First in a series of art crime, antiquities trafficking, and provenance book reviews. Authors and publishers, get in touch!
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Ransoms and Repatriations: the Maori Motunui panels
Posted on 5 July 2014
Hidden in 1800s by Māori fleeing war, 5 carved panels were smuggled
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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?
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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Believability, the burden of proof and Occam’s Razor
Posted on 29 April 2012
OR Carl Sagan breaks it down
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Antiquities in the Media: How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
Posted on 27 February 2012
The use of antiquities in films and television shows