Norwegian Collector Loses Unpapered Artefacts

Norwegian police have reportedly seized a hundred objects from the Schøyen collection. Iraq demands the return of the items. No one is charged in the case (Anders Firing Lunde and Nikolai Melamed Kleivan , 'Økokrim med stor aksjon mot norsk samler' Morgenbladet 2 August 2021).  Presumably these items had no paperwork showing legal excavation of export, giving the collector title. Collectors: these papers are important, a 'reputable' dealer that stocks unpapered items should have that fact as the only reputation you need to avoid them. Stick to those that can show you (and pass on to you with the object) the proper paperwork tracing its collection history back to legal excavation, transfer of title and export.