Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Dishonest Archeologists Thrown off Site



Daily Sabah, "Seljuk sultan's tomb project stopped after German archaeologists caught smuggling artifacts" 28 12 2016
The project to find the tomb of Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan, carried out under the sponsorship of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) in Turkmenistan has been paused after it was discovered that the German archaeology team participating in the project was smuggling historical artifacts. According to reports, excavations in Turkmenistan's historic city of Merv were stopped in 2015 after German archaeologists were caught smuggling artifacts at the airport. The excavation team told the media that they had excavated 47 locations and dug as much as 12 meters down, taking them very close to finding the sultan's tomb. TİKA reportedly said that the excavation, jointly carried out with Turkmenistan's Ministry of Culture, will continue when the necessary legal and bureaucratic conditions are favorable.
More evidence that archaeological workers should be paid a living wage, to stop this kind of thing happening.

No Truth to Claim that ISIS is Funded by Illicit US Art Sales


There is no Truth to Claim that ISIS is Funded by Illicit US Art Sales ('US Files Court Case Against Images on an ISIS Computer' CCP 26 Dec 2016) 
Yet this year, the Antiquities Coalition and other anti-art trade interest groups pummeled Congress for months with allegations that looted art provided billions of dollars to fund terrorists across the Middle East, in order to pass H.R. 1493/S.1887, The Protect and Preserve International Cultural Property Act, in April 2016. Any money at all contributed to ISIS is a bad thing, of course, but so far, there is no evidence that any money at all has comes from sales of ISIS looted art in the US. It appears that the lawsuit, like the Congressional initiatives to tie the art trade to terrorism, is another example of how misleading information is used – at great cost – to influence the unsuspecting American public.

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Stuck in the SWAMP


Great piece in Coins Weekly by the tireless Peter Tompa discussing concerns with a new MOU with Egypt's authoritarian government:
Restrictions drafted with administrative convenience in mind rather than fidelity to the law cause considerable collateral damage. Due to their wording, small businesses of the numismatic trade and collectors risk detention, seizure and forfeiture of designated Egyptian coin types legally exported from Europe. Many historical coins on the market and in collections abroad simply can’t meet the law’s stringent provenance requirements for legal import.
American collectors should only purchase their coins from reputable dealers. Before importing coins from abroad, confirm that the seller abroad is able to provide the necessary paperwork for a legal import. Going forward, the author hopes the new Administration will take a hard look at current State Department and Customs practices. Efforts to protect cultural patrimony cannot be allowed to justify the taking of private property without due process of law.
Why should democracies that value private property rights and due process follow the lead of a military dicatorship?  Let's draiun that swamp.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Egypt Seeks Change in Law to Disadvantage Collectors


The repressive military dictatorship of the banana republic of Egypt seeks changes in laws which will affect collectors. They claim credit for the new restrictive German law and presse for the reversal of burden of proof policy over Antiquities (George Mikhail, "How Egypt intends to stop sale of its relics around the world").
According to Shaaban Abdel-Gawad, the director general of the Department of Recovered Antiquities within the Ministry of Antiquities [...] the ministry is taking necessary steps to stop the selling of Egypt’s relics in international auctions by following up on the auctions that are being held around the world and checking if the missing artifacts at home are being displayed in any of the exhibitions and auctions.” “In case it was proven that some of the missing relics were put up for auction somewhere in the world, the ministry would get in touch with the auction house or the host country to seize back the archaeological pieces by virtue of ownership documents showing that they belong to the Egyptian state,” Abdel-Gawad added. “If there were no documents to this effect, due to many illegal excavation works and thefts of relics in Egyptian museums and archaeological stores especially after 2011, we deal with the matter in our capacity as the country of origin of such relics, and we require the concerned auction house to provide documents proving its ownership of the archaeological pieces.” Commenting on other obstacles preventing Egypt from recovering relics from international auctions, Abdel-Gawad said, “The local governing laws in the countries where such auctions are being held are the biggest challenge for us. We are dealing with about a hundred countries and most of them allow the antiquities trade, while other countries did not sign the 1970 UNESCO convention, whereby the antiquities trade is criminalized.”
Except that it is not. This is overreach by the Middle Eastern state ruled by a military dictator
He noted, “Egypt has been demanding the amendment of the UNESCO 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property to include all relics that had been looted and stolen before that date. It is also demanding that the auction houses be responsible for providing proof of ownership of any relics they are displaying instead of the concerned country of origin.” He also said that many countries whose relics have been smuggled and stolen, such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia and China, among others, want to cooperate with Egypt to pressure UNESCO to amend the convention’s articles in this regard. For his part, Bassam al-Chammah, a historian and Egyptologist, told Al-Monitor that he is calling for a mass petition, whereby the signatures of Egyptians are collected to pressure UNESCO to amend the convention and stand by Egypt to recover its missing artifacts by facilitating legal proceedings and pressuring other countries to return related relics and pieces.
Read more: here

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act (HEAR) Act


The House of Representatives passed the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act (HEAR) Act yesterday to spur more Nazi art restitutions. HEAR Act will ensure claims to Nazi-confiscated art aren't unfairly barred by statues of limitations and instead are resolved on their merits. 


Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Torc Found by Treasure Hunter to be Bought by Museum




A 3000-year old torc found in a field in east Cambridgeshire is one of the largest and heaviest to be unearthed in the UK. The torc, dating from 1100 to 1300 BC, is being valued before local museums in Cambridgeshire are given the chance to raise funds to buy the rare object. A metal detectorist found the torc in a field, after seeking permission from the landowner, [...] Torcs were normally worn around the neck or arm, but this one, weighing 732g and with a diameter of 49in (1.25m) is too large to fit an average person's waist. Fowler said it may have been designed to be worn over thick winter clothing, as a sash, or by an animal awaiting sacrifice. [...] Once a value has been assigned to the object and a sale made, the proceeds will be divided between the finder and the landowner. [...] the “best practice” for those seeking treasure is to get “permission from the landowner and have liability insurance”. The torc is among a number of treasures uncovered by the public in the past year. More than 1.2 million finds have been recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme, managed by the British Museum with local and national partners, since 1997.

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Our American Heritage Initiative


We believe that our true American heritage has been ignored, rewritten and dishonored by liberal and progressive forces. It is our civic duty to revitalize the truth of our exceptional heritage to all American citizens and to restore and preserve our wonderful history and founding values and principles.

Friday, November 25, 2016

Why Import Restrictions Will not Work


Dave E. Welsh a respected Californian dealer explains his opposition to the draconian import restrictions favored by the archeologists and their state department friends:
Import restrictions contribute absolutely nothing to this criminal deterrence [to looting]. The risk involved is economic: Customs detention and possible confiscation of a shipment, which means that the recipient of the shipment loses the items imported without compensation. This risk can successfully be evaded by smuggling the items involved into the USA, or misrepresenting their shipment, to then be illicitly and unethically handled by a cooperating US resident, thereafter to be via misrepresentation of origin, or nondisclosure of origin, licitly auctioned or otherwise licitly conveyed to innocent recipients who cannot be prosecuted for the transaction.

The only practical effect of these restrictions is to gradually strangle international commerce, by effectively making importation of listed antiquities economically impractical for ethical collectors and dealers. The eventual outcome, if MOUs expand so far as to effectively ban importation of all antiquities, as the archaeology lobby and their Cultural Heritage Center colluders desire, will be that unethical operations to smuggle listed antiquities into the USA via methods described above will become profitable enough to supply the USA market without criminal risk to the eventual acquirers of these antiquities.

In other words, this attempt to restrict commerce is virtually guaranteed by the laws of economics -- which take precedence over any and all human legislation -- to lead to an uncontrollable wholesale "black market" of much the same sort as that which developed during Prohibition. The ultimate beneficiaries of this folly will be organized crime, and there will be absolutely no impact on looting of archaeological sites.

In a post on his blog, Dave Welsh explains further the practical impossibility of enforcing import restrictions (Porous Borders Fri Nov 25, 2016):

In this post I examine the practical realities of attempting to implement a theoretical doctrine relying upon US import restrictions to control looting of archaeological sites. From a theoretical perspective the migration of "illicit" artifacts to markets where they can be sold is analogous to a problem in hydrology: a medium in flow seeks its lowest level, i.e. the path of least resistance. I believe that every reader of this list has observed this principle in practice when the behavior of flowing water is considered. Taking that analogy somewhat further, let's consider the actual process of bringing an "illicit" artifact to market. There is an artificial, and economically unnatural, barrier to doing this - a law or regulation restricting the travel of the artifact in question across international borders.

This restriction is not guaranteed to be effective simply because it was legislated, or much more frequently, imposed by bureaucratic fiat. It must impose an actual, effective deterrence to cross-border transit, which prevents a flow of artifacts across borders.

The border between the USA and Canada is 3000 miles or more in extent. Every artifact whose importation into the USA is restricted may be licitly imported into Canada. A shipment of enormous value, a million dollars for example, can easily be concealed within the pockets of an individual carrier transporting ancient coins, or flown across the border in a drone. Only a very small part of this border is actually policed. 99.9 percent of it is empty land where anyone who desires to do so can simply walk across the border transporting anything which the individual concerned can carry.

If that consideration isn't enough to convince you, there are Indian reservations on both the US northern and southern borders, through which large amounts of illicit imports presently routinely flow without any effective deterrence : see for example Indian reservations on both U.S. borders become drug pipelines

There is no reason to believe that US control of its international borders can effectively impose any effective control upon at-will illicit importation of small portable antiquities, such as ancient coins.
As the nation looks to Mr Trump to make good his election promises and build a wall to separate us from those illegals, perhaps the flow of items transported across the borders up an Indian's butthole for example will decrease, but what about Mr Welsh's drones? Which dealers would be handling this stuff?

Above: Crossing the border

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Will New President Repeal the MOU's?


Edgar L. Owen, a respected dealer asks: Can we get Trump to repeal the MOU's? Thu Nov 24, 2016
Trump has promised to greatly reduce unnecessary and oppressive regulations. It seems to me his administration would be a great time for an all out effort to reverse the oppressive MOUs and other international agreements that threaten to unfairly criminalize and destroy the legitimate collecting of ancient coins and antiquities. I sincerely hope and encourage the ACCG and Peter Trompa, and others with influence to renew their efforts for sanity in collecting during the Trump administration.... 
That seems like a good idea, for too long have unelected bureaucrats threatened our hobby with annihilation. it is time for us to annihilate them.

