CPAC to Consider Libya and Belize Renewals

                 The State Department Cultural Heritage Center website has provided advance notice that the Cultural Property Advisory Committee will meet to consider renewals of current MOUs with Libya and Belize.  See https://eca.state.gov/cultural-property-advisory-committee-meeting-july-26-27-2022

                The public may provide written comment in advance of the meeting and/or register to speak in the virtual open session scheduled for July 26, 2022, at 2:00 p.m. EDT.  Both written comments and requests to speak at the open session will be due July 19^th. 

                Written comments are to be posted on regulations.gov.  An upcoming Federal Register notice should provide details. 

                The Libyan renewal should be controversial for several reasons.  The MOU was originally rushed through after allowing only 5 days for public comment.  At the time, Libya was a failed State with two competing governments propped up by foreign interests.  Subsequently, without seeking input from CPAC, the State Department morphed “emergency import restrictions” into a MOU with the faction headquartered in Tripoli.  Today, Libya remains a failed state where the political stalemate often erupts into open combat.  Each side is well armed with the help of their authoritarian foreign sponsors.  The Tripoli faction is propped up by Turkey with the help of Syrian mercenaries.  In contrast, the Benghazi faction is propped up by Egypt and Russia with Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group providing extra muscle.  The place is so dangerous that no US Embassy has operated there since the ambassador was murdered by terrorists.  Does anyone really believe that artifacts repatriated under this MOU will be safe in such an environment?

                These concerns about the safety of these artifacts are exacerbated because the designated list is so all encompassing.  It covers archaeological material from 12,000 B.C. to 1750 A.D. and Ottoman era ethnological material from 1551 A.D. through 1911 A.D.

                This designated list raises issues of concern to Jewish exile groups and coin collectors.  Jewish groups are concerned that the MOU with Libya recognizes the rights of that government to the cultural heritage of the country’s displaced Jewish minority.  While specific references to Jewish cultural heritage were removed from revised import restrictions associated with the MOU, such material is still implicitly covered because there is no specific exemption as was the case with Morocco. 

                The restrictions on coins are grossly overbroad.  See https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/07/09/2018-14637/import-restrictions-imposed-on-archaeological-and-ethnological-material-from-libya  In particular, the restrictions empower U.S. Customs to seize Greek silver and gold coins, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman coins imported from legitimate markets in Europe on the assumption that they are “Libyan” even though such coins circulated regionally and internationally and not “exclusively” or even “primarily” in Libya. 

                By contrast, the MOU with Belize, a Central American Democracy, is much less controversial.  The import restrictions are also broad, applying to a wide variety of archeological material ranging in date from approximately 9000 B.C. to at least 250 years old, including, but not limited to, objects comprised of ceramic, stone, metal, shell, bone, glass, and wood.  The issue there will be whether there will be any effort to expand current import restrictions to ethnographic artifacts or coins. 

Update (7/18/22):  The Regulations.gov link from which to comment is now live.  It may be found  here:  https://www.regulations.gov/document/DOS-2022-0015-0001  For a direct link to the comment page, see https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/DOS-2022-0015-0001

Coin Auctioneer with Archaeological Background Seeks to Rediscover Old Provenances with the Help of Facial Recognition Technology

                 On May 30, 2020, Dr. Jonas Flueck of Ex-Numis (https://www.ex-numis.com/page/about.html) and Lugdunam International Auction House (https://www.lugdunum-numismatik.com/en/) explained his use of facial recognition technology to rediscover old provenances for ancient coins.  United States import restrictions imposed on ancient coins, new regulations in Germany and the EU, and claims that terrorists have been selling ancient coins to fund their activities have all made the rediscovery of old provenances more important than before.

