Richard B. Witschonke Passes Away

Richard (Rick) Witschonke has passed away after a long illness.  Rick was a consummate collector. As a successful businessman, he had the means to afford the "best," but also focused on the "least" in the interests of putting together a complete collection of Roman Republican coins.

This academic interest in Roman Republican coins ultimately led him to volunteer his time and energies with the American Numismatic Society, where he served first as a Trustee, before working as a curatorial assistant, and helping to run the Society's renowned Summer Seminar for young academics.

Rick also tirelessly tried to bridge the widening gap between collectors and academic archaeologists, a sincere effort that should endear his memory to both camps.

For a nice tribute to Rick, see Ursula Kampmann's piece in Coins Weekly.  He will be much missed.

Sofaer Collection

The ANS has published the Sofaer collection of coins of the Holy Land.  This publication will add to the scholarship in the area.   The coins were all purchased on the collector market in the United States, Europe and Isreael.  Yes, numismatists can derive significant meaning from studying coins independent of any archaeological context.  Abe Sofaer is a former federal judge and State Department legal adviser.

Archaeological Context: Is it About Preservation or Control?

Archaeo-Blogger Rick St. Hilaire somehow believes that I have discounted the importance of archaeological context, but all I have said is that coin collectors derive their own context from the iconography and fabric of the coins themselves and that the goal of preservation of archaeological context—however worthy-- should not be allowed to control all else.  Perhaps, then, he should not take such statements about context out of context!

St. Hilaire then seems to discount the value of numismatic context, though his fellow archaeo-blogger Nathan Elkins organized an entire conference on the subject.  Perhaps, coins do indeed tell us something without reference to where they are found.

Finally, though suggesting that a good lawyer looks at all the evidence, St. Hilaire somehow apparently missed the ANS article appended to the Chasing Aphrodite interview.  In it I explained that perhaps archaeological practice may be different than archaeological rhetoric when it comes to issues of context.  I state:

Frankly, I might feel a bit better about all this if I had evidence that the archaeological community as a whole makes every effort to not only record the coins they find but to publish them.   Both are critical to the preservation of numismatic knowledge.  Even if a coin is recorded in an excavation notebook, it does little good if it is never published, and, if the notebook or computer data file is not backed up in some way, the information about its provenance could easily be lost.  That, of course, would render the coin for all practical purposes, “an orphan” of the sort members of the archaeological community roundly condemn—at least when held in a collector’s trays.  

This is not a hypothetical concern.    Indeed, a recent study prepared at the behest of the numismatic trade for the use of the State Department’s Cultural Property Advisory Committee concluded,

• The publication record for coins found in Italian excavations is poor.
• What has been published is thanks to a few dedicated individuals, not to the encouragement of the archaeological community.
• Without publication it is almost impossible to know what has been found and what has become of the material.

Let me give just one concrete example.  Some 60,000 - 70,000 ancient coins from excavations at the City of Rome, which were recovered by archaeologists during the 19^th century, still await publication in Frankfurt.  One would have thought coins excavated in Roman contexts would be of utmost importance, but the fact that they are still awaiting publication after over a century speaks volumes.  

All this raises a larger question.  Is all the talk about protecting archaeological context for real or is it actually about justifying further controls?

Reader Beware: Peter Weiss' Mea Culpa and Ancient Coin Collecting

The archaeological blogosphere is seeking to make the most of Peter Weiss' article in the ANS Magazine. While I don't have much to quibble with concerning Peter's recommendations-- at least as they relate to purchasing very expensive ancient coins-- one must also acknowledge that the article was written under duress as part of a plea deal, and one wonders if getting the article vetted by members of the archaeological lobby was some sort of requirement. It is of particular note that John Russell, a former (or current?) State Department employee also associated with the archaeological lobby (but not known as an expert in coins) is specifically mentioned in the introduction as one of Weiss' editors. Did prosecutor Bogdanos want to help his friends in the State Department justify their much criticized decision making concerning import restrictions on coins by "suggesting" that Russell and other members of the archaeological lobby be given editorial rights? The article certainly fails to mention some of the problems with the archaeological orthodoxy, including poor stewardship of coin finds by archaeologists and countries like Greece, Cyprus and Italy.  And let us not forget that unprovenanced coins are widely collected in each of the countries for which the US has granted import restrictions.  Yet, I hear no US archaeologist or State Department official criticizing such practices.

