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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Orielensis, post: 8208888, member: 96898&quot;][USER=110350]@DonnaML[/USER] , I generally agree with you but would like to reply to two of your points:</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I know this argument but don&#039;t believe it holds true. In contrast to others who expressed their opinions in this thread, I consider illegal excavations a serious problem, yet I doubt that banning the trade in antiquities is an effective instrument for addressing this problem.</p><p><br /></p><p>Compare, for example, the situation in Italy and Turkey, where such a ban is in place, to the situation in the UK, Germany, or Denmark, where the trade in antiquities as well as metal detecting are allowed within specific legal frameworks: regulations like the PAS in England apparently did more to prevent looting than the severe restrictions in Turkey and Italy. In those countries, the restrictions have simply created another profitable source of income for organized crime. Instead of establishing reasonable rules for the ancient coin market, Turkey and Italy created a black market with no rules. The vast number of recently excavated coins from these countries on the market indicates that this hasn&#039;t solved and maybe even worsened the looting issue.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Your careful wording shows your background in the legal profession, yet I would still like to emphasize the &quot;some&quot; in the last sentence of this quote. I had the pleasure of meeting and working with a number of museum curators, historians, and archivists, and most of them didn&#039;t take such a negative view on private collecting.</p><p><br /></p><p>First, most of them were aware that cataloguing, researching, storing and preserving every ancient coin and old book in a public collection is simply not feasible. As it is, history departments, museums, and libraries are mostly underfinanced and understaffed. Collaborating with private collectors can ease this situation.</p><p><br /></p><p>Secondly, curators and archivists usually know that much of the material they take care of didn&#039;t come to them directly from the source but was at some point privately owned. Many of the items in public collections only survived because of private collecting. Donations from private collections for many, especially smaller institutions are the most important way of acquiring material.</p><p><br /></p><p>Thirdly, most academics don&#039;t think it desirable to only write for and speak to other academics. Collectors, citizen archeologists, local history enthusiasts, and similar groups constitute an important audience for academic research, and they can play a crucial role in further disseminating knowledge. In times of waning public interest in history and the humanities, this is especially important.</p><p><br /></p><p>And yes, I also know of a few academics, mostly people working on &quot;theory&quot; or in some &quot;studies&quot;-field that is detached from primary sources, who are strongly opposed to private ownership of antiquities. Their arguments mostly derive from a general skepticism about private property and are tied to political beliefs that I do not share. This board is not the right place to discuss these positions, which are not related to ancient coins or the study of history per se.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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