The US based voluntary heritage organization SAFE (Saving Antiquities for Everyone) urges: Say YES to Bulgaria. The government of the Republic of Bulgaria has requested a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States of America to restrict imports of illicit archaeological and ethnological materials from Bulgaria. This request is a substantial step toward enabling the US government to help stop the looting of archaeological sites and cultural monuments in Bulgaria and the smuggling of the products to the international market.Somebody at SAFE has been very busy and produced a very clear 'advocacy' page which I'd like sympathetic readers to make as well known as possible before the 2nd November. It sets out very clearly the major issues in relation to the "section 303(a)1" issues on which the public are invited to comment. In terms of making informed comments, that puts the White Hat Guys at an advantage over coineys and the suchlike who have only been fed inflammatory lies and misleading misdirection by the dealer's paid stooges.
The SAFE page has four main sections which make it easy to understand the whole issue and why we should be concerned about it:
This text includes a bibliography of just a few of the news items that have been coming out of the country in recent years about the successes of the Bulgarian authorities in apprehending smugglers and looters, and the sort of items that have been involved.Bulgaria's cultural heritage endangered
The devastating effects of illegal excavations
Please spread the word and draw people's attention to this page and get them to submit a public comment in good time to show the world that there are more voices in America than those of greedy and self-serving takers of history.
[I doubt it will do any good, but it would be only fair to also bring this page to the attention of the coin and antiquity collectors' discussion lists so they at least have a chance to see what some of the issues are as the preservationists see them].
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