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.
Where it appears
- Illicit Digging under British Rule, 1878 to 1960
- Licensed Dealers and Registered Collections: The 1935 System and Its Record, to 1974
- Petros Kolokasides: A Licensed Dealer in Nicosia
- Collecting under the Silent Accord, 1963 to 1973
- Licensed Export from the Republic of Cyprus, 1974 to 1996
- The Cyprus Museum Saleroom: The State's Own Sales of 'Duplicate' Antiquities, 1920s to 1991
- Heirs and Old Collections: Where the Cypriot Antiquities on Today's Market Come From
- The 1974 Presumption: Why Cypriot Antiquities Are Treated as Guilty Until Proven Innocent
- The State as Buyer: How the Cyprus Museum, Its Partners and the Church Bought Cypriot Antiquities
- Collecting Cypriot Antiquities Today: Law, Provenance and Due Diligence
- Documenting a Lawful History: How to Show a Cypriot Antiquity Left the Island Lawfully
- Looting and the Lawful Trade in Cyprus: A Parallel Timeline, 1860s to 2026
and 17 more compendium pages