For more about Russell's apparent transformation from sanctions breaker to rule maker, see an earlier blog.

Update:  As some in the archaeological blogosphere purport to want me to respond to the topics raised in Peter Weiss' article, here again is a link to the article I wrote for the ANS Magazine.  I can also assure CPO readers that my own article was not written under duress.  Nor was it vetted by members of the archaeological lobby before publication.

More Coins Return to ANS

"Culture Grrl" has additional coverage about more Huntington coins being “repatriated” back to the ANS due to the generosity of a donor.  More good news for the ANS. 

ANS Recaptures Part of HSA Collection

Lee Rosenbaum (aka "Culture Grrl") reports the welcome news that a generous donor has agreed to return some 10,000 coins from the Hispanic Society of America collection back to the American Numismatic Society, where they resided for so many years.

Update (6-20-12):  The New York times has now reported on the generous contribution as well. 

Snobbery

Does snobbery help motivate the archaeological community’s support for clamp downs on collecting? One might conclude “yes,” based on this: http://paul-barford.blogspot.com/2012/05/what-they-collect.html

I’ve had the pleasure of being both a Trustee of the American Numismatic Society and the head of a local ancient coin club, the Ancient Numismatic Society of Washington, DC. Both have done excellent work fostering the appreciation and study of ancient coins. The work of the ANS is unparalleled. But the work of individual collectors has been important too. For example, members of the ANSWDC have written books that have ranged from the major work on Seleucid coins to another on an understudied area in Roman numismatics.

Now, more information is being placed on the Internet. Alfredo De La Fe should be commended for his new contribution. To mock it instead only betrays the academic snobbery behind the archaeological community’s opposition to collectors and collecting.

AIA Young Patrons Treated to Undocumented Coins at ANS

AIA Young Patrons have been treated to a visit of the ANS and its vast collection of ancient coins, which includes hundreds of thousands undocumented coins of the sort the AIA has condemned before the State Department's Cultural Property Advisory Committee. See http://www.archaeological.org/news/aianews/8634

The ANS only exists because of the generous contributions of collectors and dealers, though archaeologists associated with the AIA have also condemned them as no better than looters.

Yet, condemning collectors and dealers has not stopped the AIA from profiting from the ANS' wonderful collection of unprovenanced coins.

Hopefully, the more inquisitive of the AIA's young patrons will question the hypocrisy of the the AIA's actions.

Or, perhaps, this experience will be treated as a bit of a "guilty pleasure."

Hispanic Society Coins Put on the Auction Block

The Hispanic Society has put its collection of 38,000 historic Spanish coins up on the auction block in one lot with an estimated value of between $25-$38 million. See http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/hispanic-society-enlists-sothebys-to-auction-rare-collection-of-coins/

Archer Huntington endowed both the Hispanic Society and the American Numismatic Society, where the coins were previously kept. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archer_Milton_Huntington The fate of the group was the subject of litigation between the ANS and the Hispanic Society, which ended up with the Hispanic Society being awarded the coins they now want to sell.

If the collection could not stay intact, I'd rather it was broken up to allow American collectors and perhaps the ANS or ANA a chance at purchasing at least some of the coins. Given the estimated price, who will buy the group? The Smithsonian? Laughable. Cash strapped Spain? Doubtful. More likely the coins will go further East to the Persian Gulf or perhaps China.

Will the ANS be conducting a similar fire sale directed at foreign buyers sometime in the not too distant future? Let's hope not, but recognize such a possibility is becoming more likely given today's realities.

