S. R. M. Mackenzie, Going Going, Gone: Regulating the Market in Illicit Antiquities

Extract

S. R. M. Mackenzie, Going Going, Gone: Regulating the Market in Illicit Antiquities. Pp. viii, 290. Institute of Art and Law, Leicester: 2005. ISBN: 1-903987-07-5.

“It's very rare to get something with a provenance, with an actual collection name. Usually it's entirely anonymous, especially in the London and New York trade. Just objects for sale in a shop …” (p. 32). To anyone with an interest in the antiquities market, this Melbourne dealer's view is unsurprising. More surprising, perhaps, is the dealer's willingness to even discuss the issue of provenance and the extent to which the antiquities market is awash with unprovenanced illicit antiquities. Essentially, Simon Mackenzie's work is about provenance. He sets out to answer the question, “How should we regulate the antiquities market so as most appropriately to address the issue of looted antiquities in that market?” (p. 1). The first step in answering this question is to understand how the market actually functions. And what better way than to ask market participants themselves. Mackenzie does so through interviews with dealers, collectors, auction house representatives, and museum curators; and the work is substantially based around an analysis of these interviews. The extensive use of quotes allows readers a glimpse into the secretive and exclusive world of the antiquities market and lays bare the prevailing attitude of the interviewees, providing a rich (and dare I say, even entertaining) dialogue throughout the work.