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Hypocrisy of Repatriation


The authorities are hypocrites. If they wish to return antiquities from private collectors, let's first start with the museums in UK, France, and Germany who looted ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. First let them return all their items before they ask us private citizens to follow their personal example.

Monday, November 14, 2016

Nimrud Liberated


Troops from the Ninth Armoured Division liberated Nimrud town and raised the Iraqi flag above its buildings.
Iraqi government forces say they have captured Nimrud, the site of an ancient Assyrian city overrun by Islamic State (IS) group militants two years ago. In March 2015, officials and historians condemned IS for the destruction of the archaeological site, which dates back to the 13th Century BC. The UN's cultural body described the act as a war crime. IS says shrines and statues are "false idols" that have to be smashed. Nimrud lies about 30km (20 miles) south-east of the major city of Mosul, which Iraqi government forces are attempting to take from IS.
Many Nimrud artefacts are now housed overseas - including these ivory pieces at the British Museum

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Political Correctness Loses


Making America Great Again
An excellent comment from Dave Welsh, cultural property object expert and coin dealer with which I wholeheartedly agree (Political Correctness Loses, November 09, 2016): 

The 2016 US Presidential election is now history, and the big loser was political correctness. Millions of ordinary Americans who were so tired of "everything being politicized" that they would not discuss their true views with pollsters or even their families, friends and neighbors, spoke decisively at the polls against that trend which became so obnoxiously intrusive on their lives during the past eight years.

In a few months a new Administration will take office, dedicated to the goal of "making America great again." That Administration will need to address many very important issues, which affect the entire nation and large segments of its population.

 It is my hope that in applying its attention and energies to these large issues, this Administration will remember that there are also many smaller problems and injustices which in fairness and justice to their limited constituencies, should also be addressed. Taken together, these many smaller issues do add up to a big issue. It may be conceptualized as righting wrongs which have arisen from the failed and negative culture of political correctness. 

Here is a plea for the remembrance of a wrong that has been inflicted upon American collectors of antiquities, specifically including my specialty of ancient coins, by a small coterie of dedicated ideologues in the US State Department bureaucracy. I refer to the exploitation and perversion of the 1983 Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act by the State Department's Cultural Heritage Center and its predecessor agencies and bureaus, under the direction of archaeologist Maria Kouroupas, who over a period of thirty years of systematic and wily bureaucratic maneuvering twisted what was originally a carefully thought out, well balanced system for ensuring fair and equitable implementation of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property into a tool for protecting and advancing the interests of archaeology, at the expense of those of US collectors.

The authority of the Cultural Heritage Center to administer this system derives from Executive Order number 12555, dated March 10, 1986, delegating specific functions conferred upon the President by the 1983 CCPIA to the Director of the United States Information Agency, a predecessor agency to the Cultural Heritage Center. This Order was signed by President Reagan.

 By promulgating a new Executive Order revoking that delegation, and establishing a new agency to which these specific functions are delegated, the new Administration could with one stroke of the pen, remove the Cultural Heritage Center and its director from all future involvement in and influence upon the 1983 CCPIA, which they have so deviously and unethically maladministered.

I urge that this new agency be specifically chartered to, and tasked with, return of the administration of the 1983 CCPIA to its original legislative intent, of fairly and equitably balancing the interests of all concerned parties in considering requests by foreign governments for the imposition or extension of import restrictions upon designated artifacts. Such an administrative process could, in this observer's view, best be directed by a respected and experienced administrative law judge with a background in international commerce.

This new agency should, after whatever transition period is appropriate to set it up and transfer control of the delegated functions from the Cultural Heritage Center, become part of the Department of Commerce. No one in the staff of the Cultural Heritage Center should be transferred or in any way participate in the operations of the new agency, as it is glaringly apparent that their primary loyalty is not to the interests of the American people, but to the interests of archaeology.

Making America Great Again: Un-American Activities


Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Our Elections Continue Ancient Tradition



Our elections continue ancient traditions rooted in Classical civilization.


Sunday, November 6, 2016

Archeologist Stole from Tomb of Turtankhamen


Archeologists, with their holier than thou attitudes towards honest collectors that only want to preserve and display artifacts, should acknowledge the faults in their own profession:
Howard Carter, the British archaeologist who discovered the tomb of the Egyptian king Tutankhamen in 1922, cheated the Egyptian authorities in an attempt to get a share of the fabulous treasure, German Egyptologists claim. Carter, whose sensational discovery in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor is widely regarded as the greatest archaeological find of all time, broke laws by smuggling objects from the tomb out of the country and entering and disturbing the burial chamber without the presence of Egyptian officials, experts in Germany are saying. They say Carter's claim that the 3,200-year-old grave had already been robbed in ancient times was probably a lie designed to circumvent a law that stated that any treasure found intact had to remain in Egypt, but that the contents of a disturbed tomb could be divided up between Egypt and the finders. Doubts about Carter's methods are not new but the debate keeps resurfacing with the discovery of Tutankhamen artefacts in museum collections around the world. This, Egyptologists claim, suggests that they were secretly brought out of Egypt by Carter or members of his team.
David Crossland, "Howard Carter stole from tomb of Tutankhamen" The National January 21, 2010

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Waiter knocks thumb off Roman sculpture at British Museum


Even museums are not safe places for ancient art, it seems (BBC, "Waiter knocks thumb off Roman sculpture at British Museum" 27 October 2016 )

Townly Venus
A waiter working at the British Museum knocked the thumb off a priceless Roman sculpture, it has emerged. The accident occurred in December last year, according to The Art Newspaper, but has only just come to light. The waiter, who was from an external company, had bent down underneath the Townley Venus and knocked its right hand while getting up again. The thumb was knocked clean off the statue and fell to the floor intact. The statue has now been restored.[...] The sculpture, which depicts a half-naked figure of the goddess of love, is a marble copy of the Greek original and dates from the 1st or 2nd Centuries. It was excavated in 1775 from the baths at the port of Ostia in Rome and bought by English collector Charles Townley. It was sold to the British Museum in 1805. The Greek original dates back to the 4th Century BC.

