THREAD: Being a veteran “treasure hunter” that sources from developing countries with histories of antiquities looting isn’t an asset — its a serious problem.
@insidehook may want to consider the risks associated with what they’re promoting here.
We’ll break it down👇
.@insidehook says Casa Berbere sells “antiquities from the four corners of the world… work[ing] with a wide network of reputable dealers from Thailand to Tunisia.”
Problem: Tunisia doesn’t legally allow the sale/export of antiquities so not sure how reputable those dealers are.
“Under Tunisian law, the export of movable property is prohibited. Temporary export of movable cultural property is subject to authorization of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.”
eca.state.gov/files/bureau/t…
Not only is it illegal to export movable Tunisian antiquities. @insidehook notes that the company in their article is based in LA.
Problem: April 2021 the US signed an MOU with Tunisia banning the import of antiquities from Tunisia to the US.
tn.usembassy.gov/memorandum-of-…
The US-Tunisia MOU to stop the import of antiquities from Tunisia was signed due to a surge of antiquities looting in the country.
The US is a major market for those looted goods.
@ENACT_Africa has reported on looting across North Africa enact-africa.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/2…
Antiquities looted from Tunisia are frequently offered illicitly for sale on social media platforms like Facebook.
In this post from March 29, 2020, a user in Sidi Alouane, Tunisia offered Roman ceramic pieces (with fresh breakage) in a #Facebook trafficking group.
This brings us to our next point— the sourcing of material for this new e-commerce platform for Casa Berbere’s “museum quality” pieces, which @InsideHook makes it a point to discuss.
Lots of talk here about digital sourcing and authenticity.
Zero about provenance or legality.
What’s interesting is that it appears the owners of Casa Berbere are aware of expert restrictions and the existence of fake documents.
That being the case, we have to assume they’re aware of the MOUs restricting imports of antiquities from Tunisia, Turkey, and Iraq… BUT
Casa Berbere owners say that they are focusing on Tunisia, southern Turkey, and Iraq.
All places rife with looting and antiquities trafficking. All have laws banning antiquities sales and MOUs banning antiquity imports to the US.
HIGHLY irresponsible of @insidehook to promote.
Despite the sanctions that ban US import of cultural property from Iraq,@insidehook is promoting Iraq as needing attention from collectors.
They must have missed the 17,000 stolen Iraq artifacts being returned by the US @janearraf nytimes.com/2021/08/03/wor…
Casa Berbere’s dealers and @InsideHook are also promoting collecting from southern Turkey—known territory for antiquities trafficked from war-torn Syria (a war crime)
And just this week Turkish authorities arrested 92 for trafficking antiquities to the US sundayvision.co.ug/92-people-arre…
☝️Those were just the legal problems with what the @InsideHook article was promoting.
So now let’s look at the e-commerce they promote.
Oh… the landing site features Benin Bronzes offered for $10,00-no provenance.
Casa Berbere must be unaware of the fight to retrieve bronzes
Nigeria has been fighting desperately to retrieve the priceless antique bronzes that were stolen during colonialization and distributed to wealthy museums across the world.
The Met repatriated its Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. npr.org/2021/06/09/100…
Casa Berbere is selling theirs.
Any outlet that promotes antiquities collecting from southern Turkey and Iraq because that’s “WHERE THE GREATEST OPPORTUNITY TO FIND TREASURE EXISTS” is irresponsible.
The opportunity exists because of conflicts. @InsideHook is quite literally promoting a war crime.
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