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Aha. I now recommend you even more to read what is written on the site you find behind the link.
Just brief: If some idiot with a metal detector destroyed the stratigraphy of an ancient site "somewhere in Anatolia" for the few bucks your coins are worth, then, well...
Quote:I meant what counts as looting and legally obtaining is based on that particular country's laws
Yes, I understood that, and it is not really news, but it still does not relate at all to what I wrote or to what rule #4 says.
For your coins: If they come from Anatolia, then they are most certainly looted. At least in regard of the laws of Turkey, which is sort of responsible for Anatolia. As the laws of the country the items come from are those that count, well. But it still is not about those laws.
=> It is about provenance. In an archaeological context. The rule is there to help preventing the sale of such objects ("artifacts"). Coins are artifacts, too.
Christian K.
No reconstruendum => No reconstruction.
Ut desint vires, tamen est laudanda voluntas.
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AFAIK the dealer I bought them from was Lejit. He's based out of NC and I only *think* they come from Anatolia because that's where the guys excavate (or whatever. it's been 6 years since I bought them)
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Whatever. It´s not about the two coins you have there. It´s about looting.
(I have no idea what it means when a dealer is a "Lejit" ?
If you have no info about your coins, they have no provenance. It´s as simple as that.)
Also Malko Linge should get his post edited, methinks.
Christian K.
No reconstruendum => No reconstruction.
Ut desint vires, tamen est laudanda voluntas.
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Look man, I just bought them at a coin show in North Carolina when I was 12. They are real Roman, I know that, but I have no clue beyond that.
They probably come from the middle of a field or someone's backyard or something. Again, I was 12 and they just sit in a labelled case in my Coin binder.
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I do understand that. I've been a bit frazzled past few days, that's all.
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This has been discussed and it was decided this thread should be locked.
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Most coins on the market come from legitimate purchases. Many hoards, once they are detailed, photographed and die studied (if that is relevant for the type) are then dispersed into the coin collecting community if a museum doesn't want them. A recent hoard of Brutus denarii in near mint condition comes to mind. Are coins smuggled out of illegal digs? Yes, absolutely. However any legitimate dealer will not buy from those sources. In fact many dealers and collectors I know sell or donate coins to the British Museum. Many amateur coin collectors have made important discoveries in numismatics by studying the dies of coins they own. As coin collectors we have a great respect for the scientific process. Personally I only buy from dealers that stand by a code of ethics in how they acquire their coins. Even countries with strict laws allow coins out with the proper documentation (Italy). The vast majority of coin collectors are NOT destroying archaeological sites. There are BILLIONS of coins already on the market that have no archaeological value as they have been trading hands for hundreds of years. Please lets not paint all coin collectors as smugglers.
"The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones"
Antony
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It seems in the process of locking this thread I neglected to hit the lock button.
THREAD LOCKED.
