities seriously and refrains from buying anything for their collection about which there is a shadow of doubt about its legitimate origins (in other words, carefully verifies its legitimate origins)....

or is a serious collector:

- one that is so anxious to get pieces to fill holes in their constantly growing collection that they will buy anything they can get their hands on for what they consider a decent price without bothering to even consider where they came from.

So basically from a dealer's point of view, a serious collector can be one whose eyes and ears are open to the problem of helping counter the continuing unethical commercial exploitation of the archaeological resource, or merely those whose wallets are open.

Related to the question of "serious collecting" is that of "reputable dealers". On what is the reputation of dealers based in the world of the collectors? Apart from purely commercial aspects (whether ordered goods arrive in good time and well-packed, money refund practices etc.), it seems from the forums that a principal division is between dealers that sell fakes as real dug-up artefacts, and those that sell real dug-up artefacts. There are a number of (very long) blacklists of dealers that sell fakes, ranging from the bizarre Luxor and Cairo souks tourist tat to the rather well-done copies of the Chinese. It is apparently more difficult to produce a list of the guys that sell authentic dugups. Recently such a list compiled by Ernest Krumbein was published on one of the forums and I feel it is worth drawing attention to it and making it more widely available here to those that may want a checklist of websites and venues where the workings of the antiquities trade can be examined at first hand. There is a parallel list of dugup ancient coin dealers on Reid Goldsborough's website (a well-designed and fine resource for looking at other aspects of collecting too).

Looking through the sales offers indexed in these lists, one is struck by the absolute poverty of any sort of provenance details offered (or even hinted that the successful buyer will receive). Rarely are any export licences mentioned either. It should be noted that these are the "recommended dealers", [dealer recommended to collectors of dugups by other collectors of dugups - I do not in any way endorse any of them]. Goodness knows then what those that are not "recommended" are doing. Here is the list (called by some a "White List", though for obvious reasons, that is a term I will not use here). It was compiled by Ernie Krumbein, a small time US dealer and collector. It is entitled "GOOD DEALERS":

