A friend of mine has found an antique in Iran and he wants to sell it outside the country, is this legal. the antique is not from a museum.it was excavated.by the way, the folks who found it were Iranian not foreignersmy question is- is it legal to auction this outside the country or do we have to hand it to a museum
You need a permit. You will probably not get one. 'It was excavated' is no defence at all. Neither is the nationality of the excavators. If it was legally excavated in a properly conducted archaeological dig, then it would have gone to a museum anyway. Now - I've told you this, so your friend can do what he or she pleases. I note that this friend did not ask the authorities - maybe because you - sorry, I mean this friend of yours - knew what the answer would be. That said, I personally think these laws are too restrictive. If there are enough of this particular object around, why should it bother anyone if some of them are in private hands in foreign countries?
