[CPProt.net] FW: What are illegal artefacts?

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

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From: 
Sent: 27 September 2005 16:44
To: info at museum-security.org
Subject: What are illegal artefacts?


Dear Musem Security!
 
 
I live much of my time in Syria where I am building a tourist company and
since what I sell is mostly Syria's cultural heritage I am also interested
in the protection of this heritage.
 
Some days ago at a dinner party I had the usual discussion with about about
the sorry state of the Syrian museums and whether it was good or bad that a
country's heritage was spread all over the world in many museums or rightly
belonged in the native country and so on and so forth. Being Danish (one of
the worlds largest collections of artifacts from Palmyra is in Copenhagen) I
of course had a lot to answer for even though I am of the opinion that at
least some things ought to be given back to Syria (not least because I could
offer my guests a better trip to Syria if the museums were better!!)
 
But then one of the guest mentioned, as sort of a side remark, that a friend
of hers had 2 artifacts from Syria/Lebanon (in Germany). She was not exactly
sure from which sites, but she had seen them and remembered to have been
told that they were from Syria/Lebanon and they were 2nd-4th century A.D.
 
Immediatly the whole conversation changed to the legality of owning such
objects - or selling them for that matter. She didn't now much about the
history of how they came into the owners possesion, expect that the present
owner inherited them from his father and they had been in the family's
possesion for at least 35 years (the age of the present owner).
 
The discussion ended with a bet where one guest claimed they would be legal
if they had been taken out of Syria before the end of World War II and me on
the other side claiming that they were illegal. I don't know why - I guess
sort of out of principle. And anyway, if it was true that they would be
legal if they had been taken out before the war, then it would be up to the
owner to prove their legality - not for anyone to prove that they were
illegal.
 
So, now I've been trying to find a definition on when an artifact is in fact
illegal. But I can't really figure it out. So, Could you help me?
 
 
Best Regards,
 
 (Name and e-mail address known by mailing list moderator) 
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