Glossary Collecting and the antiquities trade
Licensed dealer
A trader authorised by the Cyprus Department of Antiquities to buy and sell antiquities, a lawful role from 1935 until dealing was banned in 1996.
The Antiquities Law of 1935 made dealing in antiquities a licensed activity. Dealers kept stock lists, filed returns with the Department and submitted pieces for export licences, and the Department inspected their stock and approved objects for sale abroad. A. H. S. Megaw, Director from 1936, licensed three dealers and urged visitors to buy only from licence-holders.
Petros Kolokasides of Nicosia and George Basil Palma of Famagusta are the best documented. Kolokasides sold to the Cyprus Museum, to universities abroad and to private buyers, and objects from his stock still carry the Department's lead export tag. The amendment of 1996 provided that no person may deal in antiquities in Cyprus, which ended the system.
Full entry: The Legal Export of Cypriot Antiquities
Related terms
- Export licence
An official permit allowing an antiquity to leave its country of origin; in Cyprus, issued by the Department of Antiquities from 1935.
- Lead export tag
A small lead seal wired to an antiquity by the Cypriot authorities to mark it as approved for lawful export.
- Museum duplicates
Objects judged surplus to a museum because it held similar examples; the Cyprus Museum sold such duplicates to the public until 1991.
- Antiquities Law (Cyprus)
The Cypriot statute governing excavation, ownership, dealing and export of antiquities, first enacted in 1905 and recast in 1935.