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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;robinjojo, post: 8208183, member: 110226&quot;]Banning the sale of &quot;looted&quot; coins would solve nothing.&nbsp; It is as if one were to command the ocean&#039;s tide not to come ashore.&nbsp; Over the centuries, to this day, coins and artifacts have been unearthed intentionally or unintentionally, putting the findings on the market for collectors and institutions to acquire.</p><p><br /></p><p>It is part of human nature, I believe, especially in circumstances of poverty or war, or both simultaneously, to do whatever can be done to survive. If one were starving and subject to bombing and famine, and the possibility of finding coins and objects that would produce a little money is available, how could this opportunity be resisted?&nbsp; Of course, this could lead to the loss of any hoard provenance, as well as the disturbance a site with the potential loss of archeological information and objects, such as pottery shards.</p><p><br /></p><p>I am not saying that all the coins entering the market are from individuals living in these circumstances, but the fact is that coins do flow out of countries and regions where conflict prevails, such as Syria or Yemen, or where poverty is widespread, such as Gaza, Egypt and Jordan.&nbsp; Now Afghanistan is on the verge of disintegrating, can be added to the list, if it has not been there for decades.</p><p><br /></p><p>There should be preservation of archeological sites and significant artifacts - objects of major historical, cultural or artistic importance - for they do represent a global heritage.&nbsp; But coins are an animal of different stripes.&nbsp; Because of their very nature, they circulated throughout the ancient world, some more than others.&nbsp; That makes their discovery geographically disparate, often far afield from their origins.&nbsp; Attempts to restrict the flow of these coins is misdirected. It would be ideal if other countries adopted some version the UK&#039;s PAS, but in these turbulent times this is not a priority with nations and international bodies.</p><p><br /></p><p>The flow of ancients into the markets provide a means for this coin to be purchased, studied, attributed, displayed, eventually passed on to future generations, and, who knows, perhaps even a return to its country of origin somewhere down the road.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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