ACCG Dealer Defends Right to Sell Grey Market Artefacts

Dealer Dave over in California knows, it seems, very little about the European way of thinking, just about anything he does not recognise as falling into the Donald Trump Vision of Reality he labels "Marxist". For him, everything connected with resource conservation is "Marxist", especially people who write about the destination of looted artefacts and the terms which they use to do so ('Decontextualization', Ancient Coins Friday, March 04, 2016) .

It seems that Dave Welsh's "Readers Digest Abridged Dictionary of the American Language" does not contain the adjective decontextualised, and so he assumes it is term made up (yes, you guessed it, by "Marxists"). I suggest if he wishes to discuss semantics with me (apparently now "a (