When buying American Indian artifacts, question the sellers about where and when they obtained the items, get as much as possible in writing and watch out for trickery.

That's the advice of an Arizona dealer who narrowly avoided arrest after he was approached by the government's chief informant in last year's Four Corners antiquities investigation.

"Fortunately, I was able to pick up on the subtle things he was saying, and I was able to turn down the items he was offering, but nevertheless it was very tricky," he said. "If you weren't listening very, very closely, you would have missed it."

Dace Hyatt of Show Low, Ariz., spoke on a panel hosted by the Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association on Monday, the opening day of the Whitehawk Antique Indian Art Show, where several dealers posted signs assuring buyers that everything for sale was legally obtained.

Attending the panel discussion were at least two local dealers whose homes were raided in June 2009 but who have not been charged — Forrest Fenn and Christopher Selser. Of the 26 people in four states indicted last year, two committed suicide — James Redd, a Blanding, Utah, physician, and Steven Shrader, a Santa Fe salesman.

The informant, Ted Gardiner, 52, died of a self-inflicted gunshot March 2 after a brief standoff with police at the house he was renting in Salt Lake City.

"I feel he was consumed with guilt for the lies that he told," said Hyatt, 41. He said he was a mentor for Gardiner, previously a grocery executive, in the Indian antiquities business and considered him visionary, wise and cunning, but a "conflicted soul" who got greedy.

"With Ted, it was always about the money," Hyatt said. "He lacked the passion about the artifacts themselves. ... He said that he had become a millionaire in the grocery business and that his goal was to make his next million in the artifact business. Well, that's fine, but I think it's important to point that out because the public knows a lot of publicity out there stating that Ted did this because of his passion for saving ancient cultural material. Well, it's my understanding that he did it, in fact, for the money."

Hyatt said he was aware that Gardiner was in dire straits with debt, drinking and marital problems in 2005. He said Gardiner disappeared for a time, agreed to become an informant for the federal government to get himself out of debt and then resurfaced with a new image.

Hyatt recalled that Gardiner came to his house and offered to sell him a couple of objects at a fair price.

"I had my checkbook in my hand," he said. "I said, 'Ted, what can you tell me about these items?' He said, 'Well, I've been getting these items from the boys' — he called them — 'They've been finding the stuff on the Arizona Strip.' "

Hyatt said he knew the strip, a section of northwestern Arizona separated from the rest of the state by the Grand Canyon, included Bureau of Land Management property, so he asked Gardiner about that and he quietly answered yes.

"I just dropped my checkbook and pen in my lap," Hyatt said, "and said, 'Ted, I can't buy these.' ... He said, 'I appreciate that. I don't expect you to do something you're not comfortable with.' I said, 'I'm not. You need to take these items back, find out exactly where on the Arizona Strip they were found, and if it's in fact BLM, then you need to return them.' "

Hyatt said he believes that by using subtle tricks, the federal government is trying to entrap innocent collectors, not prosecute real criminals. "We're not a deviant subspecies that dwells in the murky underworld," he said.

Gardiner's son, Dustin Gardiner, a crime reporter with the Arizona Republic, responded by saying that his father was "sickened" by the grave robbing and looting he witnessed.

"He always had a passion for Southwest archaeology and he felt he had a personal responsibility to help protect that history," he said. "Many of those attacking his character have spent their lives peddling Indian artifacts for profit. It's not surprising that they can't comprehend his motives."

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.