I've observed that both a prosperous numismatic trade and collector interest are essential to fund the ANS and the serious study of ancient numismatics in this country. See http://numismatics.org/wikiuploads/DigitalPublications/WitschonkeTompaFinal.pdf The fanatics at the AIA and the obdurate bureaucrats at the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs might want to consider how their efforts to suppress ancient coin collecting will impact numismatic study in this country before its too late.

Ancient Coins and Cultural Property Debate at ANS

My own article is the second in a series being published in the ANS Magazine about ancient coins and the cultural property debate. Not surprisingly, while Sebastian Heath's article came from an archaeological perspective, my own article comes from that of a collector. An extended version can be found here:
http://numismatics.org/wikiuploads/DigitalPublications/WitschonkeTompaFinal.pdf

After explaining that bureaucrats in the State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Cultural Heritage Center and their allies in the archaeological establishment have perverted the statutory process for imposing import restrictions on cultural goods to ensure that undocumented coins are treated as "stolen," and that such regulatory overkill can only damage numismatics in this country, I urge the following:

Collectors should be encouraged to only purchase coins from reputable sources and ensure that they retain the history of their coins with the coins themselves so it does not get lost.

Dealers should be encouraged to do the same, and to make sure they comply with the laws of each country in which they do business.

The U.S. Government should be advised to drop the idea of imposing import restrictions based on a coin’s type. The U.K. authorities have the right idea. Restrictions should only be imposed on coins reasonably suspected to be “straight from the ground” in violation of national laws or coins of the highest rarity. Restrictions based on coin type, such as ” all coins struck in Cyprus belong to Cyprus”, suggests that assuaging nationalistic impulses rather than the furthering archaeology is really the motivating force. Under no circumstances should restrictions be allowed to discriminate against American collectors and institutions. The U.S. Government should not entertain any request for broad restrictions from a country that allows its own citizens to collect unprovenanced coins or other artifacts. It is plainly unfair to place burdens on Americans that source countries will not place on their own citizens.

Foreign countries should be encouraged to allow the free sale and export of common coins. They should also investigate the U.K.’s Treasure Act and Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS). These programs help preserve context, provide museums with a right of first refusal over material and give collectors access to coins, complete with information about the coin’s find spot.

The archaeological community should avoid ideological approaches to the question of how best to preserve provenance and foster the recording and publication of coins from any source (including those that do not come from official excavations). The AIA should, in particular, end its aggressive campaign for import restrictions on ancient coins. Such restrictions are by their nature controversial: they bar import into the U.S. of artifacts legitimately sold abroad merely because the importer cannot produce detailed provenance information. Preserving archaeological context may be a worthy societal goal, but the AIA’s support for import restrictions confuses “conservation” with “control,” to the detriment not only of collectors, but of numismatics itself.

I'm grateful for the ANS to allow me to express my views, and hope others will also make workable suggestions on how to preserve both collecting that is essential to numismatics and context that is so important to archaeologists.

Ancient Coins and the Cultural Property Debate at the ANS

The American Numismatic Society (ANS) Magazine is carrying a feature about ancient coins and the cultural property debate. As the ANS notes in an email to members,

The ANS has a long tradition of scholarly numismatic research and publication, often based upon the availability of information about the source of ancient coins, and thus supports efforts to preserve contextual information. On the other hand, much of the membership of the ANS consists of coin collectors and dealers, who have a strong interest in preserving the right to collect ancient coins. In the interest of informing its membership (and the public at large) on the issues involved, we have inaugurated a series of articles in ANS Magazine on various topics relating to ancient numismatics and the cultural property debate. An extended version of the print article is available to view online. All subsequent articles within this column will be published online as well.

