Relic & Rarity’s Guide to Buying Authentic Antiquities Published Through AP News
Published on August 19, 2026
A new guide written by Jordan Thomas, Founder and Head Curator of Relic & Rarity, has been published through the AP News press-release platform. Distributed by GetNews and ABNewswire, the article provides collectors with an accessible introduction to provenance, authenticity, documentation, and legal compliance within the international antiquities market.
The guide explains that collecting antiquities involves more than identifying an object’s age or appreciating its appearance. Ancient ceramics, sculptures, jewelry, coins, glass, bronze objects, weapons, and fragments of everyday material culture may provide tangible connections to past civilizations, but responsible acquisition also requires careful consideration of ownership history, authenticity, condition, documentation, and applicable cultural-property laws.
A central focus of the article is provenance—the documented history of an artifact’s ownership, custody, or movement. Provenance may be supported by old collection inventories, auction catalogues, dealer invoices, photographs, exhibition records, publications, export permits, correspondence, collection labels, and other archival material. Even a dated photograph or handwritten label can become an important part of an artifact’s modern history.
The guide also distinguishes provenance from authenticity. Provenance concerns an object’s documented collecting history, while authenticity considers whether the object is genuinely what it is represented to be. Although these areas may support one another, neither automatically proves the other. Responsible cataloguing therefore evaluates an artifact’s ownership history, physical characteristics, style, scientific findings, and similarities to well-documented museum and archaeological examples.
International legal compliance is discussed through the broader framework of the 1970 UNESCO Convention and the individual cultural-property laws maintained by different countries. The article emphasizes that collectors should consider the specific country of origin, date and circumstances of export, material, archaeological importance, destination country, and any applicable import or export restrictions before completing an international acquisition.
The article also highlights the importance of transparency when discussing condition, restoration, attribution, and uncertainty. Ancient objects frequently survive with losses, repairs, mineral deposits, weathering, reconstructed areas, or modern mounting systems. These characteristics do not automatically diminish their historical importance, but collectors should be given enough information and detailed photography to understand what is original, what may have been restored, and what remains uncertain.
Topics covered include:
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What provenance means and why it matters when collecting antiquities
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The important distinction between provenance and authenticity
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How documentation can support an artifact’s collecting history
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The role of the UNESCO 1970 framework and national cultural-property laws
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Import and export considerations for international acquisitions
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Due diligence when purchasing antiquities through online marketplaces
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Researching previous collectors, auction records, and publication history
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Transparent disclosure of condition, restoration, and uncertain attribution
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Why collectors should preserve invoices, photographs, correspondence, and acquisition records
The guide further explains that today’s documentation will eventually become part of an artifact’s future provenance. Invoices, photographs, specialist reports, auction entries, scientific testing, and ownership records created or preserved now may become valuable historical evidence for future collectors, researchers, and institutions.
Relic & Rarity continues to promote historically informed and responsible collecting through provenance research, detailed documentation, transparent cataloguing, and educational resources. By preserving both an artifact and the available information surrounding it, collectors become temporary custodians of objects whose histories may extend across many generations.
📖 Read the Article: Buying Authentic Antiquities: A Guide to Provenance, Documentation & Legal Compliance
🏺 Learn More About Authentication and Provenance: Explore Relic & Rarity’s approach to artifact research, documentation, and certificates of authenticity
