It seems that Mr Symes was dealing in all sorts of collectables...

See:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23743705-details/Antiquities+dealer+and+a+missing+18m+collection/article.do

The value of Antiquities in Society...

An interesting article from the Gulf News reminds us of the obvious, at a time when progress and development comes into conflict with antiquity....
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=258573

Toxic Indian Antiquities - Another Medici....

A very interesting article from Reuters identifies important illicit Asian antiquities which have been fed to American collectors:

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS175536+04-Sep-2009+PRN20090904

Pre 1970 provenance is rapidly becoming the order of the day...

It seems that Turkey is planning to flood yet another huge dam which will result in the destruction of irreplacable world archaeological heritage...first it was invaluable mosaics that were lost under water, now it is primitive history which is at stake......

This is a country which wants to join the European Union, yet seems oblivious to human rights and cultural heritage...
See:
http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/columns/world/10344241.html

Today the Independent newspaper rerports on a highly important Viking Hoard found by a father and son metal detectorist team, in Yorkshire. This 10th century hoard re-asserts the importance and strong influence of the Vikings all over the UK. See:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/buried-in-a-hurry-ndash-but-it-took-a-millennium-to-find-1778394.html

I suspect there is a lot more Viking material to be unearthed in the UK...

This is an interesting article in The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/aug/28/archaeology-amateur-rewriting-british-history

As I suspected, the Portable Antiquities Recording Scheme is having a positive effect on the relationship between archaeologists and responsible metal detectorists. It may even lead to overt official collaboration on a routine scale!

I can but hope for the sake of all ancient art lovers irrespective of which side of the fence they are on....

The old question of who owns the Elgin marbles in the British Museum has been resurected once more. See:

http://www.canada.com/travel/British+Museum+lost+marbles/1900835/story.html

The pressure once more is on the British Government to return these to Greece, to be housed in the museum especially built for them, in "non polluted" Athens, near the Parthenon, at the foot of the Acropolis..

In my opinion, the Italians, Germans, and the Swedish, have paved this inevitable route that we British have to follow, by returning to Greece similar Parthenon friezes which have hitherto being held in their countries...

Elgin looted Greece and there is no point pretending differently...just because it happened over 100 years ago does not make it right or legal!