Ancient artefacts
These days we observe with great concern that some unscrupulous people, accidentally recovering stray ancient sculptures fancifully valued at 'crores of taka' are smuggling these out of the country. An instance in point is the latest news item with pictures ( 9 March Sunday) where two artefacts recovered from Bogra were given the price tag of Tk 9 crore. Such grossly speculative valuation of antiquities is, in fact, doing more harm than good to our art and antiquarian treasures, for these antiquities are not saleable articles, rather strictly forbidden objects of trade. As such, there cannot be any price tag on these antiquities. Such unchecked fanciful pricing is always the outcome of unbridled imagination of the discoverer or the reporter and as such only whets the cupidity of the smugglers for clandestine traffic in antiquities.
In the event of any antiquity including sculptures accidentally discovered or found and offered for sale, the Department of Archaeology, acting as the sole agent of the government, is vested with the power to purchase or acquire it. In doing so, the director is assisted by an 'acquisition committee' comprising some senior professional officers of the Department who fix the compensation price on the basis of the value of the material of the object plus its antiquarian value.
In this connection the Treasure Trove Act of 1878 (10 Feb as amended by xiii of 1891), defines that all treasures including materials discovered under the ground are the property of the government, and it pays compensation to the land owner a sum equal to the value of the material of such treasure (at the current market value) or portion, together with 1/3 of such value. However, in view of some changed circumstances and to counteract illegal traffic in antiquity, the Department of Archaeology as well as the National Museum, Dhaka have constituted 'Acquisition Committee' which fixes the prices of these articles liberally.
The highly speculative absurd valuation without absolutely any basis, frequently quoted in newspapers by misinformed reporters, only encourages and allures smugglers to indulge more in illegal trade in our treasured heritage. This alarming trend should be strongly discouraged in public for the safely of our heritage. You can play a very vital role here.
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