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Antiquity trade under pressure


Melanie Gerlis, "The Art Market: Antiquity trade under pressure" Financial Times  October 21, 2016
The antiquities trade is under pressure again. As Cyprus prepares for its presidency of the Council of Europe, which promotes human rights, high on the agenda is combating illicit trafficking in cultural property. Ioannis Kasoulides, Cyprus’s foreign minister, has called for a “robust” UN Security Council resolution to “apply universal limitations on the trade and transfer of artefacts originating from all conflict zones, with the obligation of proof of legitimate trade resting on the traders, auction houses and buyers and not on the originating state”.  This represents a reversal of the current burden of proof system. “It is the equivalent of saying that everything in your home is stolen and can be confiscated unless you have proof that it’s not,” says Joanna van der Lande, chairman of the Antiquities Dealers’ Association. 

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Ohio Museum Sells Antiquities


The Toledo Museum of Art houses an impressive collection of ancient and contemporary artifacts, but now in a clearout of its stores is deaccessinge some items, making them available to collectors: Ohio Museum's Sale of Antiquities From Egypt Draws Criticism October 24, 2016
Ohio's Toledo Museum of Art is selling 68 antiquities from its collection, a move drawing criticism from a nationally known archaeologist and Egyptian officials. The Blade newspaper reports about half the items are from Egypt. Others come from Cyprus, Greece and Italy. They're being sold in a New York auction on Tuesday and an online sale closing the same day. The museum's director says its board approved selling the items that didn't meet the current collection's quality. He says it expects to generate about $500,000, which can be used on other acquisitions. Art expert and Toledo native Joan Connelly says it's distressing because modern laws make it difficult to acquire such items.
Which is precisely why legally acquired items should be made available to collectors.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

UNESCO backs resolution ignoring Jewish link to Temple Mount



Raphael Ahren, 'UNESCO backs resolution ignoring Jewish link to Temple Mount', Times of Israel October 13, 2016
The United Nations’ cultural arm on Thursday passed a resolution ignoring Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall [...] The resolution, adopted at the committee stage, used only Muslim names for the Jerusalem Old City holy sites and was harshly critical of Israel for what it termed “provocative abuses that violate the sanctity and integrity” of the area.[...]  The controversial resolution starts by affirming the “importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls for the three monotheistic religions,” but then goes on to accuse Israel — which it consistently calls “the occupying power” — of a long list of wrongdoings.
One GOP priority for 2017 should be to develop a serious agenda to radically lessen influence of UN.

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Collector Targeted: Historical Artifacts Stolen in UK


With all the rancorous hate spread by archeologists about collectors, it is not surprising that they and the objects they preserve and display are being targeted by thieves:
Ancient Egyptian artefacts, historical swords, daggers, spears and arrows have been stolen from an 18th Century mansion in East Lothian. Items from a rare historical collection were taken from Biel House in Stenton some time between 16:00 on Tuesday and 09:00 on Wednesday. They are worth a four-figure sum of money. Police Scotland have appealed for witnesses. PC Karen Hamilton said: “These artefacts have been in the museum at Biel House for many years and we are keen to make sure these are returned to where they belong.”
BBC News: 'Historical artefacts stolen from mansion in East Lothian' BBC 6 October 2016

Lothian is part of Scottland.  The house itself is described here.

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

New Antiquities Museum in Basra


Iraqi citizens can now learn about how to preserve
our past in this museum founded by Europeans
Iraq opens new antiquities museum in Basra

Iraq opened a new antiquities museum in the southern city of Basra on Tuesday with pottery, coins and other artifacts dating back more than 2,000 years [...]. It will showcase artifacts dating back to 400 B.C. that tell the history of the oil-rich city on the Persian Gulf. There are plans to open other wings that would exhibit Babylonian, Assyrian and Sumerian artifacts from across Iraq dating back to 3,300 B.C. [...] The museum is housed in one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces, which had briefly served as a mess hall for British troops after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that overthrew him. Al-Obaid said the location was chosen in order to "replace the themes of dictatorship and tyranny with civilianization and humanity." The museum was conceived in 2008 after the British withdrawal, and was partly funded by a U.K. charity. The hall that opened Tuesday cost an estimated $750,000, of which $500,000 was provided by the oil company BP, which operates in Basra. 

