Saturday, March 13, 2010

IADAA Presents Pro-Collector, Pro-Trade, Pro-Museum Views on Cultural Property Issues: So What?

The International Association of Dealers in Ancient Art (IADAA) has offered the opinions of some scholars who are friendly to museums, antiquities dealers and collectors in the debate over cultural property issues on its website. See http://www.iadaa.org/en/cultural-property-1

Apparently, that is controversial in some circles. But, I find it a more than a bit ironic that archaeo-bloggers David Gill (see http://lootingmatters.blogspot.com/2010/03/iadaa-makes-its-position-clear.html) and Paul Barford (see http://paul-barford.blogspot.com/2010/03/international-association-of-dealers-in.html) feel so free to criticize the IADD for publicizing views in sync with those of its members. Anyone who has read the fare on the Gill or Barford blogs will be hard pressed to find any collector-friendly views expressed therein. Indeed, Gill even feels free to engage in ad hominem attacks in the Blogosphere without giving his targets the opportunity to comment. See http://culturalpropertyobserver.blogspot.com/2010/02/unposted-comments-to-gill-posts.html

The IADAA is free to post what it wishes on its website on this subject. The views the IADAA expresses are no more unbalanced than what one finds on the websites of pro-archaeological groups like the Archaeological Institute of America or Saving Antiquities for Everyone. Gill's and Barford's complaints to the contrary are just plain silly.

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