Coin talk on the sidewalk

Word in Manhattan is that one of the seized coins may indeed be more interesting than first realized. The present proprietor and his partner will have to make some difficult decisions. more soon ... | |

Coins from Sicily seized in New York City

It can be revealed that last week there was a raid on the New York International Numismatic Convention. Two coins were seized with a value of some 2.8 million USD. Arnold-Peter Weiss, the apparent owner of the coins, is reported to have been detained: oral reports circulating here in NYC suggest that handcuffs were applied though this has to be confirmed.

Weiss is reported to be a professor at Brown University of Medicine.

Alan Walker, co-director of the company, claims that the material was being traded legally though he does not seem to have commented on their origin. Were the coins found in Italy? Did they leave Italy legally?

This development seems to suggest that the US authorities are taking firm action over high value cultural property that originates in Italy.

| |

AIA Award: Does Looting Matter?

Photo: © Neil Salter

AIA Outstanding Public Service Award

AIA President, AIA Members, I am immensely grateful to receive this award with its emphasis on public service. Archaeology is not a private discipline, it is carried out in the public arena. And archaeologists seek to serve by valuing our shared—dare I use the word cosmopolitan?—cultural heritage whether it lies stratified and as yet unexcavated, or if it is on display in the great public—should that be encyclopedic?—museums around the world.

I can place the origins of my research to a post-lunch conversation in the rooms of the then reviews editor of Antiquity in King’s College, Cambridge. My co-researcher, Christopher Chippindale, and I were looking at images of recently surfaced Gandharan antiquities that had been photographed in St James’ Park in London. We were outraged, our attention turned to the intellectual consequences of looting, and we started work on our paper on Cycladic figures published by the American Journal of Archaeology.

Last year I moved from Swansea University to be professor of archaeological heritage at University Campus Suffolk. So will you permit me to make three very short points based on those initials?

U-Universal. The on-going fall-out from the Medici Conspiracy has shown the weaknesses of acquisition policies by so-called universal museums. Yet why has a major North American museum failed to co-operate with the Hellenic Republic of Greece over recently acquired objects identified by photographic evidence in its collection? Why has another major civic museum displayed an archaic krater that appears to come from Koreschnica in FYROM?

C-Compliance. Recent sales by a New York auction house and a New York antiquities gallery appear to have included material featured in several of the photographic archives seized by police from dealers in Switzerland and Greece. Why have the sales continued? Will dealers develop a more rigorous due diligence search prior to sales?

S-Suffolk. A set of Roman bronzes were removed from the site of Icklingham in Suffolk, to the north of where I now live. They were acquired by a major New York private collector, and subsequently included in an exhibition at Harvard. The collector has returned material to Greece and to Italy, as well as indirectly to Turkey through the good offices of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Will the present proprietor of the Icklingham bronzes, who claims to have an interest in archaeology, return them for display in their county museum?

As I close, I need to thank a small group of people: my co-researchers in particular Christopher Chippindale and Christos Tsirogiannis; my Swansea colleague Christopher Hall who drew my attention to the potential of Web 2.0; and my wife Caroline who has supported my work for over a quarter of a century.

Does Looting Matter? Yes, as it threatens the finite archaeological record, and it undermines our ability to interpret the past.

Presenting the Past in the 21st Century

I attended the session on Presenting the Past in the 21st century. The moderator introduced the session by saying that ethical issues should not be aired at the session. There was an interesting session by Michael Bennett of the Cleveland Museum of Art who showed the Apollo Sauroktonos as the object that introduces visitors to the classical part. His talk was peppered ith references to the encyclopedic museum and cosmopolitanism. The second presentation looked at Harvard and it would have been interesting to learn about the use of the orphans in the display. The third and fourth slots considered the ISAW sponsored Vani exhibition. This made the excellent point that achaeological context matters when it comes to interpretation.
| |

AIA Ceremony

Photo: © Neil Salter

I am honoured to receive the Archaeological Institute of America's Outstanding Public Service Award.

Details of the ceremony can be found here.

Looting Matters: Looking Ahead to 2012

2012 will start with the award of the Archaeological Institute of America's Outstanding Public Service Award. I hope that this will encourage a rigorous debate over compliance especially by those involved in the antiquities market.

On past records it can be expected that more objects identified from photographic archives will appear on the market. The main matter of concern is that one auction house seems to press on with sales even when objects have been spotted.

There are still several unresolved cases of cultural property from Italy. The museums include the Miho Museum, the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, and the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens. The dispute between Egypt and the St Louis Art Museum also remains unresolved.

The US Government seems to be developing a series of MOUs with other countries to restrict the movement of recently surfaced antiquities. I suspect that there will be some interesting protests from some quarters.

I hope to concentrate on more of the intellectual consequences of looting.

As always, I am grateful to readers for their support and frequent suggestions for stories.

Does Looting Matter?

Those attending the AIA Conference in Philadelphia are warmly invited to attend the Roundtable Discussion Group, "Does Looting Matter?".

Date: Saturday 7 January 2012. Time: 11.30 am - 1.00 pm. Franklin Hall

Here are some ideas for the discussion:

Why should archaeologists care about looting?

First, there are the material consequences: archaeological sites are disturbed and wrecked.

Second, there are the intellectual consequences: the loss of information that hinders the interpretation of the objects.

The last five years have seen renewed interest in the damage to the archaeological record of Italy. Well over 100 objects have been returned from North American public and private collections to the Italian state, many of them identified from photographic images seized in the Geneva Freeport. Why did high profile institutions continue to acquire recently surfaced objects in spite of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property? Are the present Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) guidelines having an impact on acquisition policies for archaeological material?

Objects identified from the Geneva Polaroids have been surfacing on the London and New York markets in recent years. How have galleries and auction houses reacted to requests to withdraw material from sale? Is there a new ethical framework for the selling objects? The investigations into the returns have raised further issues. They include the fabrication of collecting histories or “provenance”. Objects have been placed in genuine but poorly documented collections to present a believable veneer of truth.

The investigations have also raised concerns about how objects passed through the market and the role of scholars in providing attributions. The place of so-called “orphans”, or fragments from pots, have started to shed light on how these networks operated.

What are the outstanding issues? How should museums respond to claims on material in their collections? How can the due diligence process be improved and be made more rigorous? Do museums policies cover the long-term loan of archaeological material? What steps can “source” countries take to reduce looting? Would a “licit market” make a difference? What place is there for discussion using the “new media” and Web 2.0 technologies?

Join the debate!