Friday, October 24, 2014

Cultural Heritage Protection- Egyptian Military Dictatorship Style

The pyramids may be falling down, but it would seem the Egyptian military dictatorship is on the ball when it comes to confiscating anything old.  Indeed, according to the article,

Eldamaty asserted that all these objects are under the protection of Egypt’s antiquities law 11 and explained that negotiations are underway with embassies of Spain, Canada and Yemen among others to return the coins to the countries where they belong. 


Ahmed El-Rawi, head of the Recuperation Antiquities Section explained on Wednesday that the stamps are dated from 1898 to 1972 and that they are the ministry’s property according to the UNESCO convention for safeguarding antiquities and presidential decree number 114 which prohibits exchange of cultural heritage items between countries.

CPAC take note.  More proof, if any was needed, that as far as a MOU with Egypt is concerned, its not at all about conservation but control.

Hopefully, at least Canada's diplomats will be puzzled by the effort to repatriate the old Canadian coin in the trove.
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2 comments:

  1. Ed SnibleOctober 27, 2014 at 5:13 PM

    Canada did not strike coins in 1857. Tokens were struck by the Bank of Upper Canada. They are quite common, with 235 listings on eBay right now. I think I paid $6 for my half penny token.

    The 1857 issue was struck in Birmingham, England, by Heaton's mint. Do we have Mamdouh Eldamaty's email address? Someone needs to tell him he is negotiating to return the bank token to the wrong country!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cultural Property ObserverOctober 27, 2014 at 5:30 PM

    All are obviously looted and should be returned to Canada immediately. Your view that they should be returned to England betrays your colonialist instincts. And what of the postage stamps dating down to 1972? I suppose the concept of cultrual property has been expanded dramatically.

    ReplyDelete

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