Art Loss Register Boss Proposes Levy on Antiquities Sales to Raise Funds for Source Countries

Riah Pryor, "Call for levy on sales of antiquities" The Art Newspaper, 10 July 2013.

A proposed levy on sales of antiquities to raise funds for source countries to help them better protect their heritage has been proposed at an academic conference. Julian Radcliffe, the chairman of the Art Loss Register, made the proposal. “My idea is to make it very modest, say 1%, and only apply it to items worth more than £10,000, so that no one can claim that it is inhibiting trade or is worth trying to avoid, for example by swops, " he says. Conference participants also debated the merits of reviving the partage system, which in the past meant that excavated artifacts were shared between the host country and foreign archeologists and their sponsors through a licensing system.

Peter Lacovara comments: "Brilliant idea! Since the partage system ended, stuff just gets piled up in storerooms to deteriorate, be forgotten and stolen. A legitimate sharing of antiquities with responsible museums would make them available to everyone and the proceeds could help maintain what has been neglected in their countries of origin".