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Cambodia’s Forestry Officials Foil Suspected Looters



After a car chase, Cambodian officials caught two looters who had stolen 10th-century sculptures () The Cambodia Daily reports that forestry official Mom Bun Lim, chief of the Banteay Srei division, seized two tenth-century sandstone sculptures after pursuing a car on rural roads for several hours. He noted that the vehicle seemed overloaded, and suspected the two occupants were carrying a load of illegal timber. He called for reinforcements to cut the driver off when he neared a populated area. The illegal cargo turned out to be two ancient sandstone sculptures that may have been stolen from the remote site of the Koh Ker temple in Preah Vihear province, which is located about 75 miles away, since the region around the Angkor Archaeological Park is well guarded. Anthropologist Ang Choulean of the Royal University of Fine Arts said that antiquities thefts were “a pretty frequent occurrence in the 1990s, but it’s been years since we’ve heard talk of thieves.” To read more, go to "The Battle Over Preah Vihear."

Appliqué of Ptolemy I as Dionysus.



Appliqué of Ptolemy I as Dionysus. 3rd Century BC. Greco-Roman. From Egypt, via





Monday, September 19, 2016

More Junk Science From Live Science


"Owen Jarus and Live Science are at it again.  Last time it was Egypt.  Now it is Turkey.  This time the trade data allegedly shows an increase in the exports of gold coins from Turkey that supposedly supports the proposition that they are being looted in Syria and shipped to the US from Turkey".
Read more here

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Eakin Criticizes Establishment Approach


Hugh Eakin, writing for the New York Review of Books, criticizes the approach of the US and other governments to cultural destruction in Syria.  That approach has focused almost entirely on import restrictions, criminal sanctions and giving millions to archaeological groups to "study" the issue.  In contrast, efforts to protect objects on a local level (like an initiative of the University of Pennsylvania and Smithsonian) lack much needed funding.
Read more here.

Saturday, September 3, 2016

Islamic Iconoclasm in Persepolis

A mighty Lamassu in Persepolis. The ancient art has been attacked by Islamic  iconoclasts, taking out his face. Their barbarism goes back a long way.

Monday, August 29, 2016

"The Big Business in Looted Art,"


More evidence, if any were needed, that establishment media is not really interested in hearing from all sides in the cultural heritage debate or questioning the archaeological lobby's narrative that "collectors are the problem."
Read more here.

Saturday, August 20, 2016

OTD Thermopolae



One of the Spartans at Thermopylae said, "The enemy are near to us." King Leonidas replied, "Then we also are near to them." Photo by D Stamatakos of Mike Rizello's brilliant statuary which recreated the Spartan and Persian warriors fighting during the iconic 480 BC, Battle of Thermopylae.


Friday, August 19, 2016

Coins Do NOT Come from Archeological Sites


Respected numismatic dealer Dave Welsh has a lot of experience with officials who write the MOUs. He points out on the Ancient Artifacts forum the fallacy of including coins on those lists:
Import restrictions on coins entering the USA have absolutely no verifiable effect upon the looting you are describing. You've evidently uncritically accepted the archaeology lobby's mantra "collecting = looting." There is absolutely no verifiable evidence that this is true. Nor is there any evidence that is really even plausible. This assertion is neither proven, nor provable, from a scientific perspective. If it were true, then coins would be the least offensive or dangerous type of artifact because it isn't economically sensible to go prospecting for coins in the neighborhood of inhabited areas. Robert Kokotailio had many enlightening things to say about that in a recent message on this subject. When it comes to encouraging looting, ceramics collectors such as yourself and Kyri are at much higher risk of that than is a coin collector, because the objects you collect are typically found in inhabited areas, and also in tombs. Coin hoards, the source of the well preserved coins collectors end up acquiring, are almost never found in areas that are genuine archaeological sites. They were "buried treasure," deliberately located in out of the way places where no one would be likely to accidentally discover them. Coin discoveries in inhabited areas are nearly always "ground finds" that are in poor and usually uncollectible condition. Looters do find coins of this sort, but they aren't what the looters are really looking for. They pick them up anyway because they do have some value, even as scrap metal. If the 1983 CCPIA were being evenhandedly and fairly administered, the USA would not have accepted requests from foreign governments to include coins on the Restricted Lists of these MOUs. Coins were not included prior to 2006, for the reasons noted above. Their inclusion since then has been a matter of uncritical administrative acceptance of the archaeology lobby's recommendations, against the recommendations of the Cultural Property Advisory Committee, whose membership includes representatives of all interested parties and which is well structured to sift all the available information and draw sensible conclusions.

Thursday, August 18, 2016

The First Pyramid?



A discovery of a 3,000-year-old pyramid-shaped mausoleum in Kazakhstan is claimed to be the world's first pyramid.  It's made from stone, earth and fortified by slabs in the outer side. While the exact age of the structure is uncertain, it likely was built during the late Bronze Age, more than 3,000 years ago.

US Still Funding Brutal El-Sissi Dictatorship In Egypt


'3 Years After Brutal Rabaa Al-Adaweya Square Massacre, US Still Funding El-Sissi Dictatorship In Egypt' Mintpress News
Three years ago this week, Egyptian forces opened fire on a sit-in, killing hundreds of supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi. At least 817 people died in the Aug. 14, 2013 attack on Rabaah Al-Adawiya Square, where protesters — mostly supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood — had gathered after the coup. [...] The sit-in was organized in opposition to the July 2013 coup which replaced the democratically-elected Morsi government with one led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who led the Egyptian military under the previous dictator, Hosni Mubarak. Many estimates suggest the death toll could be far higher than 817. An HRW report issued in August 2014 found that at least 1,150 protesters died in July and August, with at least 1,000 of those deaths occurring as a result of the Rabaah Al-Adawiya Square massacre. [...] Despite the abrupt transfer of power and violent suppression of the opposition, the White House was reluctant to call the takeover a coup, and the United States continues to support the el-Sissi government, despite token reductions in military aid after the coup. At $1.3 billion annually, Egypt is second only to Israel in terms of U.S. military aid.
Also the government insists on repatriating artefacts seized from collectors and dealers to Egypt's brutal military dictatorship. This must stop now.

