American Numismatic Society - Ute Wartenberg Kagan, Executive Director of the American Numismatic Society, spoke about collecting coins and the conflict in Syria as part of a larger program about conflict antiquities last week. The event was sponsored by the United States Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and was hosted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on September 29th. As described by the State Department, the panel discussions "highlighted the connection between ISIL's looting and trafficking of antiquities and the financing of terrorist operations . . . and forged public-private education and advocacy campaigns about best practices for museums, collectors, and auction houses around the world." Select segments of each panel were captured on video, and the PDF remarks, presentations, and slides of many of the speakers are available on the State Department's website.
It's a terrible thing that these people are doing with these artifacts. If they aren't being destroyed they are being pillaged and used to fund ISIS and terrorism.
Yeah atleast they not destroying everything just what can't move. They don't have any issues shipping the "evil idols" to the west as long as it lines their pockets.
A while back one of our members was contacted by a supposed collector from Syria selling artifacts. I have pictures of the items that he was selling. I advised the member to contact the FBI and the Interpol office in Washington. Here's a picture of one of them.
There is nothing terribly unique about what is going on today in Syria. The same things have gone on in Southeast Asia and elsewhere in times of brutal nasty wars. Europe of the 1940's was pillaged as were many places in the First World War.
True story! I am the member that was contacted and I consulted with Echizento as a trusted friend and former member of law enforcement. Interpol and the FBI were contacted, but they seemingly did not care.
That's certainly a beautiful frieze. The scene looks very similar to a the event depicted on the standard of Ur. The ruler administering civic functions. It probably came out of Iraq originally.
I guess that there are at least two justifiable sides to every argument.
How about the Elgin Marbles? They consist in part at least, of most of the friezes recovered? (some say stolen) from the wreckage after an internal explosion of a Turkish gunpowder magazine in 1687, and subsequently donated to the British Musem by Lord Elgin in 1820. Some say that they should be returned to the Greek People, and perhaps that is the right thing to do.
So what about coins that have been sold by ISIS into the Western numismatic market? At least, if the coin collectors have them, after passing through a museum, a responsible collector can do his bit to save these numismatic items for posterity of the whole of the World's population.
I am perhaps the 30th or 40th custodian of the ancient coins in my collection. I don't really feel as if I actually own them, but I am merely the custodian of them for future generations.
Ancient Greek culture, after all, takes it's part in the development of our own current social and political systems. The ancient coins are part of that development, and are part of our heritage.
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Posted 10/08/2015 1:34 pm
