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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Amit Vyas, post: 8209119, member: 117268&quot;]In the debate of private vs. public ownership, one must also remember that things such as greed and corruption are universal phenomena.</p><p><br /></p><p>I remember an incident from 2015, when a new and enthusiastic numismatic officer reported a major discrepancy between the official records and the actual collection of a very prominent and prestigious state museum. Apparently, the actual number of coins in the collection had “multiplied” manifold, and many “coins” were actually lumps of metal in the shape of coins. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> There was no sign of certain coins mentioned in the official records. Official enquiries were set up with vague deadlines and the press lost interest in the matter after a few days.</p><p><br /></p><p>Also, in certain places even if poor people were to honestly turn in valuable coins they may have discovered during manual work, they may end up receiving a sound beating from the cops demanding to know about “the rest”. The find may thin considerably as it travelled down the “food chain” to the official record.</p><p><br /></p><p>Then there is the issue of access for research, which museums, etc., are supposedly expected to ease. Last year I received a frantic PM from a couple of independent researchers working on a book, asking collectors if they had and could share images of certain coins they were looking for. Apparently, they had been quoted a very high access/photography fee by a couple of prominent museums from where they were hoping to source these images.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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