by ADA | Aug 12, 2026 | Views |
Scotland has published the 2024 review of its treasure trove system. A new scheme that promises a constructive way forward for preservation and record keeping, enthusiasts and the art and antiques industry, is the result.
One of the most important developments for collectors, dealers and auctioneers, concerns the treatment of what are now termed ‘Legacy Finds’.
For the purposes of the new policy, ‘Legacy Finds’ are archaeological objects recovered in Scotland on or before 31 December 1999 that may never have been assessed or recorded under the modern treasure trove system.
Archaeological finds discovered in Scotland are subject to a different system from that operating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Under Scots common law, archaeological finds do not automatically belong to either the finder or the landowner. Instead, they fall to the Crown as ownerless property (bona vacantia).
It is essential to remember that under Scottish rules Treasure is not limited to precious metal or stones; it can include a very wide range of artefacts, including wood, glass and textiles, and even worked human and animal bones. Most finds that come under the rules will be over 100 years old, but more modern finds may also qualify.
Ownerless status of finds
In Scotland, finds by metal detectorists and others are not the property of either the finder or the landowner. Instead, they are considered ‘ownerless’ (bona vacantia) pending assessment by the authorities and a possible claim by the Crown.
Responsibility for managing ownerless property in Scotland rests with the King’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer (KLTR), while archaeological finds are administered specifically through the Treasure Trove Unit (TTU), based at the National Museum of Scotland, which operates on the KLTR’s behalf.
If the Crown does not claim the item, it is disclaimed and returned to the finder with a Certificate of disclaim, which forms part of its provenance.
Where the Crown does claim the find in the public interest, any museum wishing to acquire the object must raise the Finder Reward, from public funds, reserves or private donations.
Where a find is not claimed for a museum collection, it is recorded and returned to the finder together with a disclaim certificate, which confirms that the Crown will not exert its right to claim the find for the nation.
Compensation for finders
The Finder Reward is an ex-gratia compensation payment linked to the market value of the object. That value will be decided by the Treasure Trove Unit (TTU), a panel of experts comprising a team of archaeologists and finds specialists based at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh; it is thought that the panel will include a commercial valuer from the industry. Like the PAS in England, it is thought the value will be based on the hammer price of a similar piece being sold at auction, although this is not expressly stated. Commercial expertise will be of particular importance where similar items have not yet or rarely appeared on the market.
Before the modern reporting regime became widely established, some Scottish archaeological finds entered private collections and the art market without ever being formally assessed or recorded. While there is no statute of limitations on treasure trove in Scotland, the Review has provided a pragmatic way of dealing with these historic finds.
The ‘Legacy Finds’ concept addresses this and covers certain categories of Scottish archaeological finds found before 31 December 1999.
The aim is not simply to determine ownership but also to improve the archaeological record. Collectors, dealers and auctioneers who encounter finds that seem to come under Scottish treasure trove, but are not accompanied by a disclaim certificate, are encouraged to contact the Treasure Trove Unit (TTU) and provide information that will allow the object to be assessed and, where appropriate, recorded.
The TTU will usually require:
- Clear photographs;
- Dimensions and a brief description;
- Known provenance;
- Details of previous ownership, sales or publication history
The Review adopts a pragmatic approach to many older finds. In general, the KLTR will not normally seek to claim finds recovered in Scotland on or before 31 December 1999 where there is evidence that:
- Finds that were bought or sold before 31 December 1999;
- Finds that have demonstrably been outside of Scotland since before 31 December 1999;
- Finds assessed by the Treasure Trove Unit to have been public knowledge before 31 December 1999, whereby the Crown had already had an opportunity to exert its claim.
“Legacy Finds reported to the Treasure Trove Unit are assessed and recorded, with consideration given to their archaeological significance,” the review explains. “In most cases falling within the Legacy Finds policy, the KLTR will not normally seek to claim the object. However, where a find is claimed for a museum collection, the Treasure Trove system provides for the payment of a Finder Reward award, normally reflecting its market value. This helps ensure that significant objects can enter public collections while providing reassurance to collectors, dealers and auctioneers who come forward with previously unassessed material.”
What to do with a Find
Dealers wanting to sell a Legacy Find should first contact the TTU at least a month before the proposed sale to allow for the assessment to be conducted. Having said that, the review also states: “While the treasure trove system is not simply a service for finders, in our judgment the target of 12-month average completion times for straightforward cases, which is referenced as the norm in the Code of Practice, is a reasonable basis for expectation and delivery. It is understood that complex cases require more time.”