For an overview by Rick Witchonke and an archaeologist's perspective by Sebastian Heath, see http://numismatics.org/html/dpubs/nonxml/WitschonkeHeathFinal.pdf

In his overview, Witchonke rightly notes that aggressive application of cultural property laws has disincentivized the sharing of numismatic knowledge. Meanwhile, while I agree with Heath that we all benefit from information gleaned from the Frome hoard, it does not follow that the State should keep all coins once they are recorded or that it is a legal requirement to record all coins found in the UK. In fact, the Treasure Act sets forth the legal duties of finders while the Portable Antiquities Scheme is a voluntary program that encourages coins not legally required to be reported to be recorded. Finally, I commend Heath's desire for greater transparency in the US process for imposing import restrictions on cultural goods, but would nonetheless suggest such restrictions have little practical impact other than to punish those importers who seek to comply with the law.

My own perspective should follow in the next of the series.

ANS Database Upgraded

The American Numismatic Society has upgraded the ability of scholars and collectors to search its extensive collection of ancient coins. For more, see
http://www.coinsweekly.com/en/News/4?&id=565

As the story explains,


The new search tool is an open source implementation of several applications used in the Library, Archive, and Museum communities, including Apache Solr for faceted searching. The tool enables users to interact with the ANS collection through keyword searches or by browsing and sorting on numerous categorical and physical attributes common to numismatics. This search tool connects individual objects together by these searchable attributes, allowing users to seamlessly navigate from one object to its relations.

Venerable French Numismatic Museums to Close: What's Next?

Coin World (March 16, 2010) reports that both the museum of Monnaie de Paris (founded in 1833) and the Cabinet des Medailles of the Biblotheque Nationale de France (with collections dating back to at least the 17th c.) will close this year. Smaller displays may replace them, but even that is unclear. There is an international petition to try to save the Cabinet des Medallies that has been posted on-line. See http://jesigne.fr/sauvonsleplusancienmuseedefrance But it all may be too little too late.

In any event, this continues an unfortunate trend. In the United States, the Smithsonian traded its wonderful (if a bit ragged around the edges) coin display for a few panels of mostly American coins. See http://culturalpropertyobserver.blogspot.com/2009/07/disappointing-smithsonian-numismatic.html

This leaves the ANA and the ANS-- which are both funded almost exclusively by collectors and coin dealers-- with two of the last remaining decent coin displays in the US (though the ANS mostly uses borrowed space at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York). See http://www.money.org/Content/NavigationMenu/ExploretheWorldofMoney/MoneyMuseum/default.htm and
http://www.numismatics.org/Exhibits/DrachmasDoubloonsDollars

I have a real question how long this can continue, particularly if the AIA gets its way and greatly limits the ability of collectors to trade in ancient Italian coins from abroad. Without a vibrant numismatic trade in ancient coins, funding will dry up for the ANS in particular. Of course, the prospective money drain won't just impact coin displays. It will also decimate the academic research archaeologists also purport to support.

Terracotta Warriors at Nat Geo-- The Emperor Has No Clothes!

I just visited the much-hyped "Terracotta Warrior" Exhibit at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. See http://www.nationalgeographic.com/terracottawarriors/ The exhibit chronicles the discovery of the "Terracotta Army" found near the site of the mausoleum of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang.

At the end of the exhibit, there was the usual guest registry. I paged through it. Kids loved the exhibit, judging from the child-like scrawls. Grownup reaction was more mixed. Some loved it. Others complained about the difficult to read explanatory texts. I was particularly struck by the contrast between pictures of the excavations at Xi'an (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army) and the reality that relatively few warriors were actually on display. Couldn't they have at least mustered a line of infantry? I had to agree with the rather unkind but apt comment I also found in the guest registry:" The Emperor Has No Clothes!"

It's not that it was a bad exhibit. What warriors there were were interesting. I also liked the architectural elements that were displayed as well as some of the weapons and jade. There were coins too, but all from the American Numismatic Society in New York. You would think if China really thought coins were important enough to ask for import restrictions on them, they could have at least sent a few along with this exhibit for display. After all, there are bazillions of them floating around-- and its not as if shipping them would have been an insurmountable task.

I also question the entry fee. For what you got, it seemed steep at $12 ($10 for National Geographic members). And don't forget an extra $5 to rent the audio tour. And by all means save some money for all those trinkets at the end-- like the Chinese piggy bank!

