Just How Much does Numismatists' Cultural Property Lawyer Know about International Cultural Property Law?

.
Peter Tompa of Washington legal firm Bailey & Ehrenberg pllc (specialising it says in "Cultural Property Law") has been aiding a metal detectorist from the UK in a vendetta against the author of this blog by wading into the fray with his legal expertise. They thus have made a number of allegations against me concerning possible infringement of the measures laid down in the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the [...] Illicit Export, Export and transfer of Cultural Property. These allegations are false, and this is another typical example of the smear tactics employed by this milieu to avoid the real issues about the collecting and trade in dug-up archaeological finds.

It is self-evident that Tompa misinterprets the wording of the UNESCO Convention (see post below this). In order to nip the no value thresholds nonsense in the bud, I will answer more fully on this topic on what the export requirements actually are just as soon as I receive an official confirmation in English from the Japanese Embassy and representatives of the Chamber of Commerce of the correctness of my answer about the actual content of the legislation which he falsely accuses me of infringing (which I suspect Bailey & Ehrenberg pllc's Cultural Property Lawyer Tompa has not even taken the trouble to read).

Watch this space and let us see if Bailey & Ehrenberg pllc's Cultural Property Lawyer knows as much about the laws he is discussing as he should before coming out with such claims in support of the UK metal detectorists and their shenanigans.

UPDATE 13/11/10:
The correspondence I have been having about Mr Tompa's legal cautions with the Japanese embassies in two English speaking countries and the head office of Japanese Customs in Tokyo would be humorous if I was not requiring a definitive statement in English to offset serious and false accusations being put out by Mr Tompa and now repeated by others. We'll have to wait, maybe I'll try Australia. Mr Tompa, there was nothing illegal or untoward in my nor my wife's purchase of any of those prints, yes we did check at the Embassy here in Warsaw before we bought the first ones since I'd heard about an acquaintance's problems getting licence buying (modern) katana swords and exporting them, but it turns out they are a different kettle of fish.




Samurai dealing with evil little people, ink drawing unknown artist (© 2010 Auckland Art Gallery)