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Newscaster-for-dullard-coin-collectors-unable-to-discern-when-the-wool-is-being-pulled-over-their-eyes Peter Tompa wrote a shock-horror expose for a coiney rag supported by Lanz, Gorny und Mosch und Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co.of the recent SAFE event I reported elsewhere (P. Tompa, 'U.S. Law Enforcement Accepts Award from Anti-Collector Advocacy Group' Coins Weekly). It begins as it means to go on:
Well, US ancient dugup coin collectors seem to be dullards as they routinely let this sort of thing pass without comment or challenge. Likewise they are unlikely to see through the ambiguities of the lawyer's hardly-silver-tongued discussion of the following statement:
The first is nonsense says Tompa because Kate Fitzgibbon in a book Tompa likes to quote (because he has a free copy as he has a chapter in it too) says: “Press and public statements about the antiquities market often cite estimates of a billion or more dollars per year..." who spotted the difference between "art trade" (Picasso, Warhol, Tracy Emin and Damian Hirst) and "antiquities market"? Tompa is hoping nobody did, as he builds his case on it. Well it is a shame for him that not everybody has the lack of critical facilities it takes to collect artefacts no-questions-asked...
Tompa reckons he knows better than federal government employee Senior Special Agent of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement James McAndrew, who must be mistaken when he asserts that artefact sales are one of the sources used by groups like the Taliban to support terrorism because Wikileaks only mentions antiquities "sixteen times". Well, actually the connections between antiquity sales and all sorts of unsavoury business practices really do go a little beyond what we can learn (or not) from wikileaks. It's not exactly something antuiquity dealers are going to be trumpeting from the rooftops - but then how IS it that those huge numbers of artefacts are somehow getting across those borders? Somebody has the "connections" and resources to engage in illicit activity on a huge scale with impunity. Are all these REALLY the people the majority of clients of Mr Tompa's dealer sidekicks would want to be buying artefacts from? Just think about it.
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Newscaster-for-dullard-coin-collectors-unable-to-discern-when-the-wool-is-being-pulled-over-their-eyes Peter Tompa wrote a shock-horror expose for a coiney rag supported by Lanz, Gorny und Mosch und Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co.of the recent SAFE event I reported elsewhere (P. Tompa, 'U.S. Law Enforcement Accepts Award from Anti-Collector Advocacy Group' Coins Weekly). It begins as it means to go on:
An anti-collector advocacy group has awarded two former and two current members of U.S. law enforcement honorary awards for their efforts to stamp out the illicit trade in antiquities. The group, Saving Antiquities for Everyone or SAFE, has argued that unprovenanced artifacts, including those as common as ancient coins, should be considered “stolen” from countries such as China, Cyprus, Greece and Italy.Is SAFE "anti collecting" or anti-no-questions-asked collecting and anti-looting advocacy group? I rather think it is the latter. Also I would be interested in seeing the lawyer's take on where SAFE has said that "unprovenanced artifacts, including those as common as ancient coins, should be considered “stolen” from countries such as China, Cyprus, Greece and Italy". Where, Mr Tompa? Nevertheless where do all those unprovenanced coins "surfacing" (from underground) on the market come from? Given the number of coins we know have been coming into the US from Bulgaria at least some will be stolen (no inverted commas) from Bulgarian sites, won't they? Which ones, well the dealers who sold them are unlikely to reveal that aren't they? Would there be any ACCG members among them, I wonder?
Well, US ancient dugup coin collectors seem to be dullards as they routinely let this sort of thing pass without comment or challenge. Likewise they are unlikely to see through the ambiguities of the lawyer's hardly-silver-tongued discussion of the following statement:
Senior Special Agent of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement James McAndrew, [stated], "Stolen and looted art trade sums up to almost $6 billion," and that "In many cases, the money is used to finance terrorism activities".
The first is nonsense says Tompa because Kate Fitzgibbon in a book Tompa likes to quote (because he has a free copy as he has a chapter in it too) says: “Press and public statements about the antiquities market often cite estimates of a billion or more dollars per year..." who spotted the difference between "art trade" (Picasso, Warhol, Tracy Emin and Damian Hirst) and "antiquities market"? Tompa is hoping nobody did, as he builds his case on it. Well it is a shame for him that not everybody has the lack of critical facilities it takes to collect artefacts no-questions-asked...
Tompa reckons he knows better than federal government employee Senior Special Agent of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement James McAndrew, who must be mistaken when he asserts that artefact sales are one of the sources used by groups like the Taliban to support terrorism because Wikileaks only mentions antiquities "sixteen times". Well, actually the connections between antiquity sales and all sorts of unsavoury business practices really do go a little beyond what we can learn (or not) from wikileaks. It's not exactly something antuiquity dealers are going to be trumpeting from the rooftops - but then how IS it that those huge numbers of artefacts are somehow getting across those borders? Somebody has the "connections" and resources to engage in illicit activity on a huge scale with impunity. Are all these REALLY the people the majority of clients of Mr Tompa's dealer sidekicks would want to be buying artefacts from? Just think about it.
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