                Dr. Flueck prefaced his talk with a discussion of different types of provenances.  Provenance is generally comparable to the concept of chain of custody.    The International Association of Dealers in Ancient Art has developed useful concepts to explain different forms of provenance.  “Hearsay provenance” is the weakest form of provenance.  This is a vague provenance, usually restricted to a date or location.  An example is “from an old Swiss collection.”  The only thing that backs up this provenance is the good faith of the dealer in question.  “Named provenance” is somewhat stronger.  It is a provenance linked to a specific collection or person.  The problem is that this kind of provenance cannot always be verified.  The strongest form of provenance is “documented provenance” linked to a specific sale or other documentary material like invoices or export licenses.  It is this last, strongest type of provenance which Ex-Numis seeks to reestablish.

                Until now, dealers and collectors have had to conduct manual searches through hundreds of old auction catalogues to recapture old provenances.  Without some suspicion where a coin may have appeared in the past, this is virtually an impossible undertaking.   The genius of Dr. Flueck’s system is that he has spent considerable time, effort and money scanning thousands of auction catalogues and then applying facial recognition technology to compare coins which are submitted to his service to those in old catalogues in order to recover old provenances.   These include some 130,000 coins listed in catalogues pre-dating 1970, the date of the UNESCO Convention.

                Still, the system has some serious limitations that help explain why the vast majority of coins without a recoverable provenance are not the products of recent, illicit digs.  First, before widespread use of digital photography in the 1990’s, it was time consuming and difficult to take photographs of coins.  For that reason, the vast majority of coins sold at auction or in fixed price lists were not photographed.  Second, although Ex-Numis has recently sought to add fix price lists to its database, many of these lists were only produced in small numbers and are no longer easily available today.  Lastly, the system does not capture more recent provenances created during the digital era; however, such coins can be found reviewing commercially available databases, like Coin Archives, AC Search, Sixbid Archives or CNG’s Research page. 

                Notwithstanding these limitations, when a match is found, it can not only detail lost provenances but whether a coin has been altered over time by cleaning or tooling.  It can also provide some assurance that a coin was on the market before the advent of highly sophisticated fakes produced with the use of laser cut coin dies.  Conversely, it can prompt concerns about authenticity if a coin was previously withdrawn from auction. 

                Recovering a provenance can also establish a particular coin was formally in a prestigious collection, like that of Prof. Pozzi and Sir Arthur Evans, a famous archaeologist.   Moreover, it can show coins travelling internationally between the United States and Europe.  Finally, it can show how prices change over time for specific coins.

                Archaeologists and others not familiar with ancient coin collecting often ask why so many ancient coins lack a provenance.  First, most coins in the past auctions were a very small part of the market.  Most coins were instead purchased at coin fairs and in coin stores with an invoice, but one which did not picture the coin.  Second, because provenances were not that important, they were often not included in auction catalogues, except for coins from famous collections.  Third, before the advent of modern facial recognition technology, it was very time consuming to search for old auction provenances by reviewing old catalogues.

                Dr. Flueck became interested in old auction catalogues when he began work at a Swiss auction house.  Over time, he has collected a large number of auction catalogues, which he married to facial imaging technology.  This technology works best for coins with irregular flans, which is common in the Greek series.  It works less well with coins with regular flans made in quantity, which includes most Roman Republican and Imperial coins.  It is also difficult to match coin images in old catalogues produced with the use of plaster casts.

                The process for developing his system was very time consuming.  First, he collected a large number of catalogues based on lists of historic catalogues.    He then cut out individual pages and created PDF pages and then pages individual coins.   He ended up scanning approximately 5,000 catalogues to create his database.  These catalogues date from the late 19^th c. to about 2005, when most catalogues went digital. The auctions are from around the world of ancient, chiefly Greek and Roman coins.

                Since 2006, he has rediscovered more than 5,000 lost provenances, which he hopes do not get lost again.  It is easier for the system to locate coins with irregular flans.  It is more difficult to locate coin images with regular flans, which includes all early coin images made by use of plaster casts.

                Going forward, Dr. Flueck hopes to add known forgeries and stolen coins to the database.   Such coins can then be removed from the market and stolen coins returned to their rightful owner.

