From an ACCG dealer's "new listings". The only coins which this individual is offering among his new listings with any kind of indication where they come from are these:SP0010 Five Seleukid Chalkoi from Israel - Partly Cleaned $44.95
This lot is from a group of chalkoi [...] One fourth of this hoard were cleaned to the point where their quality could be assessed. [...] (a bit smaller than a US dime). These chalkoi were found in Samaria, north of Jerusalem, and were exported from Israel by permission of the Israel Antiquities Authority. [...] You will receive a lot of five coins chosen at random from this group, with instructions detailing how we clean coins.Wouldn't you just love to know what that says? The US dealer seems to have a bit of a problem with modern geography. The area of "Samaria north of Jerusalem" is not in Israel, it is in the West Bank. Where exactly was this "hoard" found, and how and when did it cross the border into Israel? Why, instead of sending it back to the authorities of the land where it had been dug up (rhetorical question) did the Israelis issue an export licence? Once more, archaeological material removed from archaeological assemblages in other countries is being laundered by being issued with an Israeli export licence and these items are being unquestioningly distributed as "licit" on the international market. Shame on anyone who buys laundered artefacts looted in Palestine and sold by greedy Israeli dealers to greedy US ones willing to shut their eye to the subterfuge. Who no doubt has clients equally unconcerned about the morality behind this kind of unprincipled colonial exploitation.
Vignette: Map for the geographically-disorientated Americans, from "Better Every year" - well, that's not very likely when other people snatch the cultural heritage from under their noses and flog it off in the States.
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