Where appropriate, the TTU may issue a Certificate of disclaim confirming the Crown has chosen not to exercise its rights over the finds.
For the trade, this potentially offers a route to obtaining greater certainty regarding provenance while also contributing valuable information to Scotland’s archaeological record.
The Treasure Trove Review, which includes additional investment in the system, hopes that before too long it will be possible to upload all this information via an app.
Currently, the system does not provide a detailed breakdown of reasons either for a claim or a disclaim, but this will be reviewed further.
A balanced system
“While participation in the treasure trove system is not voluntary, the Review recognises that the system benefits from meeting reasonable expectations on the part of those who experience it,” it concludes.
For museums, finders and the trade, the new approach to Legacy Finds seeks to balance protection of Scotland’s archaeological heritage with a practical recognition that many objects have circulated openly for decades. By encouraging their assessment and recording, the reforms should improve the archaeological record while providing greater certainty for collectors, dealers and auctioneers.
“We have come to the clear view that the resources available to the treasure trove system, specifically for operational funding of the Treasure Trove Unit, have not kept pace with the growth of the workload over the last 20 years, and that under-resourcing has had a negative impact on resilience in the system, confidence and participation,” the review explains. “Taken together, all our recommendations for reform rely on, and contribute to, a realistic plan for sustaining the system financially.”
In summary, the proposals are impressive and designed to improve consistency and transparency in rolling out the new regulations, thereby instilling increased confidence in the system among museums, the public and the trade.
More information can be found in the Treasure Trove Scotland: Code of Practice
Caption to the image shown above:
Artefacts covered by the new Scottish treasure trove rules can be of any age, from ancient to modern, and almost any material. Here are some examples. Clockwise from top left:
– An enamelled coppery alloy Roman Iron Age harness fitting, 1st or 2nd century AD.
– A late Medieval gilded silver heart-shaped brooch, c.1300-1500 AD.
– A Bronze Age tanged arrowhead of flint, set in a silver bezel, so-called ‘elf shot’ amulet charm, reuse in 17th/18th century.
– A gold zoomorphic annular Castellani brooch in the form a ram’s head, in the archaeological revivalist style, 19th/early 20th century.
– A gilded and enamelled copper alloy National Association of Women Workers badge, early 20th century.
by ADA | Jul 28, 2026 | Uncategorized, Views |
After five years of dialogue, UNESCO has finally published its revised Code of Ethics for the international art market. The idea is that it should set improved standards of conduct that follow the latest ethical guidelines to protect national interests and prevent crimes such as looting and trafficking.
The Code is currently voluntary. Will it work?
The approach, tone and lack of precision leave it facing an uphill struggle to convince market professionals that it will also protect their interests.
The problems start in the first sentence: “Members of the trade in cultural property recognise the key role that trade has traditionally played in the dissemination of culture and in the distribution to museums and private collectors of foreign and domestic cultural property for the education and inspiration of all peoples.”
Yes, the trade does recognise this, but the question is whether UNESCO recognises it. No acknowledgement here.
Sentence two brings its own issues: “They [the trade] acknowledge the worldwide concern over the illicit trafficking of stolen, illegally alienated, clandestinely excavated and illegally exported and imported cultural property, in line with the MONDIACULT 2022 Declaration, and accept the following principles of professional practice intended to safeguard cultural property from criminal activities.”
Risk of undermining human rights
What does ‘illegally alienated’ mean in this context? No explanation appears. And the assumption that the trade falls in line with the Mondiacult 2022 Declaration is misguided. That Declaration makes a commitment to return cultural property to its countries of origin even if it was not removed illegally. The Declaration makes assumptions about ethics in relation to cultural property that are based on questionable current trends in ideology rather than a broader, long-standing moral and common-law principle. For instance, it stresses the importance of human rights but then sets out to undermine those rights when it comes to the private ownership of cultural property, by demanding an end to transactions where provenance documentation is incomplete. It appears to call on UNESCO to act beyond its remit.
The whole approach to how the trade should adopt and commit to the Code is unsettling. Far from being constructive and persuasive, the tone is menacing and manipulative. Traders who voluntary abide by the Code “should be recognised as having committed themselves to a set of professional standards”. This is unnecessary in the case of those who have already done so in becoming members of trade associations that have codes of practice – a stricter commitment than that required by a code of ethics.
Likewise, “Traders who have decided to abide by the principles of the Code will submit a declaration to that effect to UNESCO, as well as to their professional association. Professional associations of traders that support UNESCO in promoting their members’ compliance with the principles of the Code will submit a declaration to that effect to the UNESCO Secretariat.”
