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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GinoLR, post: 8092956, member: 128351&quot;]Much more than just a moral issue ! Security is at stake.</p><p><br /></p><p>Let us take an example. This coin has been auctioned in January 2020 in New York City, by a major auction house. It was completely unpedigreed, not even the usual unverifiable &quot;from a North American / European / Scandinavian collection&quot;. No, nothing, nada, no mention of previous owner, of any provenance. Just &quot;A monumental discovery piece&quot; : that&#039;s the least they could say.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1406736[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>This aureus is unique. Before it surfaced on the market, nobody knew that the Palmyrenian prince Vaballathus, son of Odenathus and Zenobia, ever minted gold coins. It belongs to the same coinage as the very common debased silver antoniniani minted in Antioch with Vaballathus on the obverse and Aurelianus on the reverse. This aureus is of exactly the same style, so we can say it was minted in Antioch too. Except for some scratches, it is mint-state, thus it most probably did not circulate very far from the mint.</p><p><br /></p><p>Where in the world is such a coin likely to be found? In Antioch itself (Antakiya, Turkey) or its surroundings which include the Hatay province of Turkey and the Idleb mohafazat in Syria, controlled since 2015 by militias belonging to the al-Qaeda organization. When the coin was auctioned in New York nobody seems to have been worried or suspicious. It is understandable: in New York City who has ever heard of... how did you say? &quot;alkayda&quot;?</p><p><br /></p><p>This unique coin, a major document concerning Roman history and also the history of Syria, sold for $ 250,000.00 no questions being asked. Antiquities trafficking is, after drug and human beings trafficking, the third main funding source of international terrorism.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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