Aaron Gallery Manouchehr and Simon Aaron   http://aarongallery.com/
Alexander Ancient Art, Alexander Biesbroek  http://www.alexanderancientart.com/adm/about.html
Amiguet's Ancient Art Gallery: http://www.antiquesandart.net/
Amphora Coins: http://www.amphoracoins.com/
Ancient Art  (Guy Clark): http://www.ancient-art.com/
Ancient Artifacts: http://www.ancientartifax.com/
Ancient Artifacts & Treasures: http://vcoins.com/ancient/ancientartifacts
Ancient Artifax: http://www.ancientartifax.com/ Many beautiful restorations
Ancient Auction House: http://www.ancientauctionhouse.com/
Ancient Caesar  http://www.ancientcaesar.com/
Ancient Coins and Antiquities: www.trocadero.com/PBJI/
Ancient and Gothic  http://www.allthegalleries.com
Ancient and Oriental: http://www.antiquities.co.uk/
Ancient Relics: http://www.ancientrelics.co.uk/
Ancient Resource: http://www.ancientresource.com/
Ancient_treasures: http://myworld.ebay.com/ancient_treasures
Andrew Hayler
Angel Ancient Art: http://www.angelancientart.com/
Angloantiquities
Anthropos Gallery: http://www.anthroposgallery.com/
Antiquitydealer
Arte Primitivo: http://www.arteprimitivo.com/
Artexibalba: http://www.artexibalba.com/
Artemis Gallery: http://www.artemisgallery.com/
Artifact Man Ancient Coins (mike_n_laurie on eBay)
Aton-gallery
Barry and Darling Ancient Coins https://www.vcoins.com/barry_and_darling-
Harlan J. Berk http://www.harlanjberk.com/
Alexander Biesbroek
Jacques Billen at Galerie Harmekki
Bimueller http://www.ostracon.ch/
Bonhams
Brigantia Ltd.
Brondavid
Buyancient http://www.buyancient.com/
Calgarycoin
Cameleoncoins
Charles Ede Ltd.
C.J. Martin
Coincraft
Collector Antiquities Dr. Bron Lipkin: http://www.collector-antiquities.com
Commonbronze http://www.commonbronze.com/
Coolcoins http://www.coolcoins.com/
Delvechio www.trocadero.com/stores/galleriadelvecchio
Dic.caesar
Henk Dijhkstra http://www.artcollecting.com/
Roswitha Eberwein http://www.antike-kunst-goettingen.de/
Et tu Antiquities http://ettuantiquities.com/
Explorer Ancient Art
Faustus Ancient Art & Jewelry
Fernandez Leventhal Gallery
Fragments of Time http://www.fragmentsoftime.com/
Galerie Harmekki
Galleria Delvecchio www.trocadero.com/stores/galleriadelvecchio
Gaukler’s Antiquities
Vincent Geerling http://www.archea.nl/
Hail-Cesare http://myworld.ebay.com/hail-cesare
Heliosgallery: http://www.heliosgallery.com/
Henty & Jackson: www.romulus2.com/henjack/
Hixenbaugh Ancient Art (Hixantiquitatis on eBay)
Glenn Howard Ancient Art http://www.egyptianantiquities.com/
Howard Nowes http://www.howardnowes.com/
Imperial Coins & Artifacts http://www.imperialcoins.com/
Janus Antiquities
Keith Lloyd http://homepage.ntlworld.com/keith.lloyd/
Kent Art & Antiques
Kent Bond Gallery
Khronos Ancient Art http://www.khronosgallery.com/
Kini Products Kim Ghobrial
http://www.kimghob.com/imports/home.phpLands Beyond Pre-Columbian Art Gallery
Lodge Antiquities
Lost World Artifacts http://www.lostworldartifacts.com/
mdry
Maltergalleries http://www.maltergalleries.com/
Medusa http://www.medussa-art.com/
Minerva Ancients http://www.minervaancients.com/
New Empire Antiquities http://myworld.ebay.com/hail-cesare
Nomisantiquities
Ostracon Gallery http://www.ostracon.ch/
PBJI Ancient Coins and Antiquities
Pars Antiques
Parthenon Gallery
Passage to Antiquity (Passtoantiquity on eBay) http://www.passagetoantiquity.com/ (Ernie Krumbein)
Petronius_ii
Gunter Puhze www.galeria-puhze.de
Relics of the Nile
Riyhahi Ancient Art
Romanrelics http://www.romanrelics.com/
Royal Athena http://www.royalathena.com/
Steve Rubinger http://www.antiquainc.com/
Rupert Wace http://www.rupertwace.co.uk/
Sands Of Time http://www.dcancientart.com/
Sasson Ancient Art
Seaby Antiquities
Six Bid http://www.sixbid.com/
Stevenjohn03
Stormboek http://myworld.ebay.com/stormbroek
Tetragon Harrisâ's Arcade
Timeless History http://myworld.ebay.com/ timelesshistory on eBay
Time Machine Co. http://www.timemachineco.com/
Trinity Antiques http://stores.ebay.co.uk/TRINITY-ANTIQUES
Tuppennyblue http://stores.ebay.com/tuppennyblue
Vcoins (many dealers) http://www.vcoins.com/
Wallis Gallery www.trocadero.com/buyancient/catalog/html
Windsor Antiquities http://www.windsorantiquities.com/
World Artifacts www.trocadero.com/worldartifacts
Zeus_gallery
Mieke Zilverberg www.artonline.nl/zilverbert/
Zuzim Judaea http://www.zuzimjudaea.com/

Even though several of those names are duplicates, this very selective list gives an idea of the size of the market, if each of them has to shift enough items per month to make a living (and keep a staff and shop running in several cases), it is clear that large numbers of dugup artefacts are changing hands on a daily basis. To that we can add ebay sales of metal detected items and sales that are made through less public venues. Most of this trade is as we know carried out entirely "no-questions-asked". So where, in fact, are all these objects coming from? Yes, some are items that have been on the market since the early decades of the twentieth century, but with the increase of the market since the 1970s and the explosion in the 1990s (advent of the metal detector and advent of Internet sales respectively) this source is insufficient to fulfil the demand. How many of these dealers if asked could provide documentation proving irrefutably that all the items they are selling had verifiable legitimate origins (eg out of the ground and out of the source country before 1970)? Well, until responsible collectors start asking that question of the dealers, I guess we will never know - though I for one have my suspicions about what the answer would be if it was available.