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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Valentinian, post: 2970948, member: 44316&quot;]That is a very nicely argued post. However, almost every paragraph needs a reality check.</p><p><br /></p><p>Ancient coins have value. If local governments won&#039;t pay some fraction of their value for them, they <b>will</b> make it to the black market and someone will buy them.</p><p><br /></p><p>Most hoards are <b>not</b> found on pre-existing archaeological sites. In England, where they are recorded, you can easily see this from the publications entitled &quot;Coin Hoards from Roman Britain.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Hoards that make it to the trade constitute far more publications than hoards from pre-existing archaeological digs. (Archaeologists have a deservedly bad reputation about publishing, and especially about coins.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Some may tell you there is information lost when we don&#039;t know precisely where a hoard was dug up. That sounds significant. However, I invite you to reflect on what difference that could possibly make. It may be fun to know it came from Field A instead of Field B, but that has no real bearing on anything. &quot;Provenance&quot; is much overrated. [EDIT: Except as misguided laws may require it.]</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;Stolen&quot; is a strong word which evokes human ownership being violated and adds power and urgency to the argument. It makes the problem look bad. However, is that the proper word? If a coin is found in the ground, is it stolen? From whom?</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Countries cause this problem</b> with their foolish and misguided laws. <b>It is not collectors who cause the problem</b>. There are collectors in England and good laws and no significant problem. If you really want provenance, have countries adopt the English system</p><p><br /></p><p>If the point is to get knowledge, collectors contribute more to knowledge about ancient coins than archaeologists do.</p><p><br /></p><p>Collecting gets people intensely interested in antiquity. Collectors funded and conducted almost all early archaeology.</p><p><br /></p><p>If, somehow magically, many collectors insisted on coins being documented and laws of places like Turkey and Lebanon followed and, again magically, someone actually followed them, the coins would be confiscated by the government, never to be seen again. Many are sold off by corrupt officials. (Ask yourself why no one from the West has been allowed to the the famous Reka-Devnia hoard in decades.)</p><p><br /></p><p>This post is about <b>reality</b>.</p><p><br /></p><p>Suppose all Syrian ancient coins were back in Syria. What claim does Syria have to them? Cultural affinity? No. Direct ancestry? Not really. Religion? No. They will take care of them well? No. They will publish them for the knowledge about antiquity they can add? No. A few westernized Syrians do care and would love to work with them to western academic standards, but my whole post is a reality check. Get real!</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is a summary of laws about coins in many countries &quot;It&#039;s ours!&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>The subtext is, &quot;You found them and we have no intention of doing anything with the coins beyond putting them in some basement, but <b>they belong to us </b>(because we are greedy and they have value).&quot; Long ago (twenty years?) I spoke to a Byzantine coin specialist who said he had heard there were twenty tons of Byzantine bronzes in the basement in Istanbul, but it could not be confirmed because no one from the west was allowed to see them. I wish he were wrong about this.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have participated in many published academic studies of ancient coins. They rely on images. Many studies do not even require actually seeing the coins--their images are enough. One used many images from eBay! Think about it. Where do images of coins come from? <b>Dealers and other people selling coins</b> have created many times as many images as other sources. Without collectors buying coins and dealers selling them, scholarship would be greatly hampered.</p><p><br /></p><p>I spoke with an important academic (who I will not name) who studies ancient coinage from the Indian subcontinent. When he goes there, he only visits private collectors. Why? Because museum collections in India (have stupid rules which) only allow you to request to see at most six coins a day!&nbsp; (I am not making this up!)</p><p><br /></p><p>I could go on and one, but this is response enough. When you read those arguments, be careful to think about what they really means when reality is taken into account.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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