Tumbleweed: Not Much Happening in CPRI

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Although their website claims 2012 has been "a busy year" for the Santa Fe based Cultural Property "Research Institute", their website in fact shows that - apart from cancelling the majority of the projects they had earlier announced they were engaged in - they've done very little recently. Very little of the promised "study of international policies to protect and preserve the world's antiquities, monuments, and archaeological sites" and absolutely nothing "to advance human knowledge for the benefit of all" as it says on the box.

Anyhow creating virtual research institutes seems to be very popular over in antiquity-land. There is now an "Ancient Numismatics Research Institute" a Missouri corporation, which claims it is:

organized for the purpose of conducting research on topics of interest to the numismatic community and offering educational and research opportunities to members of that community through in-house seminars, study groups, and guided research projects. The concept offers a range of activities heretofore unavailable to independent scholars and collectors of ancient coins. 

They are organizing seminars with groups of six to eight participants "working as a team in an interactive environment led by an experienced professional numismatist", in Gainesville, Miss, which just coincidentally happens to be where Wayne Sayles lives. This Institute is housed in an historic building at the corner of Harlin Dr and 4th street, just two blocks away from ACCG headquarters in Elm Street. This was "a former WPA Community Center built in 1935", so built quite early on in the 'Works Progress Administration' activities [WPA was a Depression era job-creation scheme operating 1935-1943]. It was promised that additional details of the seminars would be posted on the website as the Institute is developed. Mind you, it was set up over a year ago, so they are slow getting it off the ground. Nothing is said about the publication of the results of the coiney research, does the ANRI have a publication series planned? What about the origins of the material in its teaching collection, has it published its acquisition policy? I am not sure about housing ancient metal objects (or library materials) in a building without a damp course and such a high ground level on the west side.

Also dealer Alfredo De La Fe presents his coiney picture-gallery as an educational endeavour:

CoinProject.com is the first truly collaborative, non-commercial educational website that uses numismatics (study of coins) as an aid in the study of history and historic events spanning the period of time during which coinage has been produced (just under three thousand years).

and he wants money for it. He also intends to register it as a "not-for-profit 501(c3) corporation". The number of supporters this site has should give food for thought.  

Vignette: Miss Navajo was on in Santa Fe when this Google Earth photo was taken.