                Dr. Flueck then answered several questions.  He was first asked if his system could be used for Greek vases.  He believes a similar system could be applied to Greek vases if funding is found.

                Dr. Flueck was then asked if it is harder to find provenances for Roman coins because more Greek coins in the past appeared at auction.  Dr. Flueck does not have statistics for that because he searches for Greek coin provenances far more frequently.  He does note however that it is more difficult to find matches or Roman coins because of their more regular flans.

                Dr. Flueck has not been asked to provide expert legal testimony, but he has provided provenance information used for export and import paperwork.

                Dr. Flueck asked how fast the database is growing.  He indicates he is at a point where it is difficult to acquire new catalogues.  He hopes to add reference works providing provenance, major collections that were dispersed privately and fixed price lists.  Of course, this is also very time consuming.  It is noted there is a dearth of published provenances from the late 1930’s to 1950’s due to WWII and its immediate aftermath.

                The oldest provenance Dr. Flueck has traced is from the late 19^th century.  The most valuable is for a Dekadrachm of Syracuse.

                Fixed price lists are important sources of provenance information from the 1950’s-1990’s.  Dr. Flueck has a complete set of Münzen & Medaillen and Credit Suisse price lists.  Bank Leu and Hess also produced some rare lists from this period.  Dr. Flueck is missing American price lists from the 1960’s-1970’s from his database.

                There is also a discussion of the American Numismatic Society card file.  Hopefully, this can be digitized in the future. The Schaefer archive will also be a source of provenance information for Roman Republican coins.

                The database depends on what was considered an “ancient coin” in the auction catalogues.  As a result, there is uneven coverage of Byzantine or barbaric coins.  Byzantine coins are typically difficult to match because the flan shapes are so similar.

                There is a discussion of the 130,000 coins in the database with pre-1970 provenance. Dr. Flueck notes that this relatively low number is attributable to the fact that so few coins were photographed during this time period and so many were sold outside of auctions.  Even for auctions, most coins were merely listed, not pictured.  Typically only about a quarter of coins may be pictured.

                The Bronx Coin Club and the Ancient Numismatic Society of Washington, D.C. co-sponsored Dr. Flueck’s presentation.  Dr. Flueck’s Zoom Video Talk can be found here:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn_hw9C-o4M&feature=youtu.be .  For more about Ex-Numis, see its website, here: https://www.ex-numis.com/page/the-idea.html .

My Comments at Today's CPAC Hearing Regarding a Proposed MOU with Jordan

      Here are my oral comments at today's CPAC hearing regarding a proposed MOU with Jordan.   My written comments on behalf of the numismatic trade may be found here:  https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=DOS-2019-0004-0006

          Thank you for this opportunity to speak on behalf of the small businesses of the numismatic trade and collectors.  Our papers cover the relevant issues in detail, but let me focus on two important points.  First, you simply cannot assume coins of types that circulated in Jordan were found there.  Leaving other statutory requirements aside, that means there either should be no restrictions placed on coins at all or, if you must have restrictions that they only apply to coins proven to have been illicitly exported from Jordan after the effective date of any applicable regulations.  That is in fact the statutory mandate, but one which has been ignored over the years in favor of restrictions on coins of types on designated lists imported after the effective date of restrictions.  The way that Customs enforces import restrictions has been hugely problematical to the legitimate numismatic trade and collectors.  It has led to embargoes of all coins of given types, rather than focused, prospective import restrictions that do not impact the purchase of coins from the legitimate marketplace abroad, mostly within Europe.  The one appellate court that has looked at the issue has said—wrongly in our view—that import restrictions are a “foreign policy” issue beyond judicial review.   So, if anything, that makes your work to make sure that the Cultural Property Implementation Act is being followed even more important.