None of this sounds voluntary.
What a ‘living document’ might mean
What happens if they follow these directions? How long before UNESCO leverages this position to try to enforce its Code as national and international law by the back door?
The trouble with such declarations made in this way – and mentioning that they have consulted the art market – is that it suggests that the Code enjoys trade endorsement, which it doesn’t. Nor is it workable. The danger is that decision-makers will believe otherwise. And so the bar is raised ever higher, making trade professionals’ daily lives impossible.
Further enhancement along these lines seems likely in the context of Member States emphasizing that the Code should be considered as a ‘living document’, with UNESCO periodically assessing it with ‘relevant stakeholders’ to ensure its continued relevance in light of evolving challenges related to trafficking. This is nothing less than a blank cheque. It is not fair to ask the market to sign up to this.
Principle 1 distinguishes “illegally alienated” cultural property from that which may have been stolen… clandestinely excavated or illegally exported or imported. But what does illegally alienated mean here? As can be seen from the Member States’ caveat above, the goalposts are ever on the move. Goods legally sold and exported years ago are now being deemed national property and illicit in domestic law as nations update their cultural heritage legislation in ever more restrictive ways. Under the Code, this might well render such goods illicit internationally, even when they have been legally traded and owned privately for lengthy periods, and so might be subject to confiscation.
While Principle 2 reasonably commits traders to recording transactional information such as the identity of suppliers, any attempt to use that as a stepping stone to force them to reveal confidential information protected by contractual obligations would cause serious problems. This would be possible under a ‘living document’.
Further lack of clarity over terms
Principle 3 commits traders to conducting ‘proper’ due diligence without fully stipulating what that constitutes. Again it talks of ‘illegally alienated’ items, as well as checking “any other relevant information and documentation which they can reasonably obtain” and scrutinising ICOM Red Lists. What does ‘reasonably obtain’ mean? If due diligence is too burdensome, it would render much of the lower end of the market uneconomic. What measures have been put in place to prevent that?
Principle 4 describes a trader’s ‘reasonable cause’ to believe that an item might be illicit and what their commitment must be under those circumstances but does not define ‘reasonable cause’ in this context.
Principle 4 also states: “A trader who is in possession of the item, where that country seeks its return within a reasonable period of time, will take all legally permissible steps under the trader’s applicable national law to co-operate in view of the return of that item of cultural property to the country of origin.” This appears to commit a trader to return an item simply on the basis of a claim, regardless of whether or not they hold the item lawfully. Long experience has shown that countries of origin claim items whatever their status, so without qualifying that the item must be illicit, the Code would prove unacceptable to the market. Such a catch-all condition would also be inconsistent with pre-existing national or international laws or conventions, such as statutes of limitation endorsed by UNESCO 1970 and UNIDROIT 1995 which are routinely ignored.
Principle 5 repeats the demands of Principle 4, putting the burden on the trader to ensure the item is returned.
No clause addresses the rights of the traders.
An opportunity missed
In recent years, art market stakeholders have been included in discussions about the drafting of the Code, but in the final two meetings earlier this year, CINOA, the global trade federation representing 5,000 dealers – the largest trade group in the world and the vital market stakeholder – was inexplicably not invited to attend. How did that happen?
UNESCO’s new Code of Ethics is an opportunity missed. It appears to blur the line between ethical aspiration and legal requirement. It should have been drafted as a constructive agreement between stakeholders to improve standards and create more clarity; instead its tone and terms appear intimidatory and opaque. It is inconsistent with the laws of numerous countries in relation to property rights and good faith purchases. Market stakeholders approached this initiative in good faith. The result is far from what they could agree to.
by ADA | May 21, 2026 | Uncategorized, Views |
In 2025 a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators pushed for new anti-money laundering regulation of the art market under the Bank Secrecy Act.
Already in force in the UK and Europe, AML laws as they apply to the art market may help fight crime and deter wrong doers, but the burden of compliance can come at a significant cost in terms of money and time.
A serious study of AML impact on the art market in the UK, which leads the world with regards to these measures in this sector, has yet to take place, but anecdotal evidence indicates that at least some would-be buyers are being put off by the requirements of compliance on their part, and by the intrusion into their privacy. This is not because they have something to hide but because the hassle has spoiled their enjoyment of the process of acquisition and they simply can’t be bothered to go through with it.
How do you balance the interests of crime prevention with those of the market?
The most obvious way would be to raise what appears to be an arbitrarily low value threshold for compliance: set at €10,000 for a single transaction or group of linked transactions (not always clearly defined), in the UK that is changing to £10,000.
