CoinWeek sat down with the noted Chicago dealer and author to talk about his love for ancient coins and to find out what this area of numismatics offers today’s collector. We also asked him about some of the recent controversies in the field of antiquities and what impact they have on the business of coin collecting.
"I cannot fathom the thinking that pervades Washington but I know that it is not the thinking that made this country what it has been until the most recent decade. The great American Dream is in serious jeopardy" ("Funding Terrorism" Thursday, January 28, 2016).This is a result of the yellow journalism fostered by academia and their surrogates that the collector market for antiquities is funding terrorism, and ISIS/ISIL in particular. Every thinking American ought to give some serious thought to the circumstances under which this has come to pass and the inability of the collector and representatives of the market to make the voice of reason heard.
Couched within this appeal for egalitarian protection of the past is a blatant and disgustingly sub-rosa agenda pushed incessantly by academia and especially the Archaeological community. It's a pure and simple power grab that elected representatives of the American public (many of whom know little or nothing about archaeology) have endorsed for reasons that are quite unclear but undoubtedly political.The situation in Syria and Iraq is deplorable, but is not going to be resolved by yellow journalism or poorly conceived import restrictions.
the museum's naked statues, including a centuries-old Venus, had been covered up in white panels -- a decision that provoked some strong criticism in the country. Italian media reported that the statues had been covered to show respect to the Iranian culture and sensitivity.[...] The decision infuriated many Italians, who took to social media to express their views. They accuse the government of betraying Italian history and culture for the sake of economic interests and to please the international guest.
Underground caverns and tunnels used as tombs since the second century BC had been filled with harmful waste over the years, creating an underground lake of acrid oil, Italian media reported. Italy is home to some of Europe’s largest landfill sites and has been fined millions of euros by the European court of justice for failing to clean up its illegal dumping grounds. The waste management business has also provided fertile ground for organised crime in the country’s poorer south, most notoriously in the “Land of Fires” north of Naples, where rubbish has been dumped and burned, poisoning the environment.Reuters in Rome,"Illegal dumping in Roman catacombs leaves precious ancient site polluted", Tuesday 26 January 2016 .
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| President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi |
The Sissi regime, whom so many archaeologists (and those posing as such) find so sexy has tortured over 600 people in police cells, roughed-up journalists, and kept its hangman in overtime. [....] I wonder how many archaeologists, especially those in the excavation permit racket, will boycott Egypt as an excavation destination in protest? [....] I wonder too whether UNESCO, unusually, will have anything meaningful to say for once? Don't hold y[ou]r breath!Egyptians have been made to watch as their country reverts back to a police state. Tens of thousands have been arrested and the country's prisons are now overflowing, with widespread reports of torture and hundreds held without charge or trial. Rights groups say out of hundreds of cases of "forced disappearances" many have reappeared in prisons days or months later. Others' whereabouts remain unknown.
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| Culture Under Threat Map |
Egyptian media say prosecutors have referred eight Cairo museum employees for trial over the botched reattachment of the beard on the burial mask of the pharaoh, Tutankhamun. It comes a year after officials opened an investigation into how the blue and gold braided beard came to be detached and then hastily glued back on. [...] Conservators at the Egyptian Museum had given differing accounts of the circumstances of the beard becoming detached. [...] Prosecutors said workers then "recklessly" tried to cover up the mistake, using large amounts of inappropriate glue in an effort to fix it. In all, they made four attempts to reattach the beard, on the later three occasions also trying to remove evidence of their earlier failed efforts. One report, in the Daily News Egypt, quoted prosecutors as saying: "Ignoring all scientific methods of restoration, the suspects tried to conceal their crime by using sharp metal tools to remove parts of the glue that became visible, thus damaging the 3,000-year-old piece without a moment of conscience."Fortunately the mask was not left at the mercy of these fools, due to an international outcry
Last October, a team of conservators led by German experts began work to remove the damage and reattach the beard professionally. Following successful restoration, the mask was put back on public display in December.The accused face charges of negligence and violating professional standards. Those due to face trial include a former director of the museum and a former director of restoration. It is sheer stupidity to leave important cultural property in the hands of such an irresponsible people - who were not only negligent and unprofessional, but also like little children simply denied they had done anything wrong. The heritage of humanity deserves better.
It was claimed the gate was enumerated and dismantled as its structure was weak, according to an architect involved in the project, but the scene at the restoration area appeared otherwise, with stone pieces of the gate apparently scattered around the area. At the site in Korkuteli, it was seen there were no guards or workers present at the historic building, as well as stones thought to belong to the mosque scattered around the area. Some of the stones were numbered while others were not, and there had been no apparent measures taken to protect them.It surely makes no sense to repatriate small portable artifacts to a country which cannot be trusted to look after the bigger monuments. They are safer in the hands of western collectors.