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

What Collectors are up Against


This text by a highly respected numismatic broker illustrates why we need to stop these MOUs right now, they make it impossible to collect anything.
Tue Aug 16, 2016 7:35 pm (PDT) . Posted by: "ROBERT KOKOTAILO" calgarycoins You have hit the nail on the head with respect to the USA system. There are complexities few people understand.
First there is the Law, which is the US cultural property act. Then there are the MOU's which are not laws but rather agreements between countries as to how restrictions will be applied. Then there are the directions the US state department gives to US customs officials as to how to apply things. There are conflicts in these that are the focus of what ACCG has been fighting. For example:

1) The actual USA cultural property law states that the country of origin for any object is "country of discovery", which could mean several things including where it was excavated, or discovered in an old collection. The state department has instructed customs officials to assume country of origin is the "country of manufacture", which is complete different than"country of discovery". Thus the law says a South Italian object "discovered" in France is a French cultural property item and subject to any French export regulations. The MOU system and State Department instructions say the same object is subject to Italy export restrictions and if seized in US customs would be returned to Italy, not France.

2) Provenance requirements are also in conflict. The actual US law says any of the following are valid forms of provenance for import into the US.
A) Documentation such as a catalogue listing or receipt that shows the items was outside of the country or origin prior to the MOU.
B) A declaration from the seller that he has reason to believe the object was outside of the country prior to the MOU, which must be in writing and signed, stating his reasons for such, but need not be under oath.
C) A declaration by the importer that he has reason to believe the object was out of the country of origin prior to the MOU, stating his reasons but his declaration must be given under oath and if you think lying under oath to a US legal official is to be taken lightly, you are in for a shock when you end up in prison.
What the state department has instructed customs officials to accept is photographic evidence only, such as a picture of the object in a printed catalogue that was clearly printed prior to the MOU passing and thus cannot be falsified. They are not supposed to accept any statement by sell or imported even under oath. They are not supposed to accept receipts without or without photographs showing the item was purchased before the MOU as such documents are easily falsified. You would think if the law says something is acceptable in plain English, forcing US customs to accept it would be simple. You would be wrong.

ACCG has been fighting them on these conflicts, without success, for years. They even looked at taking it to the US supreme court, but could not get them to even look at the case (not important enough for their busy schedule). But even if they did it can cost hundred's of thousand dollars to take a case to the Supreme court, an amount that would be a challenge although it might be raised if one could get on the docket. One list member said he had documentation for all of his objects and would not be afraid to being them to the US. I don't doubt he can meet the standard as set out by the actual law. I wonder if he can meet the standard as set out the MOU's and State Department instructions. Robert Kokotailo

Control gone Mad: The Need for Collector's Voice of Sanity


Ed Snible has astutely noticed some problems with the Department of State's reasoning over coins from Syria:
The metal category says "Some major mints for coinage that circulated in Syria in various periods include ... Antioch ..." Antioch is an interesting case, because it was part of ancient but not modern Syria. It's now Antakya, Turkey. Should the Syrian civil war trigger import restrictions on coins minted outside modern Syria? If US Customs seizes a coin minted in Roman Syria should it be repatriated to Turkey or to Syria?
Should a coin found in Turkey and from a mint now in Turkey be stopped on the US borders and then sent "back" (sic) to the Assad regime - even if exported by a dealer in Turkey? This is simple madness. Vote now to stop the MOUs, make the voice of collectors heard.

Turkey cooperates with Islamic terror groups


German government gives confidential briefing claiming Turkey cooperates with Islamic terror groups:
Turkey has worked with Islamist groups and has supported militant organizations in the Middle East for years, according to the German government, state broadcaster ARD reported Tuesday.
 [...] The ministry added that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has actively supported cooperation with Islamist and terrorist organizations, such as Hamas. “The many expressions of solidarity and support actions for the Egyptian MB [Muslim Brotherhood], Hamas and the armed Islamist opposition groups in Syria by the ruling AK Party and President Erdoğan emphasize the ideological affinity with the Muslim Brotherhood,” the ministry statement said.
All the more reason why western museums should not repatriate material to Turkey.

Monday, August 15, 2016

Beware of Fake Coins of Cleopatra


The discussion of the Cyprus MOU renewal on one artifacts forum is proving interesting. This from Robert Kokotailo across the border in Calgary:
The coins being offered as small bronzes of Cleopatra from Cyprus are from Cyprus but are not cleopatra VII. They are much earlier around the time of Ptolemy III. They were rare but a large group of them came into the hands of one person who wrote a book attempting to reattribute them to Cleopatra to increase their value. Odd that at the Ana coin show last week this topic came up. Few if any knowledgable numismatists accept his reattribution. In that discussion some one said the hoard was about 6000 examples. I cannot confirm that number, but it was large. That is why they are no longer rare.
Caveat emptor.


