• Home
• Trade
• Case studies
• Teniers stolen
• Buying with confidence

Buying with Confidence

Questions to ask
We must ask questions to avoid, and ultimately prevent, illicit activity in cultural property. The process of asking the right questions of the right people, and collecting appropriate evidence to ensure an item's legitimacy is called due diligence. This section of the website takes you to resources to support you in making a decision as to whether or not to purchase an item for onward sale to another person. Checklist Buying with confidence gives information on questions to ask a vendor. It is important that you ask questions of whoever you are buying from whether an auction house, a dealer, a private owner or collector, someone selling via an online auction house (see Checklist Buying from Online sources) or any other means.  Buyers must also be confident that an object to be purchased has a certain provenance between 1933 and 1945 where particular issues of ownership arise as a result of the looting that took place in the Second World War and Holocaust Era. 

What steps must I take?
The Checklist for Due diligence processes processes is provided here as a way of checking you have taken appropriate steps to avoid becoming involved in the illicit trade and ensuring, as far as possible, that the item put forward for sale is part of the legitimate market in art, antiques or antiquities. In this way your organisation will remain within the law and your purchase will have a degree of protection. The section on Legislation will demonstrate the risks run in not exercising due diligence. In 1999 the Council for the Prevention of Art Theft (CoPAT) produced due diligence guidelines. These are reproduced in Factsheet CoPat due diligence code for dealers. The CoPAT Code departs from previous codes in the attention it draws to money laundering from which dealers are equally at risk as they are from thieves; a subject also covered in Factsheet Legislation. 

What do I do if I am suspicious about an object?
If you have any suspicions about an object you will not wish to purchase it. If you believe a criminal offence has taken place you should report it to the police. Customs Confidential is a 24 hour helpline through which you can also report any possible illicit traffic in cultural property.