First in a series of art crime, antiquities trafficking, and provenance book reviews. Authors and publishers, get in touch!
Ransoms and Repatriations: the Maori Motunui panels
Posted on 5 July 2014
Hidden in 1800s by Māori fleeing war, 5 carved panels were smuggled
Two pots, two stories: vignette on the looting of Guatemala’s Maya past
Posted on 1 April 2014
How does an ancient Maya vase end up in a UK museum?
Wrongs and rights at the National Gallery of Australia
Posted on 8 March 2014
Positive international partnership brings Peruvian gold and praise; absurd denial of wrong-doing in stolen idol case brings resounding criticism.
Intact Mexican shaft tomb found, guarded by shaman figurine
Posted on 6 March 2014
A rare, intact western Mexican shaft tomb has been found by archaeologists
The realities of auction catalogue analysis
Posted on 17 February 2014
Last year there was a big rumble-grumble about Sotheby’s Paris’ sale of a portion of the Barbier-Mueller collection of Pre-Columbian antiquities.
So they sold that Barbier-Mueller stuff over the weekend
Posted on 25 March 2013
Sotheby’s finished up their Barbier-Mueller sale of pre-Columbian antiquities and it went, roughly, as expected.
The collection’s issues: Sotheby’s Paris Barbier-Mueller sale 2
Posted on 4 March 2013
In this post I want to talk a little bit about the (very) little that I know about the Barbier-Mueller collection.
Valdivia Figurines and the appeal of ‘the oldest’
Posted on 19 September 2012
The logo for the Ecuadorian Ministry of Culture website is about my favourite thing
Who is googling? Evangelize or let it rest?
Posted on 7 July 2012
>For the past few days a lot of my brain juice has been focused on the website for Trafficking Culture project
Believability, the burden of proof and Occam’s Razor
Posted on 29 April 2012
OR Carl Sagan breaks it down
Antiquities in the Media: How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
Posted on 27 February 2012
The use of antiquities in films and television shows