Take a risk-based approach
Raising the threshold significantly can be argued from taking that vital ‘risk-based approach’ when one considers reporting in France, the European Union’s largest art market. The latest figures, as published in the Ministry of Economy & Finance’s 2024 report, show a total of 12 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) relating to art and antique dealers and intermediaries from 2022-2024 inclusive. For auction houses the number rises to 426 for the same period. Respectively, those figures account for 0.1% and 2.0% of reports across all sectors. No information is forthcoming about how many of those reports proved valid.
Some have argued that the low figures for the art market are the result of under reporting. Effectively, the logic of this argument is that art-related ML must be high under any circumstances, regardless of reporting, a standpoint that is simply not credible. If the reports are misleading, don’t publish them.
Another issue that has arisen in the UK is that although expert support from compliance companies has made things easier, interventions from enforcement teams working for HMRC have not where enforcement officers have not understood the law properly. Again, anecdotal evidence relates episodes of overreach, intimidation and damaging interference to legitimate business at inappropriate times.
Also challenging is the fact that after more than five years of enforcement in the UK, aspects of what is proving to be a complex regulation are still not clear. If the compliance companies and HMRC are still debating them, what hope have Art Market Participants (AMPs) of complying fully?
What Congress needs to consider
These factors must all be considered in the United States as Congress considers the proposed Art Market Integrity Act.
Some have argued that the art market is not bound by the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing standards set by the Bank Secrecy Act. However, their qualifying transactions are already subject to these standards via the banking process.
The Senate voted down a previous attempt at regulation in 2022. The proposed Enablers Act risked undermining fundamental principles of the rule of law and citizens’ rights, argued the American Bar Association.
Such fears are justified because these rights are already being extensively undermined in relation to the art market by the plethora of bilateral agreements (also known as Memoranda of Understanding) with third countries that effectively give them a veto on cultural property imports that belong to U.S. citizens. Article 1 of the MoU with Egypt, for example, demonstrates this clearly. The seizure and return of items for which no proof of illegality is forthcoming has become commonplace. The reversal of the burden of proof to ‘guilty until proven innocent’ is all but standard in this sphere today. Such arbitrary interference with citizens’ property is in direct contravention of the 5th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, as well as Article 17.2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Current proposals under the Act are unworkable
Current proposals under the Art Market Integrity Act would be unworkable because they are far too wide in scope. Defining an AMP as “a person engaged in the trade in works of art, including a dealer, advisor, consultant, custodian, gallery, auction house, museum, collector, or any other person who engages as a business as an intermediary in the sale of works of art”, it allows for certain very limited exclusions. The key exclusion is someone who “has not, during the prior year, participated in total transactions valued at $50,000 that involved a work of art”.
To be clear, this is not a threshold of $50,000 for a single work of art, but a total sales value for all artworks sold over a period of 12 months of $50,000. This ‘mom and pop’ level of trade would not have the time and money to pay for compliance, meaning that the new regulation would simply put them out of business.
If Congress is to proceed with the Act, this section must be struck out or the result would be a disaster for ordinary U.S. citizens.
by ADA | Apr 15, 2026 | Views |
Academic and cultural institutions, as well as governments, continue to look down on the art market – it’s unfair and is in no one’s interest
Provenance and Due Diligence have become the critical factors in assessing cultural goods in recent years. Theft, trafficking, unethical acquisition in colonial times, suspected links to money laundering and terrorism financing have all been presented as arguments for tighter controls and reversing the burden of proof so that items and people are deemed ‘guilty’ unless they can demonstrate their innocence.
The ardent pursuit of this ‘solution’ has brought its own problems: an embarrassing dearth of reliable evidence – hence the reversal of the burden of proof (initially under UNIDROIT 1995) – false data and fake news, failure to check facts and sources, overreach that risks breaching human rights and brings other ethical issues. The exploitation of the cultural sphere for soft power diplomacy includes further exploitation by those who wish to harness it for financial gain or political influence. State-backed programmes and institutional interests are where the real power lies: funding and ‘capacity building’ the self-interests at its core.
This is the environment in which the international art market finds itself the useful whipping boy of those who wish to justify their actions and budgets.
For many on the institutional side of the argument, however, the market really is the problem; they see themselves as being in conflict with – and better than – the trade, while positive actions on the part of the market are deemed merely incidental.
A conversation on…Provenance Research and Due Diligence in the Art and Antiquities World: Distinctions, Connections, Synergies, Challenges, held online on April 8 as part of the International Art Market Studies Association Law & the Arts course 2025–2026, attracted more than 140 attendees.
