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This is far from the first time someone has pointed out that Sothebys is selling looted antiquities with bogus provenance. It's no secret that virtually the ent
by wl 3y ago
This is far from the first time someone has pointed out that Sothebys is selling looted antiquities with bogus provenance. It's no secret that virtually the entire antiquities market is guilty of these kinds of things. If you listen to experts in this material outside the institutions that participate in this market, the unanimous message is: don't buy antiquities. The buyers who continue to participate in it are either willfully ignorant or they just don't care.
- MichaelZuo 3y agoReally? There's no way to buy bonafide, genuinely traceable, antiques?
- wl 3y agoPretty much. The lawful flow of antiquities almost entirely ceased when the UNESCO 1970 Convention came into effect in 1972. Even stuff that was lawfully excavated and exported prior to then often has sketchy documentation showing provenance or no documentation at all. Thus, the standards for provenance documentation are low and easily taken advantage of by people peddling looted antiquities with fabricated documentation. Yes, sometimes institutions will deaccession antiquities with impeccable provenance going back to when it was taken from the ground, verifiable through catalogs and other records held by third parties. That's not most of the market.
- MichaelZuo 3y agoHow does one find the auctions or sellers for the latter type of antiques that are well documented?