Digging In: The Latest from Antiquities Coalition
Quarterly Highlights
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To mark World Heritage Day, the Antiquities Coalition would like to welcome you to our new e-newsletter. Each quarter, we will share highlights from our efforts to safeguard the world’s heritage from cultural racketeering.
While we have made great strides over the last decade as an organization, the fight against the looting and trafficking of antiquities isn’t over. With your help, we will realize a future in which the past is preserved for the next generation—not looted, smuggled, and sold to finance crime, conflict, and terror.
The first quarter of 2024 was an action-packed one for the AC team. Take a look at the highlights below.
Spotlight
🕳️ The US Art Market is a Sanctions Black Hole
The art market’s exemption from legal oversight has made it vulnerable to a wide range of financial crimes, threatening not just national security and economic integrity, but the vast majority of legitimate collectors, dealers, auction houses, and museums.
On February 28, 2024, in an op-ed for the Financial Times, Chair and Founder Deborah Lehr warned that even as President Joe Biden continues to crack down on Russia, “the U.S. art market is a sanctions black hole.” She stressed that unless and until the U.S. public and private sectors close these loopholes, they will leave the world’s largest economy wide open to oligarchs, money launderers, terrorists, drug smugglers, artifact traffickers, and the many other criminals proven to have exploited the art market’s weaknesses.
“[T]here is a real likelihood that collectors, dealers, and auction houses in the US may unknowingly continue to help further crime, armed conflict and even terrorism through the apparently legal purchase of art. This is too high a price to pay, even for a masterpiece." - Deborah Lehr, Chairman and Founder of the Antiquities Coalition
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🇾🇪 The AC Joins U.S. and Yemeni Leaders to Highlight Successes in the Fight to Safeguard Culture Under Threat
No corner of the world is safe from tomb raiders and art smugglers. Yemen and the broader Middle East are a focal point of their efforts, leaving their cultural heritage vulnerable to looting. Right now, the world’s museums have a unique opportunity - and responsibility - to fight back.
In January, Tess Davis, our Executive Director, participated in an event hosted by the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art (NMAA), “Museums and Cultural Heritage Protection: A Case Study of Repatriations to Yemen.” Steven Fagin, the U.S. Ambassador to Yemen, Timothy A. Lenderking, U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen, and His Excellency Mohammed Al-Hadhrami, Ambassador of the Republic of Yemen to the United States joined the discussion to highlight Yemen’s efforts to protect their cultural heritage and outline the steps museums must take to help stem the tide in Yemen and beyond.
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📄 The AC Supports Military and Law Enforcement Training Development
This quarter, the AC was honored to participate in the “Cultural Property Protection as a means to Counter Terrorism Financing” course design and planning workshop. Hosted by the NATO Stability Policing Centre of Excellence in Italy, this workshop brought together international partners, including the U.S. Department of State, OSCE, INTERPOL, U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command, FBI, HSI, The Délégation au Patrimoine de l'armée de Terre, Heritage for Peace and more.
Our Executive Director, Tess Davis, and Director of Programs, Helena Arose, represented the AC at this week-long event, collaborating with partners in building a course to help military and law enforcement practitioners protect the art market from funding terrorist activities.
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In Case You Missed It
🖼️ Art Market Report 2024
Art Basel and UBS released their annual global art market analysis written by expert cultural economist Dr. Clare McAndrew. This report examines trends and developments in this international market in 2023 and provides the public, law enforcement, and governments a glimpse into the often secretive industry. Ultimately, this report sheds light on the complexities and challenges the global art market faces and how it is not immune to the global push for good business practices, due diligence, and integrity of transactions.
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🌏 An Ex-Diplomat and King’s Head: Inside the Secret Global Trade of Asian Art
One of the most infamous antiquities traffickers was British expatriate Douglas Latchford, whose network sourced countless masterpieces (including a Top Ten Most Wanted artifact) from then-wartorn Cambodia, smuggled them across the border, and then laundered them onto the global art market. But the scale of Latchford’s story—which has been extensively reported on in the New York Times, Washington Post, and beyond—has obscured other dealers and collectors of Cambodian art. A recent Politico article sought to even this coverage, by exploring István Zelnik, a former Hungarian diplomat with a passion for Asian antiquities. Zelnik ventured into the art market following his retirement from the diplomatic service and, according to Politico, used his connections to sell Cambodian and other Southeast Asian antiquities to private collectors.
“That’s like saying it’s legal to sell a gargoyle hacked off of Notre Dame.” - Tess Davis, Executive Director of the Antiquities Coalition
🏛️ Rubin Museum, Haven for Asian Art, to Close After 20 Years
In a piece for the New York Times, Zachary Small reported that the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan will be closing its doors in October after being open for more than two decades. While the Rubin has been referred to as a “haven,” many have called out the museum’s problematic collection, which includes recent returns of looted relics to Nepal. Although the financial woes and repatriations aren’t cited as the reason that their doors are closing, the court of public opinion and their association with suspicious collections could have been factors.
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🚩 Hezbollah-linked Picasso and Warhol Stash Raises Red Flag to Art World
In February, Tariq Tahir wrote a piece for the National News, detailing the police raid of a high-security warehouse near London's Heathrow Airport where they seized 12 pieces of art from Nazem Ahmad, which they believe “[were] probably used to have funded crime or terrorism.” For decades, bad actors have been using art and antiquities to fund their illicit schemes, including terrorist organizations. Holding those, like Ahmad, accountable for their actions is critical to ending these corrupt crimes.
Features from Around the World
🇧🇭 This quarter, the AC spent time in Manama to explore the measures the Kingdom of Bahrain is taking to protect its cultural heritage and burgeoning art market. Situated at the nexus of ancient civilizations, the archipelago boasts a rich history but also faces the challenge of being a target for modern smuggling networks. Fortunately, the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities is collaborating closely with the State Department of the United States, which still remains the primary destination for both legal and illegal antiquities, to prevent cultural racketeers from abusing its jurisdiction.
You can follow the Antiquities Coalition on our social channels (X, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram) for the latest news and developments in the fight to combat looting.