British Coin Collectors a Different Breed

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After the disgraceful show from US collectors of ancient dugup coins all forming a united front to support US dugup artefact dealers in their efforts to resist regulations to curb the import of smuggled goods into the country, it is refreshing to see the reaction of an English collector to getting a prompt to take action in his inbox (Chris Brewchorne collector of British hammered coins, quoted from this evening's posts on the "English hammered" Yahoo discussion list with permission):

I imagine others have received alerts from CNG and V Coins appealing for your protestations against restrictions against US imports of antiquities from Bulgaria.

I have to say I think this for from clear-cut as an anti-numismatic move, I think the Bulgarians probably have quite a valid point. There is wholesale looting of Bulgaria's history by organized crime gangs, much to the frustration of the civic authorities such as Museums. Bulgaria is far more at risk than countries like Italy and Greece; many of its historic sites are relatively unresearched and there is a serious problem with organised crime gangs involved in illegal activities from smuggling, extortion, prostitution, arms, drugs, etc, and these are the same individuals running some of the antiquity rackets.

They have emerging tourist markets and probably a great deal to offer historically if researched and protected. I feel it needs thought before signing up to this appeal, but welcome other contributions to the debate. I've certainly seen bagged up bulk quantities of Fibulae and Roman artifacts coming from Bulgaria in bulk, if uncontrolled and run by illegal gangs, this can't be right.

Compare that with what his US counterparts are writing. Mr Brewchorne feels the appeal from dealers needs thought before signing up - while the US collectors en masse respond with a knee jerk reaction, with absolutely no thought involved. As we can all see over on the US government website, they copy-and-paste write what they are told to by the dealers' lobbyists. Mr Brewchorne's reaction to seeing "bagged up bulk quantities of Fibulae and Roman artifacts coming from Bulgaria in bulk", that "if uncontrolled and run by illegal gangs", it "can't be right". I do not think anyone who is not a collector greedy to get his hands on this sort of stuff will disagree.

He followed this up with another post which I am sure he'll not mind me quoting too:

Interestingly, I've had a couple of off-group messages which broadly echo my concern that the Bulgarian antiquity trade is quite dodgy and not in the interests of the local popul[ace], just the criminal gangs and end sellers. Seems Bulgaria is widely considered 'bandit country', and one needs to be careful who you associate with in case it rubs off.

that's a coin collector saying that, not me.

It is worth noting that on the English hammered list there is quite a refreshing approach to where the coins come from and a lot of attention paid to collecting histories of the items in members' collections. (It runs against the grain a little, but I ought to raise the question of whether the PAS outreach has had any influence on this difference of approach between British coin collectors and their US counterparts.)

Mr Brewchorne, by the way, is an accomplished potter from Dowlish Wake, Somerset. Though I am personally not a great fan of stoneware, he does makes some pretty fantastic stuff. Just look at that Chun bowl.

Vignette: Chris Brewchorne.