Apart from New York, Arthur Harris says, New Orleans has the country's largest high-end antiques market, and the best of it is packed into a few streets in the French Quarter. Royal Street has a reputation to uphold. That is why Mr Harris didn't trust the men who came by his shop more than a year ago, hawking wrought-iron chairs and cement pots from the back of a car. The goods looked badly weathered and strangely familiar, he said. When one said the wares came from his grandmother's, Mr Harris wasn't convinced.
Police say that other antique dealers have been less careful.
In the past year, they have arrested seven people, including several retailers, in connection with what they call a sweeping scheme to rob New Orleans's cemeteries. Because the water table is too high for digging, the graveyards were built above ground, rows of vaults and mausoleums modelled after European tombs, set along wandering paths. Many of the crypts are still in use, the old bones pushed back to make room for new generations. Many are adorned with statues and iron crosses, the crumbling keepsakes of the dead. But these days, fashion is just as serious a foe.