The "P" word! What does it mean?

What is driving this crackdown on the coin/antiquities trade in so many countries? What is broken that they're trying to "fix"? I can understand countries wanting to keep significant cultural property like a statue or a sarcophagus. But coins? It seems a bit mean-spirited.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Ah, no. For decades Israeli dealers have used their system to their advantage. Just a sales tactic.

 

I placed David Cameron there as a joke too, but maybe that joke was too British for this room.

But I hear you, if I was a well known public figure I'd want that in the provenance instead of making you sign nondisclosure. I'm sure a $30 LRB owned by Russell Crowe would fetch at least $60 or $70 with that provenance.

 

Your non disclosure agreements will not prevent those names from being sold by them with the complete provenance including your name if they see fit. It is interesting how many of the big collections have gone by initials or pseudonyms even after the collector has passed. Of course we don't necessarily know how truthful the biographies of these special sales are. We rarely read one like 'Spoiled rich kid who lost interest in coins and needs cash to pay legal bills.'

The coin I am expecting from you as I write is the 15th I've bought since 1989 when I got this $5 barb. Are coins ex Dorney and ex Smith worth more than that?

 

I thought as much. I had several Israeli dealers contact me with "great" deals on coins that were no longer going to be available, at only twice their original price. Thanks but no thanks.

 

Thank you for this article!

 

Anyone who does that to me, I won't deal with. There's already an abundance of product from other dealers.

 

Greg, I notice that you're from the "Great Land Down Under." Have you experienced any unusual export or import restrictions when purchasing or selling ancients?

 

I believe the restrictions are largely an overreaction to the looting of World Heritage Sites and museums during the early days of the Iraq War.

 

Not so far. Everything I've purchased has arrived safely and everything I've sent has arrived safely.

 

There is that, but there is also the problem of illegal excavations in many countries. Lots of archeological objects "disappear" and are sold via dubious channels, and while such laws may not really prevent this, it will sure be more difficult for a seller of illegally acquired objects to offer them later. Basically I don't have a problem with that; I already mentioned the case of the Nebra Sky Disk in a different topic. However, while this disk is unique, most of those little metal disks we collect are mass products - and legislation should take that into account.

As for Israel, I am not familiar with the situation there, but MünzenWoche/CoinsWeekly had an article about the dealers two weeks ago. Quote: "Israel's Antiquities Authority (IAA) has moved to close down several licensed dealers for failure to complete inventories required under new laws upheld by Israel's High Court in January 2016."

Christian