It addressed the increasing relevance of provenance research and the reasons for this, from the social responsibility of institutions, via the Washington Principles relating to Nazi-looted art to a wider moral responsibility to society and history.
Defining the difference between due diligence and provenance research
Attempts to define the difference between provenance research and due diligence were most usefully summarised as the following: due diligence is the checking of provenance to the extent of what a reasonable person should be expected to carry out related to a specific event, such as a sale or acquisition, whereas provenance research is a wider, ongoing investigation into the history, origins and circumstances of an object.
A higher standard of diligence should be expected from art market professionals as they have more knowledge of objects, it was argued. Presumably such a standard would also apply to museum experts for the same reason, but this was not mentioned.
An overwhelming number of attendees to the session work in the public or academic sphere, as curators, provenance researchers attached to institutions or as officials linked to museum organisations. This resulted in a largely uniform perception and opinion.
Despite this being a course staged by the Art Market Studies Association, art market representatives were extremely thin on the ground. None were included as speakers.
This is a chronic issue with much of the debate over ethics, standards and the law relating to the market. A good example came early on, when Sofia Bollo of the Ethnographic museum at the University of Zurich, who also serves on the Chair of the ICOM Italian section, discussed the working group on provenance research at ICOM. Set up in 2023, it includes more than 100 members: anthropologists, archaeologists, art historians, unemployed people, museum and research interest – but apparently no one from the international art market. This means that we have a body proposing a set of stringent rules for a market that it has not consulted and about which it has a limited understanding. While this may be fine for setting common standards among institutions such as museums, it is unfortunate when it is quite clear that for any measures to be effective in the market, they must address the market from a practical standpoint.
A useful summary of post Second World War initiatives addressing ethics and behaviour covered UNESCO (1970), UNIDROIT (1995), and various EU Directives. As market professionals have found, however, States Parties to the UNESCO Convention tend to cherry pick the articles that suit them, which means that most, if not all, have yet to submit essential lists of goods of national importance, and few are keen to offer the compensation they are committed to when reclaiming items from honest purchasers.
This trampling of a long-established moral right by a new and questionable ‘ethical’ standard is the whole cultural heritage debate in microcosm.
Bilateral agreements and the creeping recognition of domestic laws internationally (not all of them reasonable, notably US vs McClain – 1977) is increasingly creating a situation where honest owners are deprived of the valid title to their belongings. This trampling of a long-established moral right by a new and questionable ‘ethical’ standard is the whole cultural heritage debate in microcosm.
The Australian academic and specialist in cultural heritage law, Lyndel Prott, argued for ‘required diligence’ rather than ‘due diligence’, but that would also require very clear, globally adopted parameters that have yet to be defined. She took a realistic approach to historical norms, acknowledging that provenance standards today could not be applied retroactively to purchases of decades ago.
Alyssa Thiel, of the Penn Cultural Heritage Center, one of several attendees who have worked in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit (ATU), also considered historic norms. She noted the pressure on museums to acquire the best pieces at a time when their context was seen as more important than their history of ownership.
An enlightened approach, it is not shared by the head of the ATU, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos, who has seized many such items.
Prott also argued that private sellers were now more of a problem than market professionals because the latter were subject to greater regulation, including anti-money laundering laws, and many have professional compliance departments.
It is almost as though anyone outside the market refuses to believe that market professionals can act with anything other than dishonest or dishonourable intent.
Absent from the debate, however, was any recognition that just as museums and other institutions don’t want to find themselves handling illicit material, neither do auction houses or dealers – and for the same reasons. It is almost as though anyone outside the market refuses to believe that market professionals can act with anything other than dishonest or dishonourable intent.
The webinar also set out the list of checks that should be undertaken when carrying out due diligence, from checking stolen art databases and ICOM red lists to requiring sellers to provide written evidence and supporting paperwork or, in their absence, a notarised statement. While much of this is already the norm, how much would it cost to pursue all the avenues set out and how long would it take? If such checks are essential for all transactions, how much of the market would survive for lesser, cheaper objects?
As Daniel Healey, a Provenance Research specialist at Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts (and another former ATU staffer) noted, the work of provenance research can become very expensive for museums – sometimes they have to travel to check sources. It is a challenge to museums to fund such provenance research and it requires ongoing support, he advised. They have to rely a lot on colleagues in other institutions.
