tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8174756573570334952.post5698729260132266954..comments2024-03-27T04:46:33.198-07:00Comments on Portable Antiquity Collecting and Heritage Issues: Advice for Buyers of Art or ArtefactsPaul Barfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443302899233809948noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8174756573570334952.post-72048343523634008772010-11-22T09:47:50.942-08:002010-11-22T09:47:50.942-08:00I am not quite sure whether "James" (Pro...I am not quite sure whether "James" (Profile Not Available)'s advice is aimed at me or the Palm Beach Daily News, or SAFE...<br /><br />I just noted the news article. <br /><br />How odd isn't it that the collectors stress so earnestly the HUGE amounts of stuff "legitimately" already in the USA but all the time when the subject comes up its those pesky "trans-border" issues that keep getting poked. <br /><br />Nonetheless, the FBI is making a contribution to the struggle with art crime in the US. It was the FBI who seized the forged paintings Liberman mentions, http://artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=42128 the looted Mesopotamian pieces were seized by the FBI: http://paul-barford.blogspot.com/2010/10/fbi-seizes-looted-mesopotamian.html <br /><br />but I agree the stolen art database is a joke when it comes to archaeological artefacts (search for "coins" and see what I mean - 30 fuzzy photocopies of no use to man nor beast and highly amateurish descriptions). <br /><br />The point about none of them being any good for picking out the freshly-dugups is why the article insists on collecting histories which demonstrate the object in question is not fresh out of the ground. This all comes down to responsible trading and responsible collecting - or should I say a question of business ethics?Paul Barfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10443302899233809948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8174756573570334952.post-50693950554502200762010-11-22T05:43:40.676-08:002010-11-22T05:43:40.676-08:00Your advice is admirable but a bit short of the ma...Your advice is admirable but a bit short of the mark. The proper federal agency to contact is the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They are the agency who has done more than any other plus they have primary jurisdiction at U.S. ports of entry. And since this is a cross-border issue, they have the best tools in their arsenal. <br /><br />The FBI database is not as complete as the Art Loss Register or the Interpol Stolen Works of Art Database, which is available to the public for free. Remember, looted archaeologicaal items are not be in anyone's database since their provenience was never established.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8174756573570334952.post-5079379633683460262010-11-21T01:05:53.903-08:002010-11-21T01:05:53.903-08:00"Experts say that your best protection may be..."Experts say that your best protection may be to get a money-back guarantee from a merchant or dealer."<br /><br />Yes, it would be fair to say it is impossible to be an ethical trader without that.<br /><br />But of course, such a guarantee wouldn't be meaningful and quite possibly insincere unless accompanied by a means for the purchaser to know when he's entitled to claim his money back. The only way that can happen is if he is informed of the name of the dealer's supplier so he can check it is ethically sourced for himself rather than just be assured by the dealer.<br /><br />As a rule of thumb "I can't break my supplier's confidence" can be taken as meaning "there either is or could be a crook in my supply chain but I don't want you to be able to establish that!"Jeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00889609889680163743noreply@blogger.com