Heightened Scrutiny on Antiquities Collectors

Collectors, and their trustees and executors, may be surprised to discover that antiquity objects they’ve owned for decades could become subject to patrimony claims by foreign governments. Patrimony claims are brought by countries to reclaim cultural property that’s been illegally exported or “stolen” from their territories. Countries’ patrimony laws differ in their definitions of what constitutes cultural property, but the unifying theme among patrimony laws is