[drc]

Rich, I don't believe this will be the case with memorabilia auctions.

If you have the consignor sign a statement of ownership/provenance (where bought from if not the whole known history) and the auction does reasonable diligence and follow through on questionable situations or particularly significant items (Elvis' wedding ring, for example), that is enough. There's no need to have all lots run through the FBI-- would be a rather pointless exercise anyway, as I don't know what the FBI could do when handed a 1895 football noseguard anyway. There already are laws and procedures for recouping money for sold stolen items.

Keep record of from who you purchased an item from. If the item turns out to be stolen, this is the person from where you get a refund. If that seller was also innocently wronged, he would get a refund from the person he purchased from-- and so on down the chain. It doesn't matter if the auction house or consignor was an innocent victim, the sale was not legal-- in fact, legally speaing there was no sale-- and you get your refund.

If you purchase a stolen item from an auction house, you would get your money the auction house or consignor-- you wouldn't have to worry about finding the original source. The auction sale was not a legal sale (the owner didn't even know his stuff was up for sale!), so you get your money back from that sale.