Technical article

Old Things Brought Home as Souvenirs: Antiquities, Buddha Images and What Follows

The rules in the sources speak of age, of the site, and of the permit, not of size.

By Neil Solomon · 3 min read

Picture a visitor walking through ruins on a warm afternoon. A stone the size of a plum lies by the path. It looks like a piece of the wall. It would make a nice paperweight at home. Is it a problem to pick it up?

Some travelers have found it is. The cases are few and mostly come from news reports, so here is what they show and what the laws say.

A stone at Pompeii

A 51-year-old Scottish tourist took five stones and a brick fragment from Pompeii, according to a news report. A guide alerted site security. Police stopped him and a charge of aggravated theft followed. The pieces went back to the park. The report gives no penalty. The point it makes is simple: the site treats loose fragments as part of the site.

Buddha images in Thailand and India

Thai officers at Phuket airport seized 93 Buddha images from tourists in 2007, a blog on Southeast Asian archaeology reported. The images had left without a permit from the Fine Arts Department. The blog says the permit can be had at the Thalang National Museum. A website that collects customs rules says Thai law asks for an export permit for any Buddha image of any age, and for any antique over 100 years old. It gives the penalty as up to seven years and THB 700,000 (approximately US$20,000). That is a single aggregator, tier U, and the Fine Arts Department's own text was not read.

In India in 2022, customs at the Attari border post seized a stone Buddha fragment from the Gandhara period, about the second or third century, from a foreign passenger's bag. The case was still under investigation. A news report says antiquities over 100 years old need clearance.

Mexico

Mexican law lets private owners export historical or artistic monuments only with a permit from the competent institute. Archaeological monuments are generally barred. Exporting without a permit carries five to twelve years in prison and a fine, according to the federal law text (tier A).

When it becomes a court case

The big cases involve dealers and buyers, not tourists. A Los Angeles art dealer was sentenced in 2015 to 18 months in federal prison for smuggling 337 antiquities from Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and China, with false customs declarations and inflated tax deductions. The objects went back to their countries. The US Department of Justice published it (tier A).

In 2017 Hobby Lobby agreed to pay US$3 million and forfeit more than 5,500 Iraqi artifacts, mostly cuneiform tablets and seals. The items were bought for US$1.6 million and shipped from the United Arab Emirates and Israel labelled as ceramic tiles. The national public radio network reported it, citing the Department of Justice.

A Peruvian arriving in Miami in 2010 with 32 pre-Columbian and colonial objects lost them all. The 11th Circuit upheld the forfeiture in 2017 after the claimant skipped his deposition. A court process left alone can end the claim.

Voicing the doubt

You might say, "A pebble is not an antiquity." Sometimes that is right. The rules in the sources speak of age, of the site, and of the permit, not of size. The Pompeii case was about a stone, and the Thai permits cover images of any age.

Who this touches

Souvenirs outlive the traveler. A child clearing a house may find a Buddha head on a shelf with no papers. They may not know where it came from, or what the rules were on the day it left.

Doors you could open

You could ask at the museum or the airport which permit the country uses, since Thailand points to a museum for it. You could keep the receipt from a licensed dealer if you buy an antique. You could leave the pebble where it lies and take a photo.

Where did your last trip leave you holding something you were not sure you could carry? Share it here, someone about to pack may benefit.

Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Date read: October 2026.