Archaeologists are always talking about how loans can substitute for imports of cultural artifacts, with the underlying premise that commerce is bad and pure knowledge is good. But if such loans seem mostly designed to generate cash for countries like China, does this argument really hold?

Better Late Than Never II

I've had a chance to review the long delayed posthumous publication of Newell's "Coins from the Excavations at Beisan (Nysa-Scythopolis, Tel Beth Shean): 1929-1935" found in the the ANS 150th Anniversary edition of the American Journal of Numismatics. I've blogged about the plan to publish this article before here: http://culturalpropertyobserver.blogspot.com/2009/02/better-late-than-never.html

A couple items of interest jump out aside from what the exceptionally long delay in publication says about the realities of archaeology one does not often hear about, particularly from those who argue that archaeologists alone should monopolize the study of coins.

First, the coins date from Greek to Islamic times. The vast majority of the coins are examples of single finds of ancient bronze "small change," though one gold and one silver Islamic coin were also found. (This is typical for coins found at archaeological sites. Coins of precious metal are typically found in hoards, not as single finds.)

Second, "their average condition is exceedingly poor." See page 14. (This again is typical for coins found at archaeological sites. Coins in better condition, which are of most interest to collectors, also typically come from hoards, not single finds.)

Third, though bronze coins circulated closer to home than precious metal coins, a surprising number of the coins found at the site were from distant mints, including Palmyra, Antioch, Rome, Ticinum, Constantinople, Alexandria, Carthage, Tripolis, and Siscia.

Fourth, the University of Pennsylvania has managed to lose some 13 of the coins described in the article in the years since the excavation. I guess it could be worse. Still, the loss of these materials should raise doubts as to any assumption that archaeologists are necessarily the best custodians of ancient artifacts.

New ANS Work on the Athenian Decadrachm

The Athenian Decadrachm is a scarce, high value coin. It was worth a small fortune in antiquity. Though hardly as beautiful as its counterparts from Ancient Syracuse, the type remains one of the most valuable ancient coins today.

Fischer-Bossert has authored a new work about this important coin. The ANS has published "The Athenian Decadrachm" as part of its Numismatic Notes and Monographs series. Numismatists with an interest in ancient Greek coinage will consider it an important work. But, this is a blog about cultural property issues. So, here are a few brief thoughts from that perspective.

1. The ANS, an organization largely, if not wholly, funded by coin collectors and coin dealers published this work. In addition, the author thanks several well known collectors and coin dealers who specifically helped make this work possible. Those who wish to suppress the trade in ancient coins might want to consider the impact of their efforts on the kind of numismatic scholarship the ANS (and few others) supports.

2. Though struck in Greece, the find spots (where known) of most of the coins are in the Levant or the Near East. Again, this supports the proposition that ancient coins were meant to travel in antiquity, making it difficult to associate them with any one specific modern nation state.

3. A number of the coins can be traced back at least to 19th C. collections. Other coins come from more recent hoards.

4. At least one specimen with only a recent provenance is on display in a Greek museum. Yet, as far as I know, no one has sought to hold that museum to the same provenance standards as demanded of the MET and other US museums.

Better Late Than Never

Rick Witschonke has written an interesting article for the Winter 2008 edition of the ANS Magazine. It is entitled, "Better Late than Never, Newell Manuscript Finally Published." The article is currently available only in paper format, but should eventually be posted on the ANS website. See: http://www.numismatics.org/

The article discusses the 75 year delay in publication of coins found in archaeological excavations at Beisan in Israel. The University of Pennsylvania sponsored the dig and in 1931 published an initial group of coins found in the 1921-1923 seasons. From this point on, coins accumulated and between 1931 and 1936, some 261 coins were sent in three distinct groups to Edward T. Newell, the President of the ANS, for attribution and cataloguing. Newell, an amazingly productive researcher, quickly produced typescript catalogues of these coins. These were in the hands of the University of Pennsylvania Museum when Newell passed away in 1941. Copies of the manuscripts were found in the ANS archives in 2007. Their rediscovery prompted the belated publication of Newell's research in cooperation with the University of Pennsylvania as part of the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the ANS.

