Long-time dealers Ali and Hicham Aboutaam are under scrutiny, as authorities in multiple countries look into how Islamic State finances itself by trafficking in ancient objects. In early March, Swiss law-enforcement officials pulled over a vehicle on a Geneva road and, after a search, discovered an ancient oil lamp, people familiar with the matter say.…
The following article, copied from artsy.net, and written by John Zarobell, gives a very good impression about the functioning of freeports. Art is one of the most unregulated industries on the planet. Auction houses provide a space for exchange with prices determined in an open public forum, but many aspects of the auction house business…
On July 13th of 2017, the European Commission proposed new rules to stop imports in the Union of cultural goods illicitly exported from their country of origin (see the press release). Cultural goods are items of which countries consider that they have great artistic, historical or archaeological value and which belong to the country’s cultural…
The new issue of the International Journal of Cultural Property is available now, with contributions discussing deaccession, the status of fauna as cultural property, the role Sotheby’s has played in the collection of Maya antiquities, the fascinating case of the Buddhist Mummy, and other contributions.
Bulgarian officials said Friday they had recovered over 5,600 smuggled antiquities and arrested 22 members of two international smuggling rings in a joint operation with Turkey and France. A tip-off by the Bulgarian services eighteen months ago has led to the dismantling of “two international organized crime groups with members of different nationalities engaged in…
Sotheby’s offers the upper part of a Greek marble funerary stele on his next auction in London, on June 12, 2017 (lot 8) (see picture on the right). The funerary stele derives clearly from the confiscated Gianfranco Becchina archive according to Dr. Christos Tsirogiannis, a forensic archaeologist and Affiliated Researcher in the Scottish Centre for…
The Council of Europe Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property was adopted on 3 May 2017 and came into force on 19 May 2017 (Council of Europe Treaty Series no. 221). The Treaty is open for signature by the member States and the non-member States which have participated in its elaboration and for accession by other non-member…
Seven ancient statues and pottery vessels are headed back to their homeland in Italy after authorities said they tracked down the stolen items in New York City. Dating back as far as the eighth century B.C., the artifacts were looted by Italian tomb raiders in the 1990s, then were smuggled out of the country and…
“Save Culture, end trafficking”. New infographic tells you all about UNESCO’s work in combating illicit trafficking. UNESCO Culture sector has published a new infographic, highlighting UNESCO’s work in fighting against illicit trafficking in cultural property. It explains basic concepts of trafficking and illustrates the global effort in implementing the UNESCO 1970 convention on the Means…
Asma Ibrahim, director of the Museum and Art Gallery Department, State Bank of Pakistan, gave a presentation on ‘Illicit Trade in Antiquities: The Tale of the Persian Mummy’ at the Aga Khan University this week. “The trafficking of culture goods is a growing problem,” Ibrahim said, citing numerous examples of thefts from museums, monuments, religious…
EAA-Community on the Illicit Trade in Cultural Material 