NY Times article THE CURSE OF THE OUTCAST ARTIFACT

Provenance (the history of past ownership) has great importance when assessing value of ancient Chinese arts. That is because dealers and auction house are increasingly unwilling to accept objects for sale and museums are not accepting them as gifts if acquisition history cannot be documented prior to 1970 (the year a United Nations convention on looted antiquities took effect). On July 12, 2012, the New York Times published a story on this situation: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/arts/design/antiquity-market-grapples-with-stricter-guidelines-for-gifts.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1