Abstract: This article looks at beliefs of collectors about archeology and antiquities in order to explain why modern collectors are willing to tolerate a certain amount of illegality in the process of getting antiquities from the ground to their collections. These justifications for purchasing potentially looted artifacts work by providing reasons to explain why the collector is a better owner for the antiquity than the government of its country of origin. The justifications fall into in two main strands: first, that country of origin does not deserve to own the antiquity; and second, that the collector possesses some special power of understanding of the object that gives him or her the right to own it.The first is what we see throughout the productions of people like Peter Tompa and the Ms Fitz-Gibbon of the ACCP, while the second can be seen on some of he discussion lists and blogs where collectors discuss the objects they have obtained as trophies.
Vignette: Self-centred bastards and their self-delusions are also on display in the collectors' world
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