          The underlying problem is that U.S. Customs has confused where coins are made with where coins are found.  Only where items are actually found is what is relevant in CPIA, 19 U.S.C. § 2601.  It is simply incorrect to assume that all coins of types that circulated within Jordan were found there.  There is no factual dispute about Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic coins struck elsewhere that were traded throughout these Empires.  It is far more likely any such coins were found elsewhere than in Jordan.  On the other hand, there appears to be a dispute about what Dr. Elkins calls “local coinage,” but which more accurately should be described as “regional coinage.”   As collector and scholar Martin Huth (who co-Authored the ANS book, “Coinage of the Caravan Kingdoms”) has stated in his own public comments, “The Nabataean kingdom covered, at different times, various parts of what is now Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Nabataean coins are found in all of these countries. Hence, it is neither possible to equate "Nabataea" with "Jordan", nor to attribute (or re-patriate) a non-provenanced Nabataean coin legally to Jordan. This situation is further compounded by the obvious fact that, as with any ancient or modern coinage, coins were produced for circulation and may therefore be found on the territory of another modern state (e.g., Israel) than that where it was minted (e.-g., Jordan).”  IAPN and PNG also note the same must be true for the coins of the Decapolis, which included cities not only in Jordan but in what is today’s Syria and Israel.

          CPAC should also be aware that coins of the sort that may be restricted also appear to be openly available for sale in Jordan itself at an annual coin show sanctioned by the Ministry of Culture and from Bedouin traders at Petra.  If that does not argue against restrictions, it should at least argue for the issuance of export permits being a precondition of any grant of import restrictions on coins.  Article 6 of the UNESCO Convention and CPIA, 19 U.S.C. § 2606 assume State Parties like Jordan will issue export permits. CPAC should also make any import restrictions conditional on issuance of such export permits.  Such permits should be issued both at the annual coin fair in Amman and at the Petra archaeological site where low value coins are sold to tourists.  This would allow for lawful export of such coins as well as help stimulate the local economy and encourage tourism. 

          Thank you again for listening to the concerns of the small businesses of the ancient coin trade as well as collectors.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Museum and Auction House Work Together To Reunite Collector With His Coins

This is a great story about the efforts of Virginia State authorities, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and CNG, Inc. to find the owner of a box of ancient coins that had been lost.  A happy ending about how government officials and private industry worked together to reunite a collector with his collection.

There is collecting in Source Countries Too

The archaeological lobby often implies that collecting is illegal in source countries, but this is often not the case.  Indeed, sometimes wealthy collectors like their counterparts in "market countries" are great supporters of local museums.

Byzantine

Is a good way to describe the cultural property laws a Greek numismatist must deal with for the private foundation where he works to add Byzantine and other coins to its collection.   At least the politically connected KIKPE Numismatic Collection is designated a "collector" under Greek law. That allows them to do more than merely "possess" the coins they own.

One would hope that efforts to cut down on choking regulation-- which have been discussed in Greece as a much needed remedy to open up its moribund economy to growth-- would carry over to "cultural property issues."  However, the archaeological lobby and the cultural bureaucracy are probably too entrenched to make that possible.

Indeed, it would appear, if anything, based on red tape creating legislative proposals in Germany and the United States that the trend is in the opposite direction.  CPO strongly believes that such added layers of bureaucracy and over regulation do little, or nothing, to protect archaeology as claimed, but much to undercut legitimate cultural exchange and the study and appreciation of coins and other artifacts that comes with it.

Italian-American Expresses Concern About MOUs Impact on the Study and Appreciation of Italian Culture

Karen Antonelli, a dual citizen of the US and Italy, expressed these heartfelt concerns about the impact of the MOU on Italian Americans:

Dear Cultural Property Affairs [Advisory] Committee,

I am a dual citizen of the United States and of Italy living in San Francisco, California. I have a Ph.D. in Italian Literature from the University of California at Los Angeles as well as an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California. Although I lived most of my first twenty years in Italy (but born of American parents of Italian descent who were working for the U.S. government at the time), I have resided, full time, in the United States for more than forty years and treasure both my U.S. and my Italian heritage. I get tremendous satisfaction sharing my Italian heritage and culture with my fellow Americans and promote business relationships between Italy and the U.S. by teaching Italian language, literature and film classes as well as by performing professional translations for individuals and companies.

