The Trade in Looted Antiquities Endures for One Reason: Demand

I was working in a company when the boss/owner asked me to translate a lengthy Excel sheet from Arabic into English, it was a long list of antique furniture; a nightmare and I already had my plate full and was earlier denied my bonus. The minute I read a weird special Arabic word (Altaq) that not many people know, it indicates the armchair/sofa or anything, was a single piece, I suspected something scary. I ventured an emailed the CEO saying that the suitable translator that could handle the translation complexities was asking for $500. It was a gamble and it worked. I later found out that his son had opened an art & antique furniture showroom in a mall. My suspicion was and still is, it was looted from my country during this civil war. With all my support and love for whistleblower, I can not be one, or a good one as proving my doubts is beyond my means. And my family and I are also victims of antique furniture looting and here is one item from 1919 https://imgur.com/a/QDYysC1

I remember reading a book about an FBI investigator who specialized in recovering stolen art and it mostly turned out to be low-rent sad hucksters. The chase is always more interesting than the stories of who took them.

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/6827652-priceless

In the end isn't this just the long tail of signaling wealth?

Having what others don't. Not only they don't have, but they can't have it, and faking it won't cut it.

Like a lot of luxury brands, fine dining, even traveling are catering to a virtue signaling middle class on social media.

Apparently the ultra wealthy are now going to the stratosphere, having weird meetings, building bunkers, and playing politics.

I've heard circular reasoning before, but not one right in the title!