Government Waste and Abuse

Jason Felch for the LA Times has reported on the goverment's now floundering case concerning Ban Chiang pottery that started some five years ago with so much fanfare.

The real problem with this investigation is that it targeted artifacts that were openly available for sale in Thailand.  What was hyped as mainly a stolen property case became a far less "sexy" tax and smuggling case.  The old bait and switch.

It's high time for the US government to stop being the muscle for US academics with an axe to grind against collectors and foreign cultural bureaucrats.  If Thailand is so interested in repatriation of these ceramics, our courts are open to it.

Let Thai officials bring their own case instead of shifting that cost to the US Taxpayer.

ICE Returns Khmer Artifacts, But Questions Remain

ICE has issued a press release about the repatriation of Khmer artifacts to Cambodia. See http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1008/100818washingtondc.htm

The artifacts were seized as part of a larger investigation into the smuggling of South Asian Art.


Although the seizures were made with great fanfare, the actual legal proceedings seem limited and instead the investigation has been marred by the death of one of the its targets in police custody. As a result, her family received a large sum to settle a federal tort claims action.

I also find the government's allegations related to the theft of Ban Chiang pottery from Thailand to be questionable given the continuing availability of such pottery openly for sale within Thailand itself. See http://www.thaiwebsites.com/antiques.asp

More Backlash on Four Corners Raids

Senators Hatch and Bennett, both Republicans of Utah, have called for an investigation of the Fed's arrests of pot hunters in the Four Corners area: http://www.newsobserver.com/2188/story/1568991.html

While they are at it, I hope they also look into last year's federal dragnet for "hot pots" allegedly stolen from Thailand: http://www.accg.us/issues/news/old-pots-cops-paint-as-201chot201d-sold-openly-in-thailand/?searchterm=Thailand

In my view, that investigation [which has disappeared from the news after a flurry of initial stories about the raids and subsequent death in custody of one of the targets] raises more fundamental questions than the raids out West.

LA Times Series on Roxanna Brown, an Expert in Southeast Asian Antiquities Who Died in Federal Custody

The Museum Security Network: http://groups.google.com/group/museum-security-network?hl=en has highlighted a LA Times series on Roxanna Brown, an expert in Southeast Asian antiquities who died in federal custody in May. As Ton Cremers notes, "Her arrest was part of the federal investigation that led to museum raids in January. She led a fascinating and ultimately tragic life that gets at many of the troubling aspects of the antiquities trade."

The latest LA Times story can be found here: http://www.latimes.com/roxanna Cremers indicates the other stories will be archived there as well. While one should not condone smuggling or efforts to cheat the tax man, federal investigators have probably overreached on claiming that artifacts were "stolen" from Thailand from the start. See:http://www.accg.us/issues/news/old-pots-cops-paint-as-201chot201d-sold-openly-in-thailand/?searchterm=Thailand

As set forth in this link, the same types of artifacts that the government claims are "stolen" are openly available for sale in Thailand itself. Moreover, Thailand had not even bothered to sign the 1970 UNESCO Convention. See: http://exchanges.state.gov/culprop/unesco02.html Thus, Thailand even lacks standing to ask the United States to impose import restrictions on these artifacts in support of Thai export controls.

Under the circumstances, I find it troubling that the Government has pursued this matter in such a heavy-handed fashion. These tactics have already cost Ms. Brown her life. The lawsuit that her family has brought is also likely to cost the government dearly as well.