Sunday, August 14, 2016

Let's Put a Stop to This MOU


The United States Department of State has proposed a renewal of its current Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with Cyprus for another five (5) years. Once again, individuals will be afforded an opportunity to comment on whether the MOU should be extended. It is clear that the MOU is not working to achieve the principles proposed by its governing legislation. There is no evidence to support the position that the current MOU has deterred illegal excavation in Cyprus, nor have there been any reports of seizures at US borders of any culturally significant material thought to have been illegally excavated in Cyprus in recent years. Furthermore, its interpretation by U.S. federal authorities often prevents the legal importation of common artifacts freely traded on the legitimate commercial market.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Syrian Import Restrictions Imposed


US Customs has published a very extensive list of "Syrian" artifacts now restricted pursuant to the "Protect and Preserve International Cultural Property Act."  Coin collectors should special take note that that the "designated list" includes all coins minted and circulated in Syria through the Ottoman period.
Read more here.

Friday, August 12, 2016

Collectors' Voices Need to be Heard Once Again!


Collectors' Voices Need to be Heard Once Again! The State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and its Cultural Heritage Center have announced a comment period for a proposed extension of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with CyprusReaders will know that the Cyprus MOU was the beginning of the pestilential practice of including ancient coins in the Restricted List. Artifacts on that List may not be imported into the USA, unless accompanied by a valid export permit from the nation with whom the MOU was negotiated. Although the vast majority of public comments recorded have been squarely against import restrictions, the State Department and U.S. Customs have imposed import restrictions on coins anyway, most recently on ancient coins from Bulgaria. They should not be allowed to get away with this. Our silence would just allow the State Department bureaucrats and their allies in the archaeological establishment to claim that collectors have acquiesced to broad restrictions on their ability to import common ancient coins that are widely available worldwide. And, once they get that idea, there is no way to foresee what else they will attempt. Make your voice heard, opposing renewal of this pernicious and unfair agreement.

Coin found in England provides information on a previously unknown Viking ruler


The value of numismatic information:

This coin found in England provided information
 

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Student finds 12th century Irish brooch on a Galway Beach


McKenna McFadden, an Irish American film and television major at New York University, is in Dublin for the summer with an NYU program. She was walking on the shore of Oney Island in Connemara in the west of Ireland this week when something sitting in the sand caught her eye. Little did she think it would be a rare artifact from the 12th century.[...]  The artifact, called a kite brooch because of its distinctive shape, is now with the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. The brooch, which would have been used to fasten a cloak or shawl, is one of only a few examples of its kind to ever be found in Ireland. 
Sheila Langan, 'American student finds 12th century Irish brooch on a Galway Beach' Irish Central July 28,2016

Unethical Archeologists and how to deal with them


Dave Welsh exposes the lies and weasel words of the archeology lobby in their fight against collecting (Ancient Coins: 'Archaeologists Unethically Pursue Their Anticollecting Vendetta' Friday, July 29, 2016
Collectors of antiquities and ancient coins, and we who seek to defend their interests, should seek appropriate ways of highlighting their ethics violation, and of pointing out that archaeologists, who so loudly and frequently complain about the "unethical" behavior of those who collect and trade in antiquities including ancient coins, are in a broader sense (as the general public understands ethics) presenting their irrational case against collecting in an unethical and deliberately deceptive manner.
It is difficult to see what would be an appropriate way to do this, but it is something all collectors should be concerned about and engaging with. I am pretty sure though that the appropriate means is not through the tactics with which some of the more hotblooded protagonists have attempted to deal with this issue to date. While mischievously attacking the character, knowledge and motives of individual critics is undoubtedly the easiest route, it may be counterproductive - making it look like the collecting community is dominated by mouthy blowhards. This does a disservice to those of us in the community with a more serious interest in the past. It seems to me that we need to address these people on their own grounds - through reasoned explanation that they are (a) wrong, and (b) misstating the case (and why) in an articulate manner and citing firm evidence which counters their misdirection. It seems to me that the trade associations are all failing us by not seeing that this is the case.
 

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Mass Destruction or Mass Deception?

