Latest News
UK set to drop ENFORCEMENT OF EU IMPORT LICENSING REGULATIONS DOMESTICALLY
According to two well-placed sources, the UK will not be continuing with the new import licensing regulations for cultural property introduced by the European Union in 2019 and due to be enforced by 2025.
UNESCO marks 50th anniversary of 1970 Cultural Heritage Convention with fake campaign
Above: The UNESCO advert that sparked suspicion and led to the campaign being unmasked as fake. In what must be one of the most stunningly cynical attacks on the international art market yet, UNESCO has been caught out promoting a fake campaign to mark the 50th...
Time for UNESCO to stop using bogus figures about cultural property
In the latest of a string of baseless claims, UNESCO reports that the illicit trade in cultural property is estimated to be worth nearly $10 billion a year. It’s a handy figure to use as a headline to launch its 1970 Convention’s 50th anniversary conference and...
Latest Views
Why is the Manhattan D.A.’s office publishing data it knows to be untrue?
Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos has been head of Manhattan’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit (ATU) since 2018. He has understood since at least 2011 – and probably earlier – that claims of a multi-billion dollar market in looted and trafficked antiquities...
It’s time for some transparency from the manhattan D.A.’s office over antiquities
Three developments in recent weeks have raised questions once again about the activities of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and its antiquities unit. Separately they are of concern; together they demand some clear answers. The first involves the claim...
So what is due diligence?
Due Diligence and Provenance are important aspects of lawful trading in antiquities. But what do they mean? This article explains.



