A perfect example of bureaucratic ignorance - swastica on ancient coin

LANZ is about as reputable as any dealer can aspire to be. This is just downright moronic.

http://newobserveronline.com/5th-century-coin-now-hate/

 

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Ignorance, indeed.

It would be interesting to collect non-Nazi related items having swastikas on them though. I thought the Coke sign and the playing cards shown in the article were particularly cool looking.

 

Ignorance... what Paul said.

 

It's what is instilled, for lack of a better word, into the minds of many today. I saw a metal detecting video of a young couple that went digging in the woods or desert and found and old bracelet with that symbol on it and their first reaction was that they found some Nazi piece of jewelry and they were so confused as to why it was buried the way it was.. turns out it was a Native American artifact.. they used that symbol also.

 

It won't ever change. Folks don't understand it.

 

It was also widely used as a good a luck symbol. And, even in architecture.

http://coinquest.com/cgi-data/cq_ro/response_380/us_excelsior_shoe_token.jpg

Barracks at Naval Air Station North Island, Coronado CA
http://img.weburbanist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/swastika_1a.jpg

 

If you have school age kids you know that we are way through the looking class. I've thought about bringing coins in to their classes but, and I'm totally serious about this, I could run into the PC Police because an ancient coin might highlight a tyrannical society or a civil war era coin "supports" slavery, etc.

 

Hopefully they won't notice that shield nickels have "stars & bars" on them.

 

Yeah, but it was the German Ebay that pulled it. Its a tough call for Germans. If it were the US Ebay I would be outraged and morally indignant over the story, but hearing it was sold on German Ebay tempers my outrage. One day they will get over their collective guilt over WWII, but probably not yet.

I actually have a nice little collection of swastikas on ancient central asian and indian coins. I refuse to own any promoting hate from Germany, but refuse to condemn the symbol just because some idiots used it incorrectly 2000 years later. Someone could, (and has), used a cross wrong yet I will not condemn it either.

 

What's a coin like that worth??

Stuff like this is what gets me wanting to collect these things. Not only the history but because the precedent it sets. Probably won't be long before you can't find them anywhere to buy, like what they did to the confederate flag.

 

There was a Pokemon card that had to be changed when it was translated from Japanese to English because it contained this symbol.

But this is probably about the times it was used BEFORE it became an offensive symbol.

 

Gee, I must have been in a Nazi stronghold over the summer because the Buddhist monastery I was in in Taiwan has swastikas everywhere, from statues and pillars to even the fencing along paths.

 

I've never accused anyone at eBay of being terribly bright, and I'm not about to.

 

What I don't grasp is why such a coin would be canceled, when, on a daily basis, actual Third Reich coinage sells from Germany on eBay.

 

Better watch it, fellas... we all know where this school of "thought" comes from, and because of this, someone deem voicing common sense as being "political".

 

With a display of ancient coins, it would be possible bring on the PC police big time. There are not only swastikas and slavery, but folks getting speared, shot with arrows, and trampled; explicit sex acts, animals being brutalized, genocide, drunkenness, religious intolerance, racism, ... name your horror, it's celebrated on some ancient coin.

Cal

 

Hm. That ancient coin clearly isn't Nazi paraphernalia, so it does seem a little extreme to pull it. Still, as already mentioned, there remains extreme sensitivity to anything even resembling Nazism in Germany. But it's also not the coin's fault. All in all, that's a difficult case which will inspire rancor on either side of the issue.

I have also read that the Nazis appropriated the Swastika, but flipped it on its end. Most, but not all, ancient usages, including the coin shown, have the Swastika sitting flat, creating a squared shape, whereas the Nazi swastika stands on a corner, creating a diamond shape. Though a quick internet search uncovers other uses with the symbol standing on a corner as well.

My wife used to live in an apartment built in the 1910s or 1920s. The lobby floor, which looked original, had small tiles decorated with various symbols, including the swastika (standing flat and square, not tilted on a corner). It was a little disturbing, but also eye-opening since it clearly shows that the symbol carried no stigma before World War II. Too bad the Nazis ruined it.

 

I'm not surprised at the ignorance. I read an article 3 years ago from an Israeli newspaper advocating a global swastika ban. Their stance was that it doesn't matter whether the symbol has religious and cultural significance going back 5,000-6,000 years for Indians and other Asian cultures that has absolutely nothing to do with Hitler and Nazism. The writer argued that the mere fact that some westerners found it offensive, and that it was used by Hitler to oppress the Jews, was enough to impose a ban on every culture using it. Never mind that it would amount to imposing our western culture on others by force and destroying their traditions.

I've even been accused of being a NAZI in high school because I used to collect WWII stamps and other memorabilia, and I had some German stamps with Hitler and the Swastika. I showed my entire collection to some people at school and the same people I showed my collection to didn't seem to mind that I had memorabilia with Joseph Stalin on it though. I guess the fact that Stalin murdered or tortured about as many people as Hitler (and probably more) is not offensive, but the Swastika is...go figure that one. And never mind the fact that I don't believe in that ideology and was just collecting historical memorabilia from all sides of the conflict...they wanted to be outraged and found an excuse to do so.

I honestly don't care anymore. I collect ancient and medieval coinage, and I wouldn't pass on an ancient or medieval coin because of a swastika symbol, and I could care less what the PC outrage brigade has to say about it. I know why I would collect it, and it has nothing to do with NAZISM or belief in that ideology, and everything to do with history, and that is good enough for me. I honestly can't be bothered by the incessant demands that I be automatically be offended at this historical symbol or any other historical symbol regardless of it's cultural, religious, or historical context.