'ZZ' Dealer Brandon Leon Lets his Feelings get the Better of Him

.
[UPDATE 10.4.2012: note some fair-use photos have been removed from this post and replaced with other - nicer - ones at the request of the dealer in question] I guess if you were Brandon Leon, Jerusalem-based exporter of antiquities in bulk, you might have reason to be apprehensive about the potential effects of Israel's modified antiquity laws (April 20th) on part of  your business empire:

Old pots unlike those Mr Leon sells.
The origins of these is fully documented.

Z.Z. IMPORT / EXPORT, Ltd.
Z.Z. PRECIOUS METALS, Ltd.
Z.Z. ANTIQUITIES, Ltd.
Z.Z. ANCIENT ART, Ltd.
Z.Z. ANCIENT COINS, Ltd.
Z.Z. UNCLEANED COINS, Ltd.
Z.Z. ROMAN COINS, Ltd.
Z.Z. BYZANTINE COINS, Ltd.
Z.Z. SUGARS, Ltd.
Z.Z. COMMODITIES, Ltd.
Z.Z. DIAMONDS, Ltd.
Z.Z. Financial Security and Investment, Ltd.
Jerusalem, Los Angeles, Amsterdam

Mr Leon is oh-so-careful to let everybody know he is a God-fearing Christian (scroll down), but in his latest communication to the 'Ancient Coin Market' discussion list he seems accidentally to have let some rather un-Christian sentiments surface. This lapse in concentration might perhaps be put down to a preoccupation with the nearness of the institution of the new laws and worries that they might make it more difficult to shift this particular stock:

Better than old pots

All of our antiquities and items of ancient art are guaranteed genuine ancient for your lifetime. [...] All of our antiquities and items of ancient art come with Export Approval legal documentation from the Israel Antiquities Authority. In order to be fair to all of our clients, we honor a first-come, first-served policy.

Kindest regards,
FUCK
GOD bless you,
B. Leon

Well shalom to you too, Mr Leon.

Photos 1-3: Shocking pictures of sad piles of dugup pots in boxes used as rubbish bins and (photo 4)  loose junk coins in a tank ready for export from ZZAntiquities website. So, where precisely were they dug up? How come they'd get an export licence from the IAA?



UPDATE 10.4.2012: "Mr F-You" from Jerusalem is not happy about me showing photos of his pots and coins (please click on the links to see them anyway and ask yourself where they came from). So this is what  Z.Z. Antiquities, Ltd. wrote as a comment on my post "'ZZ' Brandon Leon Lets his Feelings get the Better...":

ATTN: BARFORD - you are violating international copyright laws!!

Hi, earlier I posted an advert of some pottery and coins we have available for export. I hope Barford reads this because he is violating copyright law by reposting our pictures!!

As to be expected Barford quickly jumped on the post and took the pictures and concocted his own SLANDEROUS version of the reason why a curse word appeared in the post. Here is Bradford's version/speculation: http://paul-barford.blogspot.com/2012/04/zz-brandon-leon-lets-his-feelings-get.h\tml

The truth is, as soon as the mistake was brought to my attention from a client, I immediately knew it was because of the extremely weird computer problems I was having with my losing control of the mouse cursor jumping and moving, and a curse word was inserted as I prepared the post!

BARFORD, YOU ARE VIOLATING COPYRIGHT LAW - THESE PICTURES ARE NOT YOURS, AND I DEMAND YOU IMMEDIATELY REMOVE THEM FROM YOUR WEB SITE ELSE MY ATTORNEYS WILL BE CONTACTING YOU WITH IMMEDIATE CEASE AND DESIST ORDER WITH EXPLANATION ABOUT

VIOLATION OF COPYRIGHT LAWS - YOU DID NOT TAKE THE PHOTOS, THEY ARE NOT YOURS, AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO POST THEM.

IF YOU DO NOT REMOVE THEM, MY ATTORNEYS WILL ALSO BE CONTACTING GOOGLE AND WE WILL SHUT DOWN YOUR BLOG.

Kindest regards,

GOD bless you,

B. Leon

Mr Leon, you seem a bit tetchy. You do not understand, you see I too have an extremely weird computer problem, I keep losing control of the mouse cursor jumping and moving and some words and pictures magically appeared on my blog from nowhere at all! Just out of nowhere. I've removed the cat hairs from the laser window on the underside of the mouse which seems to have fixed it and put some nicer pots in my post now, and a picture of what your mouse cursor probably had in mind. 


My cat is a clever beastie and says that criticising what Jerusalem dugup dealers sell is "fair use" and might even be parody. He reminds me that Google does not actually like antiquity dealers and grabby collectors, as several have already tried to close this blog down. 

But now my cat, mouse and I have your attention, where were those complete pots (was a bit of grave robbing involved there?) and the bath-full of junk coins dug up from? Were they dug up in Israel, in which case why is the IAA giving you export licences for them, or were they dug up outside Israel and simply being exported through Jerusalem? I know I have asked this question many times before, but you do seem to have problems articulating a satisfactory answer.   

Why do you throw blue string and black plastic bin liners in the boxes with the ancient artefacts? Is it some kind of charm?  

UPDATE to UPDATE: This has just gone out to collectors:

Hi, Earlier this evening we sent an e-mail, and in signature was a rude word. All evening, even now, as I type, computer has been acting very strange, with cursor moving to strange places even as I type now! I suspect that someone has broken into my computer and is playing games, and wrote that word earlier as I was preparing the e-mail. I apologize - it was not intentional.....aaaaaaaaarrrrggghh!! This is crazy!!! I can't even finish this e-mail without 30 times having to move back cursor! Whoever is doing this, GOD will pay you back!

No, he won't, God is on the side of the White Hat Guys. Confucius he say, "clean mouse tracking device, problem go away". Sadly the problems of no-questions-asked trading in antiquities are not resolved so easily as stray four-letter words.