Again, attendees seemed to apply a double standard here: while Healey complained of the lack of time and resources facing museum curators as they tried to assess items coming up for auction – and blamed auction houses for this – no one considered that auction house specialists themselves, and dealers, faced the same challenges. Why should special consideration be given to one set of professionals but not the other?
Export certificates were another consideration. Now vital under the EU import licensing regulations, the fact that they rarely survive in any useful form continues to be overlooked.
Despite this, the UNIDROIT working group on cultural objects with significant gaps in provenance (usually known as Orphan objects) has been able to make some sensible contributions. Due Diligence is not just about compliance, it’s also about reducing costly mistakes and sustaining public trust.
France is attempting to standardise provenance research
A move in France to nationalise how provenance research is carried out includes a mandatory eight-page provenance form for any public acquisition that is already in place. How would this apply to the market? Who would pay for the compliance? Again, no consideration of the practicalities. Nonetheless, as with every forum of this type, a common complaint was the lack of resources and funding to support their work. Yet no one considers that market professionals face identical issues.
Engaging with the art market is an oft-quoted objective to justify what are usually predictable anti-market outcomes of projects and research. In practice, however, such ‘engagement’ is ignored, ineffectual or simply a fig leaf to cover an ideological approach. Until those in the public sector, together with those in the private institutional sector, recognise that the market faces identical challenges to them, it will be hard to move forward. You cannot expect to apply impossible rules to others while giving a free pass to yourself in the same context.
by ADA | Mar 22, 2026 | Views |
Countless millions are spent investigating cultural property trafficking to little effect
Preventing trafficking in cultural goods is a major preoccupation of the European Union.
It is one of the key objectives of the constantly updating anti-money laundering regulations; it is the main plank of the import licensing regulation introduced last year; and it led to the creation of Germany’s highly restrictive Cultural Property Protection Act in 2016.
Fears of cultural property trafficking, especially within Europe, have resulted in an ongoing series of co-ordinated law enforcement crackdowns across more than 80 countries since 2014, namely: Operations Odysseus (2014), Aureus (2015) Pandoras I, II, III, IV, V and more (2017-), Sardica (2018), and Achei (2019). These all come under the umbrella of the EMPACT initiative (European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats).
Four current projects running for several years and funded by Europe’s Horizon Project to the tune of €18 million follow on from countless others of the same ilk as they investigate the scourge of trafficking. They are Anchise (€4m), Aurora (€3.5m), Enigma (€4m), and Rithms (€5m) plus another €1.5m being assigned.
Their various remits include:
– Developing methods and digital tools for the protection, identification and traceability of cultural goods.
– Protection, tracing, restitution and safeguarding, as well as provenance research.
– The production of evidence-based research to support the deployment of preventative measures against looting and illicit trade of cultural goods.
– Raising awareness, mobilising and further strengthening cooperation among citizens, stakeholders, experts, policy makers and all actors involved.
Plenty of research but nothing to show for it
In Germany from 2015 to 2019, the €1.2m ILLICID Project analysed over 6,100 ancient objects as it attempted to identify the level and patterns of crime and how they might support money laundering and terrorism financing. At no point did its concluding report identify any trafficked goods or any terrorism financing, the prime goal of the whole project.
Now, a project headlined Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society will enjoy another €5 million for ‘capacity building’, ‘evidence and intelligence gathering’, ‘cross domain co-operation’ and ‘consolidated tools and platforms’ – for which read more of the same.
So, with all this time and money spent on assessing the scope, methods and other characteristics of the trafficking of cultural goods in Europe and beyond, how big is the problem and what is this illicit trade worth?
The answer so far is that no one has a clue.
Organisations like UNESCO have tried to get round this in the past by quoting substantial figures (in UNESCO’s case $10 billion annually, first quoted in October 2020) that do not stand up to the slightest scrutiny, and which they have since stopped using, admitting that they had no basis in fact.
In March 2025, The European Commission published its final report under the title Study on measures to increase traceability of cultural goods in the fight against cultural goods trafficking at the Member State level and at the EU level.
It detailed the outcomes of Operations Odysseus, Aureus, Pandora and the rest (costs unknown but certainly in the tens of millions of euros based on minimal available data).
Arrest and seizures but no record of outcomes
Of the operations from 2015-2023, it reported: “These operations seized over 234,000 cultural objects (including small items such as coins), with at least 1,255 investigations initiated and 534 arrests made.”
However, despite these figures, no attempt has been made to measure the effectiveness of these operations. Europol, which helped co-ordinate the operations, has admitted to having no data on how many arrests have led to convictions, nor about how many seized items later had to be returned as licit.
