The Art Lost Register made an announcement today that it is acquiring Trace.com. Trace already works with auction houses and pawnbrokers to track stolen objects. It also has services directed toward recovering looted art:

The Art Loss Register (ALR) announce the acquisition of the register of stolen art and antiques from Trace, a subsidiary by MyThings which will become a minority shareholder in the ALR. This merger will consolidate the two databases into one, and reinforce the need for one database recognised internationally as the centre for due diligence searching by the art trade and for registration by insurers and victims of theft.

“The Art Trade cannot be expected to search a multitude of databases with different content which do not provide an authoritative check on whether the item is stolen, missing or has some other defect to its title. Likewise victims of theft need to register in one location providing support to the police to assist them and increasing the chances of recovery,” said Julian Radcliffe the Chairman of the Art Loss Register.

“We look forward to developing our additional services in relation to fakes, pre loss registration and searching for lower value items particularly for auction houses,” he added.

“We believe that this merger with the Art Loss Register will provide Trace auction house clients the best future service,” said Benny Arbel the CEO of MyThings which has just raised new funds to develop its core business in behavioural targeting.