Yahoo AncientArtifacts Sell Civil War (Grave?) Finds?

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I have previously remarked that in much of the US-based discussion of "collectors' rights" there is a marked lack of reference to the "rights" of those collecting material coming from the soil of the United States itself, it is all about Americans' "rights" to collect objects looted from foreign soil. In contrast to that general tendency, I see that today, over on Yahoo's closed access "AncientArtifacts" forum they now consider uniform pieces from the American Civil war as collectable "antiquities" worthy of being bought and sold behind closed doors through the medium of the facility provided for them by the Yahoo corporation.

Dealer 'Relicslover' is currently advertising there (message #56192) :

A complete pair of excavated shoulder scales or epaulettes recovered 1990 in Williamsburg, VA. Typically, when excavated shoulder scales are recovered they are either in pieces or missingparts, in this case, this is a complete solid set. This set includes their brass back strap,brass holders, and brass locking devices. This very handsome and complete pair will enhance anyexcavated uniform accoutrement or general relic collection. Their deep glass top display case isincluded.

A steal at 250 green ones. No doubt relic collectors will be asking him where precisely in "Williamsburg" (the site of a major battle in May 1862) these objects come from. Interestingly what seem to be the same set of items have been offered on several other artefact collecting forums, but the posts for some reason were deleted and can only be read in cache form. So we saw last week Armchair General: Shoulder Scales - Complete Excavated Set (thread no longer exists) and RelicsWorld.com VIRGINIA CIVIL WAR RELICS civil war Relics (thread no longer exists) but the seller persists and has found a home for his advert on the "responsible" (sic) Yahoo site. Oh, and also at a very odd blog run by "Relicsworld.com", Indian Artifacts a hochpotch of cut-and-paste bits about state laws interspersed with items for sale (none of the adverts of which make any reference to the legislation). Is "RelicsWorld.Com" the same as Yahoo list dealer "Relicslover"?

The responsible collector of "antiquities" such as these might well consider where one would obtain a pair of such items in dug-up condition with all their mountings in situ and traces of uniform cloth apparently preserved in the corrosion products. The most obvious suggestion (and we note the absence of any specific information to the contrary up-front from the seller) is that they come from the digging up of a Civil War soldier's burial. Is the general findspot correctly reported? I tried to do a websearch to see whether there was any record of an official project in the area which could have been a licit source of such items, but without success. I know some Virginia metal detectorists read this blog, maybe they could fill us in who found this and in what circumstances, and why it is up for sale on an "Ancient" Artefacts discussion list.

It remains to be seen whether Tim Haines, the "moderator" of Yahoo's closed access ancient-artefacts-for-sale list, or any of the "responsible" collectors there, will confront "Relicslover" over the precise origins of these suspicious -looking items that are no longer being advertised on the open-access online venues. But of course since it all takes place behind closed doors, we will never see to what degree this "responsibility" is promoted or exercised by the collectors on that list. Obviously though list member 'Relicslover' feels he can get away with advertising there after his other adverts were deleted by other (open access) forum owners. Will he find a safe haven on the closed access Yahoo list?

Photo: Civil War period epaulettes dug up (apparently) in Virginia, quite likely from grave-robbing and on sale no-questions-asked behind closed doors to Yahoo artefacts collectors.