The Commission report also reveals that in at least five of the operations, no data is available relating to the number of investigations launched as a result, and in at least three of them no record is available relating to the number of arrests.
The Commission’s publication of the report in March 2025 coincided with the Antiquities Forum’s launch of a survey of a dozen leading bodies concerned with the issue of cultural heritage crime across the world, from the European Commission itself to the FBI, UNESCO, Europol, Interpol and others. What independently verifiable data did any of them have to demonstrate the level and extent of trafficking, money laundering and terrorism financing using cultural property? Not all of them answered, but those that did provided no data at all.
After so many years of investigations and enforcement operations, what is the problem? Why are Europol and Interpol not tracking outcomes from their operations? With so little hard data to go on, one must ask what the point of these exercises are beyond propaganda and to justify the funding for law enforcement bodies.
Art market risk downgraded by the authorities
Art market representatives at the January 2026 meeting of experts with the European Commission to discuss progress with the import licensing regulation put the question again: what data does the European Union have to show the size and scope of trafficking, as well as the actual value of the illicit market in such objects? This is important bearing in mind the enormous level of resources – including public money – being spent on researching this issue. We await an answer.
After countless investigations, operations and reports over the past 15 years, none of the leading bodies among government, law enforcement and the NGOs can provide any idea whatsoever of the scale of the problem, nor any reliable data beyond the extremely occasional case, which almost never involves the art market. Even where it supposedly does – for example with The Louvre scandal – years after the arrests and claims are made, we still await any concrete result. So what does that tell us?
The European Union continues to fund multiple projects and initiatives to prevent the trafficking and looting of cultural property, primarily through Horizon Europe, the Internal Security Fund (ISF), and direct cooperation with UNESCO. While there is no single, isolated budget line for this, the EU Action Plan (2022–2025) provides a comprehensive framework, with millions allocated to specific research, technological, and law enforcement projects.
Among other recent and current initiatives in addition to those listed above are:
– Specific Horizon 2026 Call: A dedicated call in 2026 for ‘Preventing and fighting illicit trafficking of cultural goods’ – €5 million.
– ARTDETECT, which focuses on cutting-edge technologies like AI and blockchain to detect stolen items. Part of an EU-funded €7.5 million research project via the Horizon programme led by Global technology company Orfium called AIXpert, the ultimate objective is to improve transparency and accountability in artificial intelligence systems across sectors.
– PRISM (2025-2027), which aims to fight trafficking in museums. This is part of a multiple set of distinct EU-funded ‘PRISM’ initiatives, the most recent being a €7.6 million project (PEACEPLUS programme) for manufacturing innovation and another focusing on cultural heritage protection.
– The European Commission has co-delegated €2.8 million to UNESCO for a 36-month project (ending roughly 2025-2026) to fight illicit trafficking of cultural property in the Western Balkans.
In all, current projections account for a total of €22.9 million dedicated to future related initiatives. With the €18 million already accounted for, that’s a total of more than €40 million being funneled into multiple projects essentially doing the same thing. And yet, hard data showing the size, nature and scope of trafficking in cultural property, and its links to terrorism financing, remain all but non-existent.
What are these generous budgets really for?
Is it possible that the funds spent on research into cultural property looting and trafficking are actually greater than the value of the property looted and trafficked globally? Of course we cannot know because despite all the money spent, no one has any idea of what that figure is. What these budgets do ensure, however, is significant funding for academics, technocrats, civil servants and law enforcement as part of the incessant NGO/public policy forum gravy train, with the travelling circus of symposia and forums in plush hotels and conference centres around the globe. Enormous focus is put on process and projects, but precious little on effective outcomes and reliable intelligence. This extraordinarily lavish largesse seems unstoppable. Exactly who is holding those with the purse strings to account as the money disappears over the horizon?
by ADA | Mar 13, 2026 | Uncategorized, Views |
Academic archaeologists do not have a monopoly on ethics and rights when it comes to investigating the past, whatever they may think
Only academics, archaeologists, museums, NGOs and governments should be allowed to make money from ancient objects. Everyone else can – and should – fund their work, but must not be allowed to benefit in any way financially from the sector.
How does that sound?
Whatever your viewpoint, this is effectively what interested parties outside the art and antiques industry are demanding from dealers, auction houses and collectors.
The latest example to hit the headlines involves the consignment to auction of an important partial hoard uncovered in the East of England over the past few years. Recorded properly under the stringent rules of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, it has been identified as the largest known hoard of Iron Age gold coins deposited during the reign of Dubnovellaunos, ruler of the Trinovantes tribe from 25BC-10AD.