Avocational heritage observers on both sides of the Atlantic weigh in in the "ISIS-funding by looting" model (Mass Destruction or Mass Deception? )
Anti-trade academic Neil Brodie apparently thinks ISIS must be selling coins to fund itself based on the appearance of 23 "new" Syrian Tetradrachms on the market per year since the start of the Syrian civil war. According to the study Brodie cites, this is an increase in the average of 17 "new" coins per year that appeared previously. However, even assuming the increase can possibly be attributed to ISIS as opposed to the Assad regime, the "Free Syrian Army," destitute Syrian refugees selling off their own collections, or some new find outside Syria, the amounts of money sales of such coins could possibly generate won't do much to help fund a terrorist army. So, the appearance of so few "new" coins on the market, if anything, underscores the fact that the amounts ISIS must really be making from antiquities sales is probably quite minimal in reality.
Peter Tompa points out that the archeological lobby is desperate to justify the millions of dollars it has received from the State Department and other sources to "study" the issue and lobby for a further crack-downs on collectors.  English expert, John Howland  UK Treasure Hunter and Collector comments on the threadbare theories of this "academic".
To the casual observer his argument might well appear to be factually academic, but to hard-nosed cynics they are little more than cod science of the type that gives even bull***t a bad name. He goes on at tedious length to promote his cv effectively saying - oh what a smart arse I am - presumably to lend some additional credence to his 'ideas; but when one boils it all down, it's the same old, same old scatology posing as fact.
He goes on to say that archeology as a science is a very inaccurate one and asks whether the world's heritage can "be left in the care of people who spout such utter nonsense". Dave Welsh enlarges on the aspect of the academic's qualifications. He points out that Dr. Brodie can hardly be considered a  practicing archeologist since it can be ascertained that fieldwork tends to be a relatively minor component of his overall activities. Brodie instead has in fact become an "academic archaeologist" whose "research" unhealthily focuses on looting and trafficking in "illicit" antiquities. Mr Welsh adds
I am not an admirer of "academic archaeologists" whose professional identity has become the documenting and criticism of the illicit trade in cultural objects. The reason is that their professional commitment to this subject takes on a life of its own, and their voluminous journal publications upon this subject add relatively little to what archaeology contributes to mankind's knowledge of the past. Focusing (as Dr. Brodie does) so exclusively upon the illicit trade in cultural objects strikes me as special pleading whose purpose is to defend the professional interests of archaeologists. The attainment of "eminence" in the field of archaeology ought, in my personal opinion, to depend upon contributing to mankind's knowledge of the past, rather than study and criticism of the illicit trade in cultural objects. 
Mr Welsh questions what all the current academic study and journal article publications devoted to this subject are actually accomplishing in the way of genuine practical results in the way of reducing the deplorable incidence of looting in source states or suppressing trafficking in illicit objects. Alongside this, the activities of these anti-collecting activists are doing very serious damage to the interests of antiquities collectors and collectors of ancient coins. Among other things they are "encouraging legislation whose purpose is to restrict and discourage the international trade in antiquities and ancient coins". This is why we must fight these people with every means we can.

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Will due process concerns trump rigged bureaucratic decision-making?


This is so important:
Hacked emails have  confirmed the suspicions of Senator Bernie Sanders' followers that the powers that be in the Democratic National Committee-- who are supposed to be neutral-- in fact sought to rig the system against him and his campaign. Collectors, both here and in Germany, already know that feeling. In the US, the State Department-- which is supposed to be neutral when it comes to deciding whether foreign requests for MOUs meet the criteria in the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act-- has never rejected one.

Monday, July 18, 2016

ACCG Test Case Continues


Respected coin dealer and commentator Dave Welsh comments (ACCG Test Case Continues):
"The lawsuit filed by the ACCG in its attempt to force legal review of anticollecting bureaucratic fiats issued by the State Department's Cultural Heritage Center continues, despite evasion of the ACCG's effort to force public disclosure of behind-the-scenes, secret State Department collusion with the archaeology lobby and nations seeking US import restrictions.

The reader who would like to know the truth can find it clearly and accurately stated here: Cultural Property Observer: ACCG files Motion for Summary Judgment.

If anyone desires to be misled by comments based upon extreme bias, complete ignorance of US law and general misunderstanding of the issues at stake, falsehood can be found here: Portable Antiquity Collecting and Heritage Issues: ACCG Dealers Still Attempting to Drag Disreputable Numismata Case Through the Courts "
I cannot see why anyone would want to be misled. The text by Mr Tompa seems to cover all the points. It seems this time we cannot lose - and it we do it will expose the corruption within the establishment.

ACCG Test Case Continues


Respected coin dealer and commentator Dave Welsh comments (ACCG Test Case Continues):
"The lawsuit filed by the ACCG in its attempt to force legal review of anticollecting bureaucratic fiats issued by the State Department's Cultural Heritage Center continues, despite evasion of the ACCG's effort to force public disclosure of behind-the-scenes, secret State Department collusion with the archaeology lobby and nations seeking US import restrictions.

The reader who would like to know the truth can find it clearly and accurately stated here: Cultural Property Observer: ACCG files Motion for Summary Judgment.

If anyone desires to be misled by comments based upon extreme bias, complete ignorance of US law and general misunderstanding of the issues at stake, falsehood can be found here: Portable Antiquity Collecting and Heritage Issues: ACCG Dealers Still Attempting to Drag Disreputable Numismata Case Through the Courts "
I cannot see why anyone would want to be misled. The text by Mr Tompa seems to cover all the points. It seems this time we cannot lose - and it we do it will expose the corruption within the establishment.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

The need for Education


Commenting on a post about use wear of gold coins (Re: gold wear and weight loss ) expert palaeometrologist Rob Tye notes:
Entirely correct and an important point. I can easily dig out examples of Historians, Archaeologists etc who do not understand points that parallel this For instance - a case where a historian assumed that every surviving specimen of a Charlemagne denier had lost 10% weight 'in the ground' Or another case - this time the reverse where a new weight standard was postulated for a group of silver coins that in fact had visibly suffered badly from chloride damage (to the trained eye), and had merely lost about 15% of their weight to corrosion. That is the competence point that is not coming out enough in the interminable debates about heritage issues. By aggressively pushing a claim to an exclusive right to own and interpret old coins, the objects are being passed into the hands of those who do not do the job competently. Its not just politicians who have fallen for a rather superficial analysis of the heritage issues - most beginner collectors seem to have too.
It seems there is scope for some sort of educational effort by the older more experienced collectors to counter the aggressive claims of exclusivity to keep study material like old coins out of the hands of those who do not do the job competently.