By Wayne Sayles – Ancient Coin Collecting Blog

For the past five years I have read a nauseating stream of blog posts, news articles, discussion list comments and convention presentation reports that condemn the “illicit” trade in antiquities. The fact that anyone might condemn illicit activity is not in itself nauseating, but the ringing of the same bell 24/7 until the brain fogs over in biological rejection is not only nauseating but obnoxious. It reminds me of the parent in a grocery story who repeatedly harps (in the most irritating shrill cacaphony) “Johnny, don’t touch that!” over and over and over until you wish they would take little Johnny and paddle his behind (even though that is certainly not PC these days.) Really, it’s not little Johnny that needs paddling, it is the parent for not approaching the problem with a reasonable and effective solution.

When do the harpies of cultural property nationalism ever talk about the “licit” antiquities trade? From the ratio of ink spilled, one would presume that there is not even a legitimate trade in existence. Never mind that there are laws in Britain and the United States that protect private collectors and the legitimate trade in antiquities. Never mind that countries like Greece, Italy and Israel (among others) have state licensed and regulated antiquities dealers. Never mind that EC rules prohibit restrictions on the legitimate exchange of antiquities between private citizens and businesses within the European Union. Is there a legitimate trade? Of course there is, only an idiot would suggest that there isn’t. But is there any attempt among cultural property nationalists to work with the legitimate trade and private collectors to reduce incidents of archaeological looting? Very little if any, and none that I am personally aware of. In fact, as Executive Director of the ACCG, it has been my observation that the door is not and has not been open to any such collaboration for well more than a decade—and, in fact, the ACCG has tried.

The obsession among cultural property nationalists (especially those archaeologists who blog about the subject) has been to label everything without a documented provenance as illicit. Because much of the trade in antiquities does not require documented provenance, and because provenance is not especially valued by collectors of minor objects, it often does not exist. Consequently, the entire trade is painted with a broad brush as illicit. Excuse me, but that’s an asinine position and one that is a non-starter for any serious discussion. No legal system, short of autocratic government, recognizes a premise where something is illegal unto proven legal. In fact, attempts to create this sort of legal environment have led to several major upheavals in global society. A common coin or a clay pot, that is literally one of millions of surviving specimens, is treated by hardline nationalists in the same light as the Rosetta Stone. They can rave on about context and priceless information, but really, one doesn’t have to think very hard to see through that. (more…)

The twitter around the cultural property nationalist blogs at the moment is that a rare tribal octadrachm of the Bisalti has been seized from an auction firm in Switzerland. One of these bloggers even uses the episode to disparage, by linkage and innuendo, the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (ACCG) and its allies in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation now in progress against the U.S. State Department. This is not the first such episode by any means. I have seen a lot of misguided enmity in my varied careers, but never in my memory have I seen such absolute drivel as I have over the FOIA suit. It really deserves a prize.

First of all, the FOIA lawsuit filed against the State Department by the ACCG, with the collaboration of the International Association of Professional Numismatists (IAPN) and the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG), has absolutely NOTHING to do with the coin seizure. Mentioning them in the same breath is nothing less than ignorant—unless of course it is thought in some malevolent way that it might damage the ACCG. If that is the case, then we have a different issue, don’t we? Perhaps one would call that a volley in the cultural property war. Well, if so, the cannoneers haven’t quite got the range and bearing down.

The FOIA suit makes a complaint in U.S. Federal Court that an agency of the U.S. government failed to comply with the U.S. law governing release of information to the general public. This is a suit that is widely supported by academics and civil rights advocates, even some who advocate cultural property import controls, because every thinking person in America recognizes the importance of transparency in government. Even President Obama has made a very big issue of government transparency. That he has not been able to simply order the State Department to follow the law is telling in itself. Oh! Excuse me, he DID order them to, they just chose not to comply.
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The Goldberg’s will be holding a World and Ancient Coin Auction on October 29th and 30th in Beverley Hills CA, and as with all of their sales, interest is high. The online catelog has been posted and there are several notable highlights.

The sale will be held in two sessions; Thursday the 29th Session 1, Ancient Coins & Antiquities and Friday the 30th, Session 2, World Coins.

The Top 10 rarest items are as follows:

1) Lot 1501 Ireland. Penny, 1938. Struck in bronze, Harp, with “eire” to left, date 1938 to right. Reverse: Hen left with chicks, 1d above, value in Gaelic in exergue, small PM to upper right (initials of Percy Metcalfe) toothed border both sides. The rarest coin in the Irish Series. PCGS graded MS-65 Brown. .

The design differs from the previous issue which was for the “Free State of Ireland” and stated that to the left of the harp in Gaelic.
This piece was the only known specimen until one further piece was discovered in a safe at the Irish Treasury Department in Dublin. That specimen is now on prominent display at the National Museum of Dublin, in Colm Barracks, Dublin, Ireland. Therefore this is still the only specimen available to collectors of the series as the prototype piece for the design of the Irish Republic Coinage. The design was used unchanged for the Penny from 1940 until Decimalisation in 1971.
Estimated Value $70,000 – 80,000.

2) Lot 118 Octavian and Julius Caesar. Gold Aureus (6.84 g) minted in Italy, 43 BC. Bare head right of Octavian. Reverse: Laureate head right of Caesar. Cr. 490/2; CRI 132. Striking irregularity. Very Rare. Very Fine with an excellent portrait of Julius Caesar. .

In assembling a set of the “Twelve Caesars” in gold, the two most difficult to find with appealing portraits are Julius Caesar and Otho.
Estimated Value $30,000 – 40,000.

3) Lot 86 Judaea. The Bar Kokhba War, 132-135 CE. Large Bronze (32. 5 mm.; 21.19 g), dated Year Two, struck 133/134 CE. Filleted olive wreath, Palaeo-Hebrew inscription in two lines within (“Shim’on”). Reverse: Twin-handled, fluted amphora; Palaeo-Hebrew inscription around (“Year two of the freedom of Israel”). Mildenberg 19 (11 examples cited); Hendin 705; Mesh. AJC II, p. 270, 39. Very rare. NGC graded Extremely Fine. This coin is essentially as struck, and so we consider the piece a Superb Extremely Fine at the least. (more…)