Free Book: Opportunities And Challenges Of The Art And Antiques Market Management

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In English and Latvian, with a chapter by myself and a colleague.

Available here: https://www.nkmp.gov.lv/lv/media/2227/download

An interesting selection of chapters in a free and bilingual book. In it you’ll find a chapter by me and Diana Berzina:

Regulating and Policing the Grey Antiquities Market: What Works, What Doesn’t and Ways Forward

ABSTRACT. Market actors refer to a legitimate antiquities market and
a separate illegitimate market, however weight of the research indicates
that there is a mix of legality and illegality at all points of the supply and
demand chain. The antiquities market is a grey market, which makes it
difficult to regulate and police. For decades, market actors and antiquities
trade have relied on “self ” or “auto” regulation of the market claiming that
objects with better provenance sell better and buyers avoid dubious sellers,
however, these claims are not supported by evidence and the market does
not police itself.

In this chapter, we will discuss why “self ” regulation has
not worked and present ideas for Europe to move forward with regulating
the market beyond ideas of import and export control. Based on the data
gathered during European Commission-funded research, we suggest three
pathways as a way forward: creating policies that do not rely on market’s
“self ” regulation, providing new technology for policing that reflect real
operational needs, and reconsidering our own role as experts in the
maintenance of markets’ greyness. To regulate and police this grey market
we need to change our approaches and to support the kind of research
and cooperative infrastructure that will allow for innovative practice and
policy development.