Unfortunately, the proposed extension (and perhaps expansion) of the present Memorandum of Understanding with Italy will do little to help, and a great deal to harm, the study and understanding of Italian heritage and culture, at the very least to the extent that it will restrict the import into the United States of abundant small objects like coins and other common artifacts. This is especially true as these objects were intended to, and did, travel great distances. These objects are useful not only in teaching the history of ancient Rome, its successor city-states and the modern Italian Republic, but in understanding so many aspects of its culture...societal relationships, religion, cultural tropes, trade and economics.

The proposed MOU only harms United States citizens...restricting the import of the coins and similar common artifacts here, while they continue to be bought and sold, and travel widely, throughout Europe and even in Asia.

As an Italian citizen, if I can purchase these objects in Italy as my heritage, why may I not bring them to the U.S. to share and teach?

Of course, I support the suppression of looting of archaeological sites (as I understand it, the purported reason for the ban on importation) but there are much better ways to do this than the extension of the MOU. Please do not renew it, or at least exempt from the extended MOU all common, abundant artifacts like coins. The goal of the Committee should be to preserve culture, not as an end in itself, but to promote the availability and awareness of culture to the citizens of the United States.

CPO (as an Italian-American himself) understands and agrees with these concerns.   MOUs such as this only cut-off access to common artifacts like historical coins that provide us with a tangible link to our own culture of birth.

Ms. Antonelli's letter has been published on the website of Primo Magazine, which celebrates Italian culture.

Coin World on CPAC Hearing on Italian MOU Renewal

Steve Roach, Coin World's Editor, questions whether MOUs hurt more than help.  He concludes, "There are perhaps more effective ways to protect cultural property than implementing MOUs that include wide categories of objects that are too broad for practical enforcement."

Coin World also reports on collector comments to CPAC.

Large Grant Needed to Determine Number of Coin Collectors?

Far off in Warsaw, a numismatic capital of the world,  one archaeo-blogger is upset about the lack of "hard numbers" out there for coin collectors.  CPO notes that the State Department recently gave ASOR $600,000 to track looting in Syria and all we've gotten out of it is flawed intelligence about ISIS and antiquities looting.  Why not then an even bigger grant to be given to a coin collectors' group to help determine the actual number of coin collectors out there?  After all, whatever their number, they are a far bigger special interest than archaeologists and, hence deserve, if anything, a much larger piece of the pie.

Nelson Bunker Hunt RIP

Nelson Bunker Hunt passed away on Oct. 21, 2014, but because he lost his collection years ago to bankruptcy, his death has not attracted much notice in the collecting world. 

So it's fitting then that Mike Markowitz, writing for CoinWeek, has prepared this wonderful tribute to his connoisseurship in collecting ancient coins.

Hunt's collecting interests were not as broad as those of Shiekh Al-Thani of Qatar, but both were among the lucky few able to exchange petro-dollars for some of the world's most beautiful and historically significant ancient coins.  The images in Mike's article speak for themselves.

Addendum:  For some reason, British archaeo-bloggers Paul Barford and David Gill have been much harder on the late Mr. Hunt than on the late Shiekh Al-Thani.   It's hard to fathom why.  More anti-Americanism perhaps?

Prominent Gulf Collector Dies Unexpectedly

Sheikh Al-Thani of Qatar, one of the world's most prominent collectors, has passed away.  The Sheikh collected not only Islamic Art, but many other things as well, including ancient coins and even, apparently historic Coca-cola bottles.

The Sheikh's purchases drove the market in high-end numismatic material for awhile, until unpaid bills mounted and disputes (which were ultimately resolved) followed.

