Mention of Finland, like many other northern European countries, is largely absent from discussions of the global trafficking of cultural objects. However, its proximity to the Russian Federation (historically a source of looted objects such as Orthodox icons and other religious art), as well as its apparent attractiveness as a route of transit, at least for the legal market in cultural objects, suggest that focus on Finland would be a valuable exercise in understanding the wider transnational movement of cultural objects, within the Baltic and Nordic regions and beyond. Indeed, the lack of any import regulation for cultural objects entering Finland, along with its pivotal role as a ‘hard border’ nation of the European Union and Schengen Area, suggest an ‘invisible’ problem, as yet under-researched and under-recorded. This paper aims to initiate discussion of the roles of seemingly unassuming nations within the backdrop of a regional and international context.