Blackfoot Native American Knife

[S.Workman]

Originally Posted by LJ

Could I request some clarification?

What law have the collectors broken to justify the "SWAT style raids" ? I don't know the situation in America or Canada, but in Britain there is no law to prevent anybody owning Native American artefacts of any type or age. The only exception I can think of would be items that incorporate fragments of endangered species (covered by CITES legislation) and even then I understand that an offence would be committed only if you tried to import or trade in the items.

And yes, I agree the dagger is a very nice piece of work.

The thing is, you may not have broken any law….read this article:
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/c...-home/7210675/

One of the big issues is possession of objects covered by things like NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act). In some cases, chain of custody from a Native American creator to a modern owner is unimportant, it still is considered to be property of a Native American tribal group (a legal body), and the object does not need to have come from a grave, have been looted, stolen or otherwise taken unethically from any Native American. There have been cases in the US of museums being forced to return objects purchased from natives by a staff anthropologist in the early 20th century. Much like one could buy keris in Java or Bali, as people lost interest in them and offered them for sale.
Please understand that I went to college to study archaeology and so from that and other perspectives, I don't want the property violation and data loss that comes from unauthorized excavation which is certainly a form of theft. And the keeping of Native American bones when a claimant has asked for their return is also a violation. But the idea that a whole collection could be seized simply because some bureaucrat was not satisfied with the provenance of every piece is also a violation.
Its a complicated issue and if you are still curious there is a lot to look for on line, but this to me is state sponsored theft and thats why I would not mention such artifacts being in my possession. US law enforcement has become rather heavy handed of late, and the courts very willing to back up all kinds of silliness.