This story highlights the reality that many coins found at archaeological digs never actually get published. Others only get published after long delays. True, some countries now require publication of archaeological finds within a reasonable time frame, but there is no universal rule and one wonders how strictly such rules that exist are enforced when it comes to artifacts as common as coins. Yet, some members of the archaeological community insist that restrictions on coin collectors are necessary to promote numismatic research.

ANS to Auction Off Greek Die Duplicates

Museums periodically deaccession artifacts. The American Numismatic Society ("ANS") has decided to deaccession duplicates of Greek coins in its collection. Gemini LLC will auction off the coins during the annual New York International Numismatic Convention. The lots may be found here: http://www.geminiauction.com/category.asp?inventorygroup=cc&category=ANS+Duplicate+Collection. This should be a great opportunity for collectors of Greek coinage to bid on some spectacular coins with old provenances from some famous collections.

Grand Opening of New ANS Site: Good News, Bad News, Good News

The American Numismatic Society has opened its new headquarters and has updated its website. For more, see: http://www.numismatics.org/

The Executive Director, Ute Wartenberg Kagan, and the staff should be commended for all their hard work in making the new headquarters a reality.

Of particular interest should be a small but wonderful exhibit of coins from members of the New York Numismatic Club. These range from ancient coinage to early U.S. coinage and medals.

Overall, the annual meeting of the ANS I attended in conjunction with the opening offered a bit of good news, bad news and good news. The good news is that the move is completed and the ANS finally has excellent facilities which have a finished look about them. The bad news is that like many not for profits, the ANS has seen its endowment get hit in a big way with the recent downturn in the stock market. On the bright side, however, all the money received for the sale of the old building has been held in cash so it has not evaporated like other funds in the endowment.

Over the near term, ambitious plans for expansion of programs will need to be put on hold and more than ever the ANS will need to rely on the generosity of its members to not just survive but grow. Unlike the Smithsonian and many institutions in Europe, the ANS is highly dependent on its members (chiefly academics, collectors and members of the numismatic trade) for funding. Anyone who supports repressing private collecting of artifacts as common as coins should realize this can't but also impact the continued vitality of one of the few places in the United States where coinage of all eras is not only preserved, but studied on an academic basis.

The benefits of the academic study of coins is evident to most numismatists, but it should also be noted that such study has real world benefits as well. Edmund C. Moy, the Director of the U.S. Mint, spoke at a dinner I attended in conjunction with the opening. He made clear that he hopes to reinvigorate our present day coinage, not by directly copying historical coinage, but using some of its design precepts to guide how we can make our own coins reflect the best of our own society of today has to offer.

More on Recall and Sale of Hispanic Society Coins Long Held by ANS

Jason Kaufman has written more about the Hispanic Society's apparent plans to sell Archer Huntington's coin collection long held at the American Numismatic Society: http://www.theartnewspaper.com/article.asp?id=16116 Another story about these plans can be found here: http://culturalpropertyobserver.blogspot.com/2008/08/archer-huntington-coins-to-be-sold.html

As Kaufman notes, unlike prior sales of Hispanic Society material, this sale would seem to potentially be at odds with the Hispanic Society's core mission of preserving Spanish Culture. Obviously, putting together a similar collection today would be very difficult, if not impossible.

Moreover, while there evidently is some possibility Spain may wish to purchase the collection, it presumably would only do so to repatriate it back to that country. That, of course, would do little to promote the appreciation of Spanish coins and culture in this country.

One further thought. While the Kaufman article focuses on some of the superlative pieces in the collection, no doubt the collection also contains many coins of modest value. Hopefully, the ANS and the Hispanic Society will come to some agreement that at least allows such coins to stay accessible to numismatists in the ANS collections.