 Tilman Walterfang's company formed a contract of cooperation with the original Indonesian salvage company and as a result the cargo was not sold off piece by piece to collectors. Although there were instances of some looting from the site, particularly between the two excavation periods, Walterfang kept the cargo intact as one complete collection so that it could be studied in its original context; something which has given an "unparalleled insight into China's industrial capacity and global trade" according to Julian Raby, director of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. It was housed in a private conservation facility for six years, where the artefacts were painstakingly conserved (including desalination), studied, and carefully restored by Walterfang's company, Seabed Explorations Ltd. of New Zealand. The work was carried out with the assistance of German conservator Andreas Rettel, who trained at the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum in Mainz. The artefacts were authenticated by Professor Geng Baochang, a senior research fellow at the Palace Museum in Beijing. Baochang is the deputy director of Beijing's Forbidden City and one of China's foremost experts on antique ceramics.
