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.  

Polish Collectors' Rights Advocate?

It was not too long ago that Poland broke free from Communism and its apparatchicks.   So its disheartening that Polish officials have apparently seized a legitimately purchased Egyptian artifact on no more than the say-so of representatives of Egypt's military dictatorship.  Oddly enough, archaeo-blogger Paul Barford is the one who has brought all this to our attention.  So, why is such arbitrary action wrong in Poland, but to be applauded on his blog when it takes place in the United States?

Polish Government Seeks to Reclaim War Trophy

The Washington Post has reported on the Polish Government's efforts to take a rare Polish WW II era  rifle  from a Polish-American gun collector.  The Poles claim the gun is Polish Government property that was stolen by the German Army.  The collector argues the gun is a war trophy.   The US Attorney's office, which initially brought a forfeiture action on behalf of Homeland Security and the Polish Government, has had a change in heart and has evidently withdrawn from the case, presumably leaving the Poles to pursue their own claim.   It will be interesting to see how serious the Polish Government is about the case now that the US taxpayer will no longer be footing the bill.   But shouldn't the US Government done an adequate investigation BEFORE seizing the weapon?  And why didn't the Polish Government ask the collector-- who is a a proud Polish-American-- if he wanted to sell or donate it to a Polish Museum?  As it is, this looks like yet another case where Homeland Security shoots first and asks questions later based on nothing more than the self-serving declarations of a foreign power.