Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;red_spork, post: 6451519, member: 74282&quot;]Homeland Security is reporting the seizure and later transfer to University of Washington of a collection of coins from Afghanistan and surrounding countries here: <a href="https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/hsi-pacific-northwest-investigation-cbp-seizure-result-transfer-51-ancient-coins" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/hsi-pacific-northwest-investigation-cbp-seizure-result-transfer-51-ancient-coins" rel="nofollow">https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/hsi-pacific-northwest-investigation-cbp-seizure-result-transfer-51-ancient-coins</a></p><p><br /></p><p>The details are somewhat sparse but it appears that these were property of someone within the US who attempted to enter Canada but was turned back at the border crossing. On the return, customs stopped and searched this person and seized this collection. The collector didn&#039;t fight it, likely because the coins simply weren&#039;t worth the legal costs, and after Afghanistan refused to take them, they were given to the University of Washington. This is worrying for a few reasons: first because there is no MOU with Afghanistan and the coins were apparently already in the USA, so the actual legal basis of the seizure is somewhat dubious. Additionally, the fact that CBP apparently ascertained that these were illegally looted based on the lack of provenance and existence of bronze disease, when most low value coins have little to no provenance and plenty have bronze disease or past signs of it, is very worrying.</p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, perhaps most sickening is the fact that University of Washington accepted what is ultimately the stolen property of a US resident or citizen. The University of Washington should be ashamed of this, and I&#039;d encourage anyone who has ties to this university to raise this issue. The University needs to do the right thing and return these coins to the owner that they were stolen from, but this should also be a wake up call to all other collectors. If you&#039;re ever in a situation like this, it&#039;s worth reaching out to one of the various pro-collector groups to see if anyone is willing to take up the case, even if you don&#039;t have the resources to personally fund it.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in