Many of the cases of illegally trafficked antiquities occur across the borders of multiple countries. To unravel these cases, often requires the cooperation of various different national police forces. A new body intends to make this easier, encouraging cooperation between the law enforcement agencies, Interpol & UNESCO amongst others.

From:
NBC News

14th November 2012
New ‘intelligence’ body set to fight illicit trade in world’s priceless treasures
By Ian Johnston, NBC News

LONDON — Ancient statues from Nigeria and Cambodia, colorful cloaks from Peru, ceremonial furniture from Haiti before Columbus and clay tablets inscribed with writing thousands of years old: The illegal trade in looted cultural artifacts is vast, poorly policed and highly profitable.

But NBC News has learned that a new international body to gather “intelligence” about the illicit sale of some of the world’s most beautiful and historic objects is set to be established.
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Following requests from Iran, the British Museum has agreed to extend the loan of the Cyrus Cylinder for a further three months.

From:
Bloomberg News

Iran to Keep British Museum’s Cyrus Cylinder Three More Months
By Farah Nayeri – Jan 4, 2011 6:55 PM GMT

The British Museum said it will prolong its loan to Iran of an ancient artifact for three more months, meeting a request by the Iranian authorities.

The Cyrus Cylinder, which went on show at the National Museum of Iran in September and was due back Jan. 16, will stay in Tehran until April 15 — after late March celebrations of the Iranian New Year (Norouz), the museum’s press office said in an e-mailed statement.
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More coverage of Iran’s current demands for compensation from the British Museum over the delayed loan of the Cyrus Cylinder.

From:
Tehran Times

April 18, 2010
Iran seeks compensation from British Museum
Tehran Times Culture Desk

TEHRAN — Iran plans to seek compensation from the British Museum after the museum refused to lend the country the Cyrus Cylinder for a showcase.

“The National Museum of Iran has spent about $300,000 for the showcase and we plan to demand our outlay back from the British Museum,” Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) Director Hamid Baqaii told the Persian service of ISNA on Friday.
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As a continuation of their long running dispute over the delayed loan of the Cyrus Cylinder, Iran is now requesting monetary compensation because of the delay.

From:
Reuters

TEHRAN
Mon Apr 19, 2010 6:35am EDT
Iran wants $300,000 in British Museum antiquity row

(Reuters) – Iran wants $300,000 in compensation from the British Museum over its failure to lend the Islamic Republic an ancient Persian treasure, state television reported.

The dispute over the so-called Cyrus Cylinder, named after the Persian ruler’s 6th century BC conquest of Babylon, is a further sign of deteriorating relations between Tehran and London.
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When the return of artefacts is mentioned, institutions such as the British Museum argue that it would empty their collections, leaving them with nothing to display. The reality however is that the British Museum has so many artefacts in their collection (that they are not allowed to sell, return or otherwise de-accession) that only one percent of the collection is currently on public display.

They do allow the public to visit the items not on display – but for most people this is not possible, for the simple reason that as the artefacts are not on display, they don’t know that they are there in the first place.

From:
BBC News

Page last updated at 08:38 GMT, Wednesday, 31 March 2010 09:38 UK
The 99% of the British Museum not on show

In the BBC Radio 4 series A History of the World in 100 Objects, the rise of civilisation is depicted with a hand-picked selection of the British Museum in London.

Choosing just 100 out of 80,000 objects on display was no mean feat. But what is on public show amounts to just 1% of the institution’s eight million artefacts.
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More coverage of the escalating dispute between Iran & the British Museum over the Cyrus Cylinder.

From:
Fars News Agency

News number: 8811171637
18:14 | 2010-02-06
Iran’s National Museum Drops Ties with British Museum

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s National Museum on Saturday cut ties with the British Museum in protest at the delayed implementation of an agreement held earlier between the two sides on sending the Cyrus Cylinder to Iran.

“Now Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO) (as supervisor of Iran’s National Museum) makes this official announcement that it will have no relations with the British Museum as of Sunday,” Iranian Vice-President and ICHHTO Head Hamid Baqaei said in a press conference here in Tehran this afternoon.
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The dispute between Iran & the British Museum over the Cyrus Cylinder continues to drag on. Iran is taking further steps to cut ties with the British Museum, in the hope that this will force an earlier resolution to the situation.

From:
Museums Association

Iran cuts ties with British Museum
Gareth Harris
08/02/2010

Hamid Baghaei, head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicraft and Tourism Organisation (ICHHTO), has cut ties with the British Museum (BM) after it delayed the loan of the Cyrus Cylinder. The sixth-century artefact was due to go on display at the Iran National Museum in Tehran last month.

