Monitoring and Documenting the Antiquities Trade

DATABASE OF LOOTING INCIDENTS

Documenting previous looting is an important, if challenging, first step in fighting the illicit antiquities trade. Due to the clandestine nature of the this trade, all quantifications must be circumstantial. But while official statistics do not exist, it is possible to glean an insight into the extent of looting and the resulting trade through other means.

HeritageWatch has created a database of reported looting incidents in Cambodia using the archives of the country’s two major Khmer newspapers, the Kampuchea Thmei and the Raksmey Kampuchea, and the English language Cambodia Daily and the Phnom Penh Post. This database has revealed that most reported looting incidents are occurring in the northwestern province of Banteay Meanchey, which borders Thailand.

It follows that most—if not all— of the artifacts looted from this province are smuggled over the border to Thailand and on to Bangkok, a major transit point for antiquities going East to West. The scale of this cross-border traffic was indicated by the reports as well—since 1996 alone, some 1,600 looted Khmer artifacts were confiscated en route to Bangkok by Thai and Cambodian authorities. No doubt this number is just a fraction of those that make it to their final destination.

AUCTION HOUSE RESEARCH

It is also important to judge the number of artifacts that have already left the country, by gauging how many have reached their final destination—the art market. The immense, international auction houses regularly publish their sales in catalogues, thereby providing a tangible record of the market. An analysis of the catalogues from Sotheby’s auction house in New York revealed sales of up to $7,000,000 in Khmer material over just 15 years.

More disturbing, however, is that only 20% of this material had a provenance. In the art world, provenance refers to a piece’s ownership history. Pieces with a provenance—those known to have been published, exhibited, or to have come from a collection already in existence—are usually more valuable than those without. Thus, if an auction house does not advertise an artifact’s provenance, it is usually for one of two reasons—the provenance is unknown or is known but somehow incriminating. Either suggests that the object was, at least at one point in its history, illegally acquired. This information, along with the looting database, suggests that the illicit market in Khmer antiquities is thriving—all the way from Cambodia to New York City.
 
"...the most effective measure now would be to sign more bilateral agreements with countries that are under assault from the antiquities trade..." - Roger Atwood.
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