Chicago coin dealer Harlan J. Berk is an avid supporter of the ACCG and appears to have a deep seated resentment against people who study the past through sources other than ancient coins, maybe because they ask too many questions. Whatever the reason, in a recent mail sent to the “responsible artefact collectors’ discussion list” (Yahoo’s “AncientArtifacts” run by Tim Haines) he reaches out to “Fellow Numismatists” forwarding an email from Peter Tompa containing the text also posted on his blog addressed to sawdust-for-brains collectors (the ones that cannot reason their way through the CCPIA for themselves nor unaided see the reasons why importing illegally exported coins is not what a responsible US collector would be supporting).In his covering letter to collectors, Berk warns that there is a conspiracy by an unspecified “they” to “blind side us into restrictions on Roman Imperial and Greek coins”. He says they are doing this “by using a small seemingly unimportant country like Bulgaria”. (Bulgaria however as we all know, partly by the activeness of local organized criminal groups, is by no means such an “unimportant” supplier of freshly dug up ancient coins to the global market for numismatists and ancient coin fondlers).
“Beat-the-archaeologist” Berk insists that (despite the country becoming a state party in the early 1980s of the 1970 UNESCO Convention regulating such things) the fight to keep importing illegally exported coins into the US (which is what the CCPIA combats) is “an ongoing battle” and Harlan J. Berk Ltd wanted “fellow numismatists” to be aware of “how this legislation” (sic) “can greatly effect collecting in the future”.
Vignette: Collectors being led by the nose by dealers' lobbyists again.
Thanks, Paul, as always!
ReplyDeleteStupidity reaches new levels. Is this the time where archaeologists should think about asking for bodyguards, since no one wants to get beaten? This old man is an absolute jerk. According to their website, a former "classics" student, a young Greek named Anna Hardoloupos is working for him. How can she be so desperate being part of selling her own past to the highest bidder? I wonder also how a Doctor Wolfgang Fischer-Bossert can be part of such a crazy company. He should be ashamed! He should be excluded from any scholarly meeting on coins. What sick business is this Berk guy running when he writes torrents of hatred against people he should be working with rather than against?