I think your thinking is backwards. Society has a responsibility to make sure we don't do further damage to the historical record by making every effort to not buy recently looted items. The only "disruption" it would bring to the market is by making it more difficult to sell these items.I wish I'd thought of saying that. Yes indeed. Backward thinking is a general trait of the whole pro-collecting lobby.
A blog commenting on various aspects of the private collecting and trade in archaeological artefacts today and their effect on the archaeological record.
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Backward thinking in California
In answer to the coin selling Californian's the world-owes-me-a-living: "Society does not have the right to arbitrarily do that without making sensible provisions to ensure that the market in collectible antiquities is not thereby disrupted", collector Robyn C. ripostes:
"The only "disruption" it would bring to the market is by making it more difficult to sell these items."
ReplyDeleteExcellent!
Something we can all agree on at last!
That of course is pretty much what Mr Welsh told British archaeologists on the Britarch list was his reason for his blank refusal to comply with PAS advice not to buy possibly dodgy goods!
In essence, what he was saying was "I can't afford to be sure all my gear is fully legit guv"....
Yes you know you are in trouble when you are involved in trading artefacts and even the metal detectorists distance themselves from you....
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