The decision what we then do with those archaeological objects we discard will also require quite some disciplinary courage. Whether they are thrown away and buried with the backfill after an initial assessment in the field or given to interested members of the public, the landowner and/or finder, there are many conceivable options. [...] the many millions of unnecessary objects already stored in archaeological archives, which could either be sold (with proper proof of provenance) on the international antiquities market (which might allow to create additional income for the discipline to have more resources for preserving truly important archaeology and even somewhat undermine the illicit antiquities market) [...] All this, under current positivist premises, of course is serious disciplinary heresy. [...] Even if it may hurt if we have to hand some of our priceless treasures to someone else, or even destroy them: it is better if the choice remains ours.I suppose the question is however what about all the millions of potshards which the article discusses?
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| Judy Dobrzynski |
But some things just don’t add up. I think too many of the sources contacted by journalists may be peddling opinion here, not fact [...] actual examples of ISIS-looted antiquities on the market are slim to none. True, it may be that objects looted now are being kept in warehouses, for later sale–but that doesn’t finance ISIS now. Also true. the goods may not be coming into the U.S. market. The antiquities dealers I spoke with said they had not seen anything on these shores from looted areas since ISIS began its jihad. [...] It may also be true that the loot may all be going into other Middle Eastern countries, or Russia, as many have speculated. In which case, it’s a problem our museums, our dealers, our collectors, our prosecutors can’t do much about.Dobrzynski notes that many sources seem to be exaggerating the scale of this trade. The Times piece assigns a value to the trade in illicit antiquities by ISIS as " worth billions of dollars a year". Other articles, and sources, have also thrown around the b-word.
But I cannot fathom where that number comes from. Contemporary art may sell billions a year (lately), but antiquities? No. In 2015, Christie’s and Sotheby’s combined sales for antiquities (April, June and December sales) totaled less than $25 million. In 2014, the total was jut over $25 million. Add in other auction houses. Add in private dealers, whose books we never see. It is really hard to get to “billions” a year in this category. So what is the source of that number? Is it an exaggeration on purpose or from ignorance? If it’s real, I’d like to know how it was derived.Her conclusion is that we are being misled by those whose duty it is to inform us:
Clearly something is going on–I’m not suggesting that there’s no trade in illicit antiquities. It has happened in the past, and it’s likely happening now. Furthermore, satellite photos show destruction in ISIS-occupied territory, unquestionably. How much of that has been saved and designated for resale now on the world’s markets remains a mystery. To me, at least. I would hope we are putting our resources where it can do the most good to save cultural heritage, rather than wasting them chasing a mirage.What she does not mention is that, instead of the effects of looting, Peter Tompa has shown that the so-called satellite photos which "unquestionably show destruction in ISIS-occupied territory", in fact could show military foxholes dug by Assad troops.
Among them was a square tablet depicting a procession. If genuine, its style would make it neither Roman nor Greek, like the rest, but even older, dating back nearly 5,000 years. Its appearance suggested it came from the ancient Sumerian city of Lagash, in what is today southern Iraq.While the tablet is claimed as authentic by European archeologists, the Chicago expert McGuire Gibson, a leading expert on Mesopotamian art, reviewed a photograph of the tablet and noted unusual features, like a smooth bore hole in the center, that suggested it could be a well-made reproduction. Washington Cultural Property specialist Peter Tompa confirms this. Also, once again we see the truth being manipulated by anti-collecting archeologists - Lagash is not in one of the areas seized by ISIS.
This story appears to have been planted in the New York Times at the behest of the State Department and archaeological groups in the US and Germany [and] should be viewed more as part of a desperate effort to overcome legitimate questions about this legislation and the new intrusive bureaucracies that would be created in the US and Germany as much as anything else.
Knowledgeable cultural property observers have been frustrated that questionable claims about Syria, ISIS and antiquities trade continue to be actively promoted as part of the archaeological lobby's campaign in support of H.R. 1493/S. 1887, problematic legislation that purports to address protecting cultural property in times of war and civil strife. In honor of the New Year, CPO counts down the top five (5) dubious claims made in 2015 in support of this legislation that would create a new State Department coordination and enforcement bureaucracy and place what amounts to permanent import restrictions on Syrian cultural goods. Hopefully, questions about the accuracy of these claims will also lead to questions about the wisdom of the Senate passing H.R. 1493/S. 1887 in its current form.
