Source hierarchy
For treaties, import restrictions, official databases and conservation policy, the site prefers government, intergovernmental, museum and professional institutional sources. Dealer descriptions and marketplace listings are claims to verify, not authorities.
When official sources conflict or a rule is unclear, the page should state the uncertainty and direct the reader to qualified counsel or the responsible authority.
Attribution language
Pages distinguish certainty levels. Roman, Roman period, Roman-style, possibly Roman and modern reproduction after a Roman type are not interchangeable. We avoid upgrading tentative attributions without new evidence.
Broad regional labels should not conceal uncertainty about modern country of origin or legal jurisdiction.
Provenance language
Private collection, old collection and from a gentleman's collection are not considered complete provenance. Useful provenance names owners, locations and dates and links those facts to the exact object through records or images.
Every page should distinguish provenance from ownership title, export compliance and authenticity. They overlap, but they are not the same question.
Legal language
Legal pages are educational. They identify official research paths and common questions but do not offer legal conclusions about individual objects. Laws and bilateral restrictions change, and source-country ownership rules may predate modern export documents.
A seller's ability to ship, a customs declaration or duty-free antique classification does not alone resolve cultural-property restrictions.
Authenticity language
No page authenticates an object from photographs. Scientific tests are described with limitations. A test of material age does not automatically prove manufacture date, cultural attribution, lawful excavation or legal ownership.
Restoration, composites and reuse of old materials should be treated as central possibilities, not afterthoughts.
Market and affiliate language
Marketplace searches exist to compare descriptions, completed sales, reproductions, books and preservation supplies. The site does not label a current listing genuine, lawfully exported or fairly priced.
Affiliate compensation does not change the order of due-diligence advice. Purchase-oriented links belong after provenance and legal warnings.
Corrections
Material errors should be corrected promptly. Editorial inquiries should identify the page, disputed statement, proposed correction and strongest primary or institutional source.
Corrections should preserve a change record when the prior claim affected attribution, law, authenticity or conservation.
Human remains and sacred material
The site does not normalize trade in human remains, recently looted funerary objects or sacred community property. Pages emphasize consultation, non-acquisition, legal review and return where appropriate.
Community significance may remain even where a private market exists. Ethical analysis should not stop at minimum legal compliance.
Conflicts of interest
A person offering to buy an object may not be the appropriate independent appraiser, authenticator or title adviser. Editorial content encourages clear separation of those roles.
Experts and laboratories should disclose financial interests, sample custody and limits of examination.