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<p>[QUOTE="GDJMSP, post: 7895318, member: 112"]It is a very old debate dating back hundreds of years and one where the points of view of the sides if you will, change with the times. The recent enactment of new rules and laws governing exportation of artifacts, coins specifically, in various countries around the world for example. But at the same time each side is quite similar to the other in regard to the desired outcome. </p><p><br /></p><p>Archeologist, in general, seem to think that they are the only ones who should ever even be allowed to search for things like coins from history. And while I can understand why they think this way, given the relevant evidence the coins can provide, I can't necessarily agree with them simply because of that reason alone. But at the same time I also understand that the laws of the country are what decides who can and cannot search for historical artifacts, and I believe it should be that way. </p><p><br /></p><p>Where I think think things begin to turn a shade of grey is when things are found by accident, not by grave robbers or those seeking to "loot" historical sites, but by an ordinary person who just stumbles across something and picks it up. And later, that something, let's say it's a coin or a few coins, finds its way onto the collector market - and some collector buys it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now does that make the collector a bad guy ? In my eyes it doesn't, he didn't do anything wrong, he merely bought a coin that someone was offering for sale. And he has no idea of how or where that coin was found. And nobody else does either. But, according to the point of view held by some archeologists he's a bad guy simply because he bought the coin - so he could posses it for his own collection.</p><p><br /></p><p>To me I can't see how that makes him much different than the archeologist because they want to be the ones to own the coins, to posses them. And yeah, they might say - well we're going to put them in a lab so we can study them and then in a museum. But does that make them any different than the collector ? I can't say that it really does in my eyes. And in point of fact in many cases the coins are better off in the hands of a collector than they are in the hands of some museum because quite often the collector knows more about to store them properly and take care of them than the museum does ! And history confirms this. And not just in historical times, but in recent times as well. For many museums even today do not store and protect coins the way they should be protected. And they often routinely subject the coins to harsh/improper cleaning. Something most collectors would never do.</p><p><br /></p><p>Then you have another side of the equation where museums might own coins for a while only to later sell them - to collectors. The very people they were trying to keep the coins from in the beginning. And that, that just makes me sit and shake my head in wonder because it's supposed to be alright to do that ! But it's not alright for the collectors to own them from the get go. </p><p><br /></p><p>In simplest terms you have the two sides of the debate. One side says - I want to own them because .... - and the other sides says - well I want to own them because .... . So who's right and who's wrong ? I don't know that either one is, or isn't. I merely know that they disagree on who should own them.</p><p><br /></p><p>And the law, well you can't make laws that say it's illegal to collect coins because if you did you'd have to make laws that say you can't collect anything. And doing that would open a can of worms that nobody wants to see opened because then the museums couldn't collect anything either. </p><p><br /></p><p>And that, it leaves us with why this debate is so old and why it's been going on for so long, and most probably why it always will be going on.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="GDJMSP, post: 7895318, member: 112"]It is a very old debate dating back hundreds of years and one where the points of view of the sides if you will, change with the times. The recent enactment of new rules and laws governing exportation of artifacts, coins specifically, in various countries around the world for example. But at the same time each side is quite similar to the other in regard to the desired outcome. Archeologist, in general, seem to think that they are the only ones who should ever even be allowed to search for things like coins from history. And while I can understand why they think this way, given the relevant evidence the coins can provide, I can't necessarily agree with them simply because of that reason alone. But at the same time I also understand that the laws of the country are what decides who can and cannot search for historical artifacts, and I believe it should be that way. Where I think think things begin to turn a shade of grey is when things are found by accident, not by grave robbers or those seeking to "loot" historical sites, but by an ordinary person who just stumbles across something and picks it up. And later, that something, let's say it's a coin or a few coins, finds its way onto the collector market - and some collector buys it. Now does that make the collector a bad guy ? In my eyes it doesn't, he didn't do anything wrong, he merely bought a coin that someone was offering for sale. And he has no idea of how or where that coin was found. And nobody else does either. But, according to the point of view held by some archeologists he's a bad guy simply because he bought the coin - so he could posses it for his own collection. To me I can't see how that makes him much different than the archeologist because they want to be the ones to own the coins, to posses them. And yeah, they might say - well we're going to put them in a lab so we can study them and then in a museum. But does that make them any different than the collector ? I can't say that it really does in my eyes. And in point of fact in many cases the coins are better off in the hands of a collector than they are in the hands of some museum because quite often the collector knows more about to store them properly and take care of them than the museum does ! And history confirms this. And not just in historical times, but in recent times as well. For many museums even today do not store and protect coins the way they should be protected. And they often routinely subject the coins to harsh/improper cleaning. Something most collectors would never do. Then you have another side of the equation where museums might own coins for a while only to later sell them - to collectors. The very people they were trying to keep the coins from in the beginning. And that, that just makes me sit and shake my head in wonder because it's supposed to be alright to do that ! But it's not alright for the collectors to own them from the get go. In simplest terms you have the two sides of the debate. One side says - I want to own them because .... - and the other sides says - well I want to own them because .... . So who's right and who's wrong ? I don't know that either one is, or isn't. I merely know that they disagree on who should own them. And the law, well you can't make laws that say it's illegal to collect coins because if you did you'd have to make laws that say you can't collect anything. And doing that would open a can of worms that nobody wants to see opened because then the museums couldn't collect anything either. And that, it leaves us with why this debate is so old and why it's been going on for so long, and most probably why it always will be going on.[/QUOTE]
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