It remains unclear what will become of his enormous collection, and even whether it will be treated as his own property or that of the Qatari State.

Warsaw-- A New Numismatic Capital for the World

While a certain blogger might not approve of all the unprovenanced material for sale, CPO is gratified to learn that a Polish firm is conducting an auction of better quality ancient coins which is accessible through the German "Sixbid" auction platform

Warsaw and Krackow were traditionally centers of the cosmopolitan spirit that fosters ancient coin collecting.  Then, the Nazis and Communists came, "liquidating" intellectuals and replacing that cosmopolitanism with first a racist and then a statist ideology.   And in Communist Poland, collectors were considered "speculators" or far worse.

Happily, all that is now getting to be ancient history.

So, let's all celebrate the fact that Warsaw now joins Beijing, London, Munich, New York, Rome and Zurich as a place where ancient coins are bought and sold openly and in abundance, fostering a renewal of cosmopolitanism for which Poland was rightly known.  

A Century of Collecting and Learning

The New York Times has reported on Eric Newman and his century of collecting and learning.  Although the article focuses on Eric's American coin collection, he also collected foreign and ancient coins as well.  And while Eric represents the pinnacle of collecting, many more collectors of modest means also gain learning about the past and appreciations of other cultures through their collections.  And what's wrong with that?

Investors Take a Shine to Rare Coins--So What?

Archaeo-blogger Paul Barford has highlighted a CNBC article about investors and rare coins.  Though there may be some unstated implication a recent run-up in coin prices caused by American investors will encourage looting of archaeological sites in source countries, CPO doubts it.  First, CPO suspects most investors are focusing on high quality American coins and modern foreign issues.   Ancient coins by comparison are far less accessible, far harder to grade, and have so many subjective factors associated with their value that by comparison they don't make for an "easy" way to "make a fast buck."

CPO does acknowledge that there has been a long-term increase in the value of high-quality ancient coins, but this trend probably relates more to a relative decline in the value of the dollar and a large increase in the numbers of wealthy collectors in "source countries" than anything else.   So Mr. Barford and his friends in the archaeological blogosphere should have little to worry about if American investors take a shine to historical coins.

What is Ethical Collecting as Far as the Archaeological Blogosphere is Concerned?

David Knell's recent comments on this blog raise questions about what it means to be an "ethical collector"  as far as the archaeological blogosphere is concerned.  I'm not sure whether or not David is an academic or museum professional,  but on his informative blog he indicates that his collection of oil lamps was largely formed long ago and suggests that any more recent additions have a provenance back to 1970 as required by recent museum accession rules.

So then,what does an "ethical collection" of ancient coins look like as far as the archaeological blogosphere is concerned?

Would it be limited to coins with a secure pre-1970 provenance?  If so, it might have a few high priced Greek coins, but little else-- only very few Greek coins have secure provenances pre-dating 1970 and hardly any Roman coins do.

How about a collection of coins recorded under the PAS and Treasure Act?  There would certainly be more material to collect.  Such a collection could include a wide variety of Celtic, Roman Imperial and Medieval British issues.  On the other hand, it would contain virtually nothing from the Greek world and only a few Roman Republican coins.  In any event, would the fact that the coins were recorded under the PAS or Treasure Act make collecting them "ethical" as far as Paul Barford, Nathan Elkins or David Gill would be concerned?   CPO doubts it given their qualms with the system in place in Britain and Wales.

How about a collection of unprovenanced coins of the sort widely and openly available in places like Italy, China and Bulgaria?  Building such a collection might make sense to the non-archaeologist.
One might ask,  "Why shouldn't we be able to buy anything that is freely available for sale in such countries? "  And better still, such a collection would certainly include a wide variety of coins, indeed, much of what is collected today in the United States.

But, of course, common sense does not appear to be the primary consideration here, but rather one of "ethics."  And what's the problem with "ethics?"  Well, ethics is in the eye of the beholder, and it's all too easy to make such ethical rules for others.

