Sunnie's side up

One thing that comes up in a lot of Catlad/Stray/Kitten AUs feat. Tim Drake is the idea that the Drakes are lowkey thieves. Specifically, that they steal artifacts from their archeological digs. Makes sense for the AU, but is there any validity to that in canon? 

Um… yeah. Actually. 

So, at first, I thought that Drake Industries did something with archeology? Like, they were an archeological… company? But while going through the Batman comics of the time period and early Robin comics with a fine tooth comb to write the initial DI entry on DC Database, I found that Drake Industries seems to have NOTHING to do with archeology. The only thing DI is specifically said to specialize in is medical equipment. 

Tim describes both his parents “trotting the globe digging up ancient civilizations,” despite archeology not seeming to be Drake Industries’ business. It appears to be a hobby both parents partook in. 

So, that’s… fine? I think? I… think you can volunteer on a dig as an enthusiast. 

But then I noticed this panel from Cry of the Huntress when Tim and Jack are newly moved in next door to Bruce, because… 

Well, I recognize that statue. I took an art history class in college, and that is definitively a Venus figurine, a la “the Venus of Willendorf,” from Paleolithic Europe. 

Now, that doesn’t mean it’s stolen from a dig. It could be purchased legitimately! However… I don’t know, the comics where pretty clear what the Drakes’ spending range was for art. 

A Lonely Place of Dying has this interesting but out-of-place interaction with Tim during his first visit to the Wayne Manor. He notes Bruce’s Erte statue, and comments on how his dad purchased a lithograph the year before… but he appears impressed that Bruce owns a statue. 

This is important to NOTHING in this plot, but it establishes the Drakes’ level of wealth vs Bruce’s level of wealth. Lithographs are generally speaking more affordable than serigraphs, of which Erte produced both, due to how they are made (though, limited editions can change the value of the piece) which suggests that the Drakes are buying on the cheaper end of the high art print spectrum. 

Now, I can’t tell you how much this particular statue is worth, because I can’t tell if this particular statue is meant to be a particular Erte; I can’t find a match. I’ve seen Erte statues listed for $1,800 at auction, and I’ve seen them listed for $13,000. There are certainly lithos more expensive than some statues, however I’ve seen some Erte lithos only price in the hundreds, and I’ve never seen a statue price that low. The implication is that the Drakes don’t have as much cash to spend on having nice Things as Bruce does. I suspect most of their money goes towards funding their lavish lifestyle: travel, multiple homes, fancy boarding schools, etc. Still filthy rich, but they’re not cracking the thousands on art. 

And artifacts at auction? Are not cheap.  

That said, it could simply be a replica, which can be very affordable for the average archeology nerd. There’s still no evidence of wrong-doing. 

Or… there was no evidence, until…

In the Robin 80-Page Giant, we see Jack on a dig, where he officially describes himself as an amateur archaeologist. 

On this dig he finds an artifact of unknown provenance and just… takes it home. Gives it to his fiancé as a wedding present. 

Archaeologists do not keep the objects they excavate, in today’s day and age, since the remains generally belong to the country in which they are found. Like, an actual archeologist can correct me, but it shouldn’t matter that the professional Jack is working under seems to think it’s “costume jewelry,” it’s still part of the dig.

Jack is just so cavalier about taking it home, too, it just seems like something he’s done before. Like, I’m pretty sure he’s just casually commiting a crime and his archeologist friend is, like, enabling him. 

And it TOTALLY is illegal as heck these days to do stuff like this, hence why in, say, the American version of the Antiques Roadshow they have to be very clear when and how the wealthy collectors got their hands on these priceless artefacts, lest it become a UNESCO issue.

Like this one woman whose dad, while living in Peru in the late 1950s to mid-1960s evidently just walked onto archeological digs and bought stuff he thought looked neat (valued in the video below as being worthy between $50,000 to $100,000), with the historian bloke having to be very clear that if he’d gotten them out of the country a few years later he would have been violating international law.

Kory and Donna

Redrew this panel