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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;robinjojo, post: 8057628, member: 110226&quot;]I think there needs to be a distinction between coins and artifacts, especially major or significant artifacts as the Parthenon Marbles.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Coins were made with the intention of having them circulate through local, regional and distant economies.&nbsp; They were not intended to remain in one place, whereas other artifacts were created for exact locations, such as the carvings of the Parthenon.&nbsp; Because of their specificity, both in terms of location and their religious/ cultural/historical significance to ethnic, linguistic and nationalist groups, one could argue that their expropriation by imperialist powers by was nothing short of theft, even with the approval of the Ottomans, as in the case of the marbles.</p><p><br /></p><p>The conflict can be expressed in the market economy of commodification of artifacts, making them objects of monetary value, versus experiential value, that has no monetary value.&nbsp; The countries seeking to repatriate artifacts are saying &quot;These objects have cultural value&quot; or experiential value.&nbsp; The market, on the other hand, focuses on the monetary value, hence the demand for these objects.&nbsp; Of course collectors often place experiential value on the objects they collect, but the main factor behind the exportation of these objects is purely monetary, on the part of the finders, who are often poor and living in dire circumstances, the dealers who sell these objects at a profit, sometimes very substantial, to the collectors and investors who acquire them often in the hope of appreciating values.</p><p><br /></p><p>Coins are found everywhere, throughout the landscape of former antiquity.&nbsp; While there are restrictions on the legal export of coins from various countries, the whole issue of ancient coins, their discovery, their legal exportation, and provenance (or more often lack thereof) makes for muddy water.&nbsp; We have seen common ancients seized by Customs and declared great rarities, a bit of hyperbole to say the least.&nbsp; Unfortunately international relations and politics are the elephants in the room, but I do think putting ancient coins at the same level as the Parthenon marbles or other objects of historical significance is not appropriate.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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