Back in 1972 $1 million was still an eye-popping amount of cash. But to Robert Hecht, an enterprising American antiquities dealer living in Paris, it was not too much to charge the Metropolitan Museum of Art for an exquisite Greek vase created 500 years before the birth of Christ and painted by one of the acknowledged masters of the craft. Since the acquisition of the Greek vase, the prices of antiquities have shot skyward.
The problem with the burgeoning traffic in antiquities, however, is not so much the price but something far more significant: the provenance, i.e. where are these precious artifacts coming from? And who are their rightful owners? Evidence is increasing that more and more artifacts are being illegally unearthed from their countries of origin. A recent British study of five large collections totaling 546 objects, for instance, determined that 82 percent of the objects were suspect. From Italy to Greece to Turkey, countries have long complained about the trade in smuggled artifacts and have been largely unable to stop it.
在 1972 年， 100 万美元可真是一大笔钱。但对于住在巴黎的经营有方的美国古董商罗伯特·海克特而言 , 将一个古希腊花瓶卖给纽约大都会博物馆，他的开价并不算高。这只精美花瓶的制作比耶稣诞生还要早 500 年，是由当时一个公认的美术大家绘制的。自从收购这只希腊花瓶以来，古董的价格一路飙升。
然而，日益兴盛的古董买卖，其问题不在于价格离谱，而是远比价格更为重要的事情，那就是古董的来源。这些稀世珍宝来自何方?谁是其合法拥有者?日益增多的证据表明，越来越多的文物正在其所在国被非法挖掘。例如，最近英国对总数达 546 件文物的五大收藏进行了研究，确定其中 82% (的文物)来源可疑。从意大利到希腊到土耳其，许多国家长期来一直在抱怨走私文物交易，却多半无法加以阻止。