10-25-2006, 04:06 PM
Licensing metal detectors may well be a way, but if someone's going to rob tombs as Danno describes then they'll just use them illegally. Just look at the amount of shootings there are even with licenses being necessary for firearms.
For some reason the internet is fingered as the bad boy of all this, but there is a story I have to tell concerning the "Roman" helmet in the Toledo Museum of Art, USA. It looks just like the ones on the Columns of Trajan and MA, and like the ones in HBO's Rome series. When I saw it I almost dropped to the floor, but then saw a reference to a helmet at the museum being found to be a fake. I couldn't bear to not know so I called the museum 15 minutes ago, where I was told by a very helpful person it was indeed a fake (they're sending me the details by post).
The relevance here is that the dealer the museum bought it from was acting in good faith and had no reason to believe it was other than genuine. But even a museum and a reputable dealer got taken in by the original owner or manufacturer, and it took a metalographic/metallurgical analysis to find out.
The crooks aren't only on the internet.
For some reason the internet is fingered as the bad boy of all this, but there is a story I have to tell concerning the "Roman" helmet in the Toledo Museum of Art, USA. It looks just like the ones on the Columns of Trajan and MA, and like the ones in HBO's Rome series. When I saw it I almost dropped to the floor, but then saw a reference to a helmet at the museum being found to be a fake. I couldn't bear to not know so I called the museum 15 minutes ago, where I was told by a very helpful person it was indeed a fake (they're sending me the details by post).
The relevance here is that the dealer the museum bought it from was acting in good faith and had no reason to believe it was other than genuine. But even a museum and a reputable dealer got taken in by the original owner or manufacturer, and it took a metalographic/metallurgical analysis to find out.
The crooks aren't only on the internet.
TARBICvS/Jim Bowers
A A A DESEDO DESEDO!
A A A DESEDO DESEDO!
