The Jerusalem Post ("Antiquities Authority begins to register private collectors") reports that while Israeli collectors of portable antiquities have been required by law to register their collections since the legislation of 2002 (I think actually this requirement also existed there before that, but stand to be corrected) this had not so far been particularly stringently enforced. At present only several hundred collectors are currently known to the state, while the number of citizens who have private antiquities collections is estimated as 100,000. In February, regulations allowing the Israel Antiquities Authority to enforce this law took effect (with a penalty of up to six months in jail and a significant fine for those who continued to ignore it).
Amir Ganor, director of the IAA's Prevention of Antiquities Theft and Supervision of Antiquities Sales Division, told The Jerusalem Post "One of the things we want to do in this operation is to help people not break the law", adding that "Maybe some of them have a specific item that is very important to archaeology and nobody knows about it, so we need to know what they have". [Do we detect the influence of the aftermath of the James Ossuary fiasco here?]
In the next few months, until December 31, the IAA hopes that collectors will come forward for registration, which can be done through the IAA's Web site or at any of their offices throughout the country. Those who report their antiquities will receive a certificate officially designating them as a collector. "Once collectors are registered, they will be asked to send a list of the artifacts in their possession, along with photographs, to the IAA. Archaeologists from the IAA will be available to help with this task if needed". They will also offer, if the collector wishes, an appraisal of the historical significance of their artifacts. Ganor made it clear that collectors would not be asked to give up any of their artifacts. "The items belong to the collector, and we are not trying to take anything from the collector," he said. The article finishes with the plea:
On his Unidroit-L forum however, Californian part-time antiquities dealer and pro-collecting activist Dave Welsh posted a manipulated version of the Jerusalem Post text under a somewhat misleading title - "IAA requires collector registration". (It is worth pointing out that it is Israeli LAW which "requires" this for public benefit, the Israel Antiquities Authority is only here the organ by which the law is put into action.) What is even more interesting is that he silently drops the final paragraph (the passage in red quoted above). It seems the attempt was being made to depict the IAA scheme as something far more sinister than it looks to in fact be. Such playing to the gallery is nothing new from the ACCG bunch though, and it seems that even the naysaying stalwarts of the Unidroit-L list have become wise to this tactic, there has been no discussion there of this 'shock-horror' presentation of what seems a very interesting move.
Amir Ganor, director of the IAA's Prevention of Antiquities Theft and Supervision of Antiquities Sales Division, told The Jerusalem Post "One of the things we want to do in this operation is to help people not break the law", adding that "Maybe some of them have a specific item that is very important to archaeology and nobody knows about it, so we need to know what they have". [Do we detect the influence of the aftermath of the James Ossuary fiasco here?]
In the next few months, until December 31, the IAA hopes that collectors will come forward for registration, which can be done through the IAA's Web site or at any of their offices throughout the country. Those who report their antiquities will receive a certificate officially designating them as a collector. "Once collectors are registered, they will be asked to send a list of the artifacts in their possession, along with photographs, to the IAA. Archaeologists from the IAA will be available to help with this task if needed". They will also offer, if the collector wishes, an appraisal of the historical significance of their artifacts. Ganor made it clear that collectors would not be asked to give up any of their artifacts. "The items belong to the collector, and we are not trying to take anything from the collector," he said. The article finishes with the plea:"We call on members of the public who hold pieces of history to assist us in gathering the archaeological information, which is part of the whole puzzle that makes up our past," Ganor said. "Without parts of the puzzle, it is difficult to know what the complete picture is exactly."This clearly is a project which is intended to be for public benefit rather than being (as I certain elements in the collecting community will no doubt be presenting it as) "another" infringement on "private property rights" by those allegedly nasty "nationalist archaeologists". The IAA recording scheme as reported seems in fact to be a partnership scheme which differs very little in intent from the Portable Antiquities Scheme of England and Wales and is certainly more collector-friendly than the corresponding legislation of Scotland or Northern Ireland.
On his Unidroit-L forum however, Californian part-time antiquities dealer and pro-collecting activist Dave Welsh posted a manipulated version of the Jerusalem Post text under a somewhat misleading title - "IAA requires collector registration". (It is worth pointing out that it is Israeli LAW which "requires" this for public benefit, the Israel Antiquities Authority is only here the organ by which the law is put into action.) What is even more interesting is that he silently drops the final paragraph (the passage in red quoted above). It seems the attempt was being made to depict the IAA scheme as something far more sinister than it looks to in fact be. Such playing to the gallery is nothing new from the ACCG bunch though, and it seems that even the naysaying stalwarts of the Unidroit-L list have become wise to this tactic, there has been no discussion there of this 'shock-horror' presentation of what seems a very interesting move.
Phot: one of Israel's most well-known private owners of a portable antiquities collection, Oded Golan.
No comments:
Post a Comment