Collector "threatened" by dealer?

 

Presumably as a result of the post he made which I discussed yesterday, a US dugup coin collector has just written to the Moneta-L ancient dugup coin collectors announcing that he has resigned from participation in the list. He claims he was "threatened" by an antiquities dealer who is one of the  Moneta-L list moderators, and that this was another of a continuing series of "heavyhanded attempts to muzzle the views of others, my own included". He says freedom of speech is necessary as there is "a lot of unexplored territory here, unexplored by anybody, about this hobby and industry". This is a shame as this particular collector was conspicuous as one of a few contributors (literally a handful) that could be counted on to say something which was far from the usual superficial yes-man stuff that is the "best" the bulk of the collectors on that list can manage. Well, the "walk over everyone" couldn't-care-less-dealers that run the list may well be happy to see this list member go, but I think if he stays away, the forum would definitely be the poorer for it. Apparently this is not the first time, and another member has also informed the group that he has been threatened by the same person. The halting of a discussion on the relationship between looting of archaeological sites and the sources of coins on the market was stopped abruptly (though in this case by a different dealer-moderator, there are four thought-police on the list).* It is sad to see an industry (I'd be loathe to call it a "profession") which represents itself as interested in the highest (?) standards of scholarship threatening somebody for expressing their views. That's another antiquity dealer I'm crossing off my Christmas card list.

The collector's website is here, and while I do not agree with everything he says there, its a wonderful site and a good source of information about what makes coin collectors tick and has some - even I would have to admit - rather nice "glomworthy coins". I hope he can be encouraged to return to Moneta-L, or better still, he could start up his own forum, run by collectors FOR collectors.

* It is interesting to note that the Moneta-L homepage warns potential members that it is a high intensity discussion list with over 1000 posts a month, this has not been true for a number of years, two to three hundred is the average now and it is interestinmg to speculate whether heavy-handed moderation quashing discussion is not at fault here.