A person spends years, often a lifetime, developing a skill that earns them a living—and more. What do they do with the “more”? They use it to entertain themselves. Many of those who succeed in a capitalist society are the sort of people who are interested in things like art, history, philosophy and the “social sciences”. Why? Because they are intelligent, educated, inquisitive and because these subjects are usually a diversion from what they do every day. They are naturally more inclined to these disciplines than to the latest societal fad. The vast majority of people in the world who have discretionary income fall into this category.

Some people choose to follow the path of academia, and they “entertain” themselves with the same pleasures as those in the private sector. The difference is only that in the academic world it is not “kosher” to own, while in the private sector ownership is perceived as an inalienable right. Does this mean that the academic world and the private world are really worlds apart? Hardly. It merely means that the age-old conflicts of human want and need are confronted. What is new about that? By what standard is the steward of society’s interests better than the member of society whose interests are supposedly being served?

For centuries, private and public scholarship have had a symbiotic relationship—especially in numismatics. That relationship was a constant proof that private and public interests can exist, prosperously, in harmony. In the 1970s, the situation began to change and the symbiosis was fractured by a surge of territorial dominance within the archaeological community. This escalated into a zealous crusade among archaeological organizations to eliminate private parties (independent scholars) from the “congregation”. The discrimination against “non-certified” scholars became epidemic and grew to such a fanatical height that the archaeological community ostracized even its own members who would cooperate with the “heathen” masses. Scholarship for the sake of learning became scholarship for the sake of controlling.

Any rational and thinking person must, on serious reflection, be able to see that what happened to archaeology over the past several decades has been a disaster of the greatest magnitude—not just for that discipline but for the whole of humanity. Today, we are told that the public is not qualified to inquire, not ordained to protect nor empowered to preserve the past. Is that the society that we have created? Is a government that supports that sort of mentality a government “of the people, by the people and for the people?” It sounds more like some of the experiments in governing that failed in the 20th century.

It is time that serious archaeologists took a stand and reclaimed their discipline from the brink of destruction—before the prestige earned by their predecessors is blackened by universal and eternal enmity.

Used with Permission from the Ancient Coin Collecting Blog 

By Kevin Bogardus for The Hill

American coin collectors and art dealers say a rule under consideration at the State Department could dramatically decrease the importation of goods from China, crippling a booming antiquities market in the United States.

The State Department has not yet imposed any restrictions, but officials are considering requiring shippers to provide documentation of ownership when moving goods from China to the United States. Chinese officials, who asked the State Department for the change in 2004, argue the rule is a way to protect China’s cultural heritage and prevent the trafficking of stolen goods.

Coin collectors and art dealers fear more than a receipt will be required. Instead, they expect to have to track an item’s lineage under the new rule.

That could dramatically scale back what is a growing, multimillion-dollar antiquities trade with Asia and foist an unmanageable amount of paperwork on small-business coin collectors, critics claim.

Without the necessary paperwork, customs inspectors could seize the artifacts.

Read Full Story here

The Millennia Sale presented by Ira and larry Goldberg got underway yesterday in California and the preliminary results are starting to flow in.

This sale will result in an series of reports due to both its importance and breadth. In addition CoinLink will be posting a detailed auction analysis by Greg Reynolds latter this week.

However our first installment will be limited to a short summary of the “Ancients” and a trio of Roman Gold coins that lite up the room, far exceeding their pre-sale estimates.

We expect to see records being set for virtually all of the major rarities in the Millennia sale, continuing the strong pattern where fresh, high quality and truly rare coins continue to bring multiples of what many experts and conventional estimates might dictate. When high quality coins cross the auction block, you can throw out the price guides.

Lot 75 Imperatorial Rome. Marcus Junius Brutus, d. 42 BC. Gold Aureus (8.07 g) - Realized $575,000

One of the most historic of Roman issues, gold or silver! Excessively rare. Probably the finest of only 8 recorded specimens. NGC graded Choice About Uncirculated.

After Julius Caesar, the second most recognizable name of the imperatorial era is Marcus Junius Brutus. Was he the last guardian of the Republican age or only an infamous and most vile assassin of Caesar? Born about 85 BC, Brutus was thrust into the political realm and early became a follower of Cato, a staunch Republican. Later, Brutus built a fortune by lending money at usurious rates and eventually became a Roman senator.

There grew a great friendship between Caesar and Brutus, but during the Civil War it was clear that Caesar would never return to the former Republican government. Instead, Caesar was swayed by his many victories and public adulation, ultimately accepting the title “dictator for life.” Caesar’s portrait graced many coin issues, and his likeness was the first of a living person to be depicted upon the specie we now revere. It is ironic to also find the portrayal of Brutus on Coinage. (more…)

Peter Tompa summarizes the first round of releases of information under the FOIA lawsuit launched by ACCG, IAPN and PNG.

The State Department has made its initial disclosures in response to the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the ACCG, the International Association of Professional Numismatists and the Professional Numismatists Guild. By our count, in that initial disclosure, the State Department released 34 documents in full, 15 in redacted form and has withheld 21 documents. Six documents have also been held for further consultation with another agency before possible release.

The State Department produced several documents that are already publicly available, including the Cyprus MOU and information already up on the State Department Cultural Property Protection web site. Nonetheless, the State Department did also release some relevant documents. These included an “action memo” evidencing the decision to impose import restrictions on ancient coins of Cypriot type. While it is heavily redacted, it does suggest that the decision was approved by the proper decision making authority, Assistant Secretary Dina Powell.

That said, given the redactions, it remains unclear whether or not Ms. Powell was fully briefed about CPAC’s recommendations on extending import restrictions to ancient coins of Cypriot types. While the CPAC report was also produced, it was only produced in heavily redacted form. As a result, it is impossible to ascertain whether CPAC’s recommendations were made known to the decision maker or not. (more…)

Early Anglo-Saxon coins from the De Wit collection to be displayed at the Fitzwilliam Museum

The period of the Conversion in the 7th-8th centuries was a vibrant time artistically, inspiring such treasurers as the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Franks Casket and the famous High Crosses. Yet these give mere glimpses of a much larger body of lost art. New finds of coinage and ornamental metalwork of this period have provided us with an alternative source of images which are artistically and intellectually outstanding.

This exhibition will show for the first time early Anglo-Saxon coins from the De Wit collection, recently purchased by the Fitzwilliam Museum with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Art Fund. These gold shillings and silver pennies display the most innovative range of pictorial and geometric designs drawn from Classical and Germanic sources.

Despite the small scale, their bold images of people, animals, plants and geometric motifs are both rich in detail and sophisticated in concept. The exhibition will juxtapose them with contemporary ornamental metalwork drawn from other museums in the region.

Fri 23 May 2008 to Sun 7 September 2008
Octagon Gallery (Gallery 10) (more…)