The find sheds light on this age of pre-history, while the 16 coins consigned have been released for auction after being assessed by the authorities.
With every box ticked, then, what is the problem?
In short, the individual who made the find and has consigned the coins to auction is an academic archaeologist, Tom Licence, Professor of Medieval History and Literature at the University of East Anglia.
Gamekeeper turned poacher
As far as his academic contemporaries are concerned, this is a case of gamekeeper turned poacher, as an article in the latest copy of The Spectator sets out. Titled How a set of gold coins divided British archaeologists, it explains: “Licence did everything right, but the thought of an Antiquaries fellow selling antiquities has led to a debate about the whole system of collecting and reporting finds.”
It also explains that Tessa Machling, an archaeologist and specialist in gold, recently made a Freedom of Information request and learnt that paying for the whole process of assessment, including salaries for museum curators and liaison officers, costs £8.7 million.
“The metal detecting community pays nothing towards that sum,” the article argues. “They do, however, occasionally get rewarded, and can keep – or sell – their finds. Detectorists gain but contribute nothing, Machling says, who told me [the article’s author] that until recently she’s ‘been shouting into the void’ about this.”
So, one-way traffic on the benefits front, then. Wrong.
As Machling’s own arguments set out, the people who are paid from the largesse raised by the government are the academics, curators, liaison officers and others involved in deciding whether finds constitute Treasure or not. Museums hoping to acquire the best finds need funds to do so. As often as not, these come from private individuals – dealers and collectors a lot of the time. Even the article notes that philanthropists play a big role in this.
As for the idea that detectorists simply enjoy a free ride, this simply illustrates the blinkered attitude of their critics. Detecting is an expensive business – equipment, travel, administration, accommodation etc – usually with no reward. Where they make a find, it is very often after years of disappointment and, as in the case of Tom Licence, it can involve a great deal of work, compliance measures and care to ensure the most vital aspect of this business: the accurate recording of finds in context.
‘Underfunded, overworked and lacking legislation’
“Finds liaison officers, says Machling, are ‘underfunded, overworked and lacking legislation’. She would like metal detectors to be licensed, with a small fee and a commitment to follow agreed standards.”
This is simply wrong. We have The Treasure Act (1996, and amended in 2003) and The Portable Antiquities Scheme, policed by the British Museum, which also oversees the Code of Practice for Responsible Metal Detecting in England and Wales (2017). Together they work more effectively than any other scheme known worldwide, and the resulting discoveries have added an enormous weight of knowledge to the national history and identity.
The problem with a licensing scheme is twofold: the tendency of such schemes to over regulate and be burdensome and punitive; and the risk of people faced with these burdens instead cutting corners by not recording and reporting finds properly.
“Licensing the detectorists would bring another layer of bureaucracy,” writes one commentator under the Spectator article. “A quango set up to administer the licences and before you know it detectorists will need to be DBS checked, have public liability insurance, proof of competency and goodness knows what else. This sounds like public sector overreach for a hobby that benefits historical understanding.”
The bad blood between academic archaeologists and metal detectorists, as well as the wider art and antiques market and collectors, is long standing and has worsened in recent years with the over-politicisation of culture. Museums and their curators, who used to work well and closely with dealers and collectors, now treat them as little more than criminals because that is how so many of the public bodies and campaigners treat them in the quest for control of the sector. This is shortsighted because dealers and collectors tend to handle a great number of items, allowing them to augment their knowledge and expertise regularly – and are often generous donors to public collections. Curators tend to handle fixed collections with little scope for expanding theirs.
It all began with the self-funding amateur collector
Those who rail against the trade and collectors forget that the traditions of preservation, conservation and scholarship, began with the self-funding amateur collector, and that many of the world’s greatest museum collections had their origins in the private holdings of individuals.
Soon to be published in English is The Demonized Collector, a memoir by Dutch dealer Karl Stimm, who contrasts decades of often unpaid effort in helping bring the past to the surface in a responsible manner with the brickbats thrown at him and other dedicated enthusiasts by well-paid academics shouting from the sidelines.
From the comments under The Spectator article, it seems that the public is more enlightened than the world of academia and archaeology, and possesses a more developed sense of natural justice.
Many seem well aware of the time, effort and money put into detecting by the detectorists. One goes as far as to suggest defunding archaeologists and academics and instead using the funds to buy the finds. Not the most helpful suggestion, it does, however, show that those currently pointing the finger at detectorists and the market might find themselves the target of mass criticism if they push too far.
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