The belated posting on a metal detecting forum as a standalone document: of the 2010 text "The Future of the Hobby by The UKDN Team" seems to settle one matter, what Wayne Sayles actually said when he represented the Ancient Coin Collectors' (sic) Guild at the Newcastle Conference. Readers will remember that prior to the trip he and Dealer Dave cut-and-pasted together a l-o-n-g text about "cultural property internationalism" (versus export licences). I was puzzled to see that the delivery of such a contribution (basically accusing the participants of the conference, from a country with a restrictive export policy on archaeological finds older than 50 years, of being rampant "nationalists") was passed over without even a murmur on the metal detecting forums. Now we know why. According to a conference report, that is not what conference participants heard. What is reported (on page 38 of the pdf) is the following:
First of all note the shift of emphasis from the "not in it fer the munny" tekkies (Tom Redmayne and Kevin Woodward). What what the Guild's grant system is for is to help small museums purchase items for public display, not a "finder reward". Secondly, the ACCG actively condemns OTHER nations (sources of the dugup artefacts which they covet) for not having a PAS. You will however search their website from front to end and not find a single mention of them having taken any concrete steps to lobby for the setting up of a PAS-clone system in the fifty states - and this is for a good reason, they know it would not be accepted. What they are lobbying for is something else entirely (and concerns not the archaeological heritage of the US but US collectors' "rights" (sic) to get free access to whatever archaeological artefacts from other nations that they want, whether or not the items have been licitly or illicitly exported from that other country).
If this is really what Sayles flew all the way across the Atlantic to say on behalf of the members of his Guild, one might wonder what he thinks he was doing, because such a message actually misrepresents what the Guild stands for. One suspects that if he'd really told people what it is the ACCG does, he'd have been booed out of the lecture hall by responsible collectors and supporters of the PAS.
And once again, we might ask how many of those ACCG purchase grants have been paid out in the UK and for what, and what has happened to the rest of the money?
Wayne Sayles from the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (based in USA) are lobbying for a PAS type system in the US. He also showed that the Guild can give grants of up to £500 towards the finder reward for treasure coins found in the UK (pre Saxon only).
First of all note the shift of emphasis from the "not in it fer the munny" tekkies (Tom Redmayne and Kevin Woodward). What what the Guild's grant system is for is to help small museums purchase items for public display, not a "finder reward". Secondly, the ACCG actively condemns OTHER nations (sources of the dugup artefacts which they covet) for not having a PAS. You will however search their website from front to end and not find a single mention of them having taken any concrete steps to lobby for the setting up of a PAS-clone system in the fifty states - and this is for a good reason, they know it would not be accepted. What they are lobbying for is something else entirely (and concerns not the archaeological heritage of the US but US collectors' "rights" (sic) to get free access to whatever archaeological artefacts from other nations that they want, whether or not the items have been licitly or illicitly exported from that other country).
If this is really what Sayles flew all the way across the Atlantic to say on behalf of the members of his Guild, one might wonder what he thinks he was doing, because such a message actually misrepresents what the Guild stands for. One suspects that if he'd really told people what it is the ACCG does, he'd have been booed out of the lecture hall by responsible collectors and supporters of the PAS.
And once again, we might ask how many of those ACCG purchase grants have been paid out in the UK and for what, and what has happened to the rest of the money?
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