And more practically, can one really create an "ethical collection" of ancient coins today that meets the criteria of the archaeological blogosphere and still find anything to collect?   Probably not.

Peace Through Coins

Well, since everyone else is jumping on the "Monuments Men" bandwagon, why not coin collectors?

Coin collections were very likcly seized along with all sorts of other artifacts by the Nazis.  Moreover, many historical coins were also destroyed in bombing or shelling.  And millions of others were most certainly melted to recover prescious or strategic metals deemed necessary for the war efforts of the combatants.

But CPO wants to focus on the positive: how numismatics helped bring people together during the dark days of WWII and its immediate aftermath.  First, there is the story of a loving couple that shared an interest for old coins through internment in a concentration camp and refugee status during and following the war.  Thereafter, in a true Hollywood ending, they achieved the American dream, eventually running the Smithsonian Institutions's coin cabinet together for decades.

Then, there is the International Association of Professional Numismatists, an organization CPO's writer represents as an attorney and lobbyist.   The IAPN was formed in 1951 to help restore relationships among professional numismatists that had been badly frayed during years of war.  Today, the IAPN has 114 members in 23 countries in 5 continents around the world.

Coin collecting has fostered people to people contacts and cultural understanding for generations.  Coin collectors might not be "Monuments Men," but their shared interest in studying, preserving and displaying these miniature "cultural ambassadors" serve the same goals celebrated by Hollywood in its well-publicized movie.

Weed in; Collecting Out?

Things like collecting ancient coins and arrowheads used to be viewed as harmless and indeed educational pursuits.  CPO seems to recall kids could even be awarded a badge by the Boy Scouts for putting together collections of such artifacts.  Now though, collecting equates with looting and criminal activity, at least in some parts of academia, the press, the State Department and U.S. Law Enforcement.  Meanwhile, all of the sudden smoking dope seems not only to be legal, but all the rage, not only in places like Colorado, but even in the seat of our national government.   And with the Obama Administration signalling it will not enforce our nation's drug laws relating to the sale and distribution of marijuana,  perhaps all of those underemployed law enforcement types will be redirected to a further clamp down on collecting any artifacts claimed to be the property of foreign governments under their own laws (even where they make little, if any, effort to enforce those laws at home).  The Boy Scouts should be horrified.  But come to think of it,  they are "out" too, aren't they?

Wayne Sayles and the Thrill of Discovery

Wayne Sayles speaks about coin collecting and the thrill of discovery it has brought him and other collectors.  But Wayne is no ordinary collector.  In addition to writing extensively on numismatics, Wayne started a magazine for ancient coin collectors, and founded the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild, an advocacy group for the interests of collectors and the small businesses of the numismatic trade.  The preservation, study and conservation of ancient coins has become Wayne's life's work after many years serving our country in the military. Wayne has always been about sharing such knowledge with anyone and everyone with an interest in history.   And that's what is should be all about.

Snobbery Behind Anti-Collector Rhetoric?

After reading archaeo-blogger Paul Barford's latest screed against numismatics, CPO has to wonder if the anti-collector bias of some archaeologists is motivated largely by academic snobbery.  But in an era where popular culture cares more about the Kardashians than the classics, we should celebrate pastimes like ancient coin collecting and not dismiss it out of hand.  Coin dealers like Italo Vecchi and collectors like Arthur Houghton have spent years producing magnificent studies of ancient coins that help keep the cultures that produced them alive.  And really, what's wrong with that?

Keeping Interest in Ancient Coins and Culture Alive

The Ancient Numismatic Society of Washington, DC has been active since the 1960's.    Here are PowerPoints of just some of the talks given at recent meetings.  I've learned a lot over the years and have enjoyed friendships with  club members from all walks of life.  Coin clubs like the ANSWDC help keep interest in ancient coins and culture alive in an era where the study and appreciation of ancient cultures is on the wane.