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The advent of the Internet has been a mixed blessing for collectors of antiquities. The upside is that collectors can buy from the comfort of their homes, but the ease of listing items for sale, particularly on online auction sites, and the cheapness of building and maintaining good-looking websites has led to a massive increase in fake and even looted antiquities available online. So how can you find a reputable dealer?

Prior to 2010, few dealer or auction catalogues recorded provenance or ownership histories unless the item had belonged to a well-known person, provenance was simply not considered important at the time. Provenance is now quite rightly regarded as important in establishing the legitimacy of an object. However, there are millions of antiquities circulating that have no recorded provenance. This does not mean they are looted and illegitimate, as trade detractors often claim, but simply that the provenance information has been lost during the many years, even decades, that an object has been circulating on the market. Such antiquities are often described as 'orphan'. Recently, the Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, the University of Geneva and UNIDROIT hosted an international conference on the theme of Orphan Works

There are many practical issues concerning the UK’s art trade with EU countries post BREXIT. Most art is not subject to high tariffs, so increased duties are less likely to be a concern compared to other sectors. However, there will be less freedom of movement of art and antiquities, less access to European markets, especially through art fairs and other venues. Import of antiquities into EU member states will also be harder due to new EU import regulations.

An excellent account of the licenced and legal trade in antiquities in Egypt during the 'golden age' of collecting from 1880-1930 is now available as a free download.

A major report by the RAND Corporation, one of the most respected research organisations in the USA, shows the illicit trade in antiquities is much smaller than academics have suggested. It concludes looting is opportunistic rather than organised and more widely dispersed than previously thought.

The latest World Customs Organisation annual report on transnational crime shows heritage crime (which includes illicit antiquities trafficking) is so minor compared with other risk categories globally that it barely registers on Customs’ radar. In fact cultural property crime accounted for only 0.22% of cases and 0.2% of customs seizures reported by the Customs Enforcement Network for 2019,