About Us

From Our Founder

In 1969, Archeologist Clemency Coggins laid bare the unauthorized destruction of pre-Colombian archeological sites causing the irreversible loss of historical and archeological data to obtain objects to sell on the international market. 

Professor Coggins's famous article began:

In the last ten years there has been an incalculable increase in the number of monuments systematically stolen, mutilated and illicitly exported from Guatemala and Mexico in order to feed the international art market. Not since the sixteenth century has Latin America been so ruthlessly plundered.

Clemency Coggins, Illicit Traffic of Pre-Columbian Antiquities, 29 Art J. 94 (1969).

The damage is particularly acute when integrated architectural sculptures and reliefs are hacked away from monuments to be sold as moveable chattels. To smuggle artifacts out of sites around the world, smugglers often chop up or deface them to conceal their value from customs officers. 

Collectors have purchased antiquities since antiquity itself. Their motivations are varied, often including a desire to act as a steward of history. They often are mesmerized by the object's beauty and mystique. And, unfortunately for some, profit and greed is a motive.

Professor Coggins' undeniable revelations led to the drafting of the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property of 1970. The purpose of the UNESCO Convention is to curb widespread pillaging of archeological sites. Initially the UNESCO Convention did little to directly change things with the exception of a few categories of objects to which the United States agreed to prohibit importation pursuant to various statutes and bilateral agreements. Collectors fearful that archaeologists would shut down the international market altogether caused the United States to delay enacting enabling legislation until Congress passed the Cultural Property Implementation Act in 1983. Frankly, not much changed in the antiquities market until the 21st century.

In the early 2000's, the museum and collector world was rocked by scandal after scandal. It could no longer ignore the fact that there was a serious problem in the international art and antiquities market.

In recent years, I have had renewed hope as some museums and dealers have asked for my assistance to do the right thing. We sometimes talked about the idea that the dealer and collector community should be more transparent and do more to stop theft at the source—archaeological sites.

One of those dealers, Hicham Aboutaam, surprised me and took me up on the suggestion. As he is one of the most prominent dealers in the world and was willing to open up his collection to scrutiny, I thought his willingness might encourage others to follow. We agree museums and collectors cannot turn a blind eye to all unprovenanced antiquities. And we also agree that dealers committed to changing the market have the power to help stop looting at the source to protect site-specific knowledge of humankind's history for future generations.

In that spirit, Archaeology Preservation Fund, Inc. was born.

Sincerely,

Jennifer A. Kreder, President