Readers will find little encouraging news in this edition of ``The Antiquities Market.'' This first brief note reminds us how deeply entrenched are the practices of the illicit traffickers, and suggests that perhaps little progress toward solving the problem has been made in 300 years. On the other hand, it provides some historical perspective to current setbacks such as the failure to protect historic shipwrecks, which is discussed in the article that follows.
--Ellen Herscher, ed.