The decision was announced during a press conference on Saturday according to the Tehran Times. But a spokeswoman for the British Museum said that the decision came as a “great surprise”, and added that the museum had finally agreed to loan the object to Iran only last week.
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As the Cyrus Cylinder debate continues, the British Museum claims that it requires at least six months to study the newly found fragments. It is unclear though why it is necessary to do this now (and delay the already many times postponed loan), rather than wait until the cylinder is returned at the end of the loan period. Of course they could be assuming that others will have the same propensity to break promises as they do.

From:
Press TV (Iran)

London needs 6 months to study new cylinder pieces
Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:27:00 GMT

The British Museum says it needs at least six more months to study the newly-found fragments of the ancient Cyrus cylinder.

The museum announced the discovery of new clay pieces in its storeroom, which seem to be copies of the Persian Cyrus cylinder, known as the world’s first charter of human rights.
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The British Museum’s arguments with Iran continue, as they try to justify their position in continually delaying the proposed reciprocal loan of the Cyrus Cylinder. What is more interesting is that the British Museum clings on to these artefacts proclaiming how important they are, but then it is not included on the list of the 100 most important artefacts in the Museum.

From:
The Guardian

British Museum in battle with Iran over ancient ‘charter of rights’
Tehran alleges time-wasting as curator trawls through thousands of cuneiform clay fragments for Cyrus the Great’s legacy
John Wilson – The Observer, Sunday 24 January 2010

The discovery of fragments of ancient cuneiform tablets – hidden in a British Museum storeroom since 1881 – has sparked a diplomatic row between the UK and Iran. In dispute is a proposed loan of the Cyrus cylinder, one of the most important objects in the museum’s collection, and regarded by some historians as the world’s first human rights charter.

The Iranian government has threatened to “sever all cultural relations” with Britain unless the artefact is sent to Tehran immediately. Museum director Neil MacGregor has been accused by an Iranian vice-president of “wasting time” and “making excuses” not to make the loan of the 2,500-year-old clay object, as was agreed last year.
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More coverage & analysis of the continuing delays to the British Museum’s planned return of the Cyrus Cylinder to Iran.

From:
Financial Times

Storm in a cylinder
Published: January 22 2010 22:44 | Last updated: January 22 2010 22:44

The row over the British Museum’s delay in honouring its agreement to lend a precious artefact to Iran is no more than a storm in a cylinder – but no less instructive for being confected.

The museum has held up the loan to Iran’s National Museum of the Cyrus Cylinder, a cuneiform document inscribed in clay in 539BC by Cyrus the Great, King of Persia, to commemorate his conquest of Babylon. The reason for the delay is the discovery of two fragments from the cylinder that could greatly elucidate its purpose.
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More coverage of Iran’s threat’s to cease co-operation with the British Museum if the dispute over the loan of the Cyrus Cylinder is not resolved.

From:
Fars News Agency

15:30 | 2009-10-08
Iran Warns British Museum over Cyrus Cylinder

TEHRAN (FNA)- Tehran announced that it would cease cooperation with the British Museum in London until it loans the Cyrus the Great Cylinder to the National Museum of Iran.

The clay cylinder is inscribed in Babylonian cuneiform with an account by Cyrus II, king of Persia (559-530 BC). The Cyrus Cylinder is described as the world’s first charter of human rights.
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The British Museum loves the idea of cultural partnerships – but only when they are the ones dictating the terms. Despite repeated rejections in the past of the concept of being part of a joint curatorship of the New Acropolis Museum, they are now happy to follow the Louvre’s lead & set up an outpost in Abu Dhabi. The benefit of this will be that people in the Arab world may be able to see items from the British Museum’s vast Middle Eastern collection, but one has to wonder why the idea of outposts in some locations (which coincidentally have large mounts of money & are not requesting the return of artefacts) is acceptable, whereas in other countries similar proposals are not even up for discussion.

From:
The Times

July 26, 2009
British Museum treasures head for Abu Dhabi
Richard Brooks, Arts Editor

THE British Museum has struck a multi-million-pound deal to help launch a museum in the Middle East designed by Lord Foster.

In its biggest overseas venture, the institution will be unveiled tomorrow as the official partner of the national museum of Abu Dhabi, the oil-rich Gulf state. The new building will sit alongside offshoots of the Louvre and the Guggenheim museums.
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