Respected ancient coins expert and dealer Wayne Sayles responds to the BBC report which is going the rounds of the archeobloggers on the alleged trade in illicit antiquities from Syria. He urges restraint and moderation - 'Response to BBC Reports on the Islamic State and illicit antiquities' Obviously, the artifacts illustrated and discussed in this report have been interdicted by local authorities, as they should be. More of that is needed. Hopefully, the looters and those proven to be knowingly complicit in their crimes were or will be apprehended and prosecuted. However, all too often, the penalty in a source country for being involved in archaeological looting is far less than the penalties sought by U.S. prosecutors for innocently acquiring an object that may or may not have been looted –no proof or knowledge whatever, beyond supposition. Looting must be stopped, and private collectors should be enlisted and cooperative in that effort, but the vilification, accusation and spurious condemnation of private collecting simply because it’s the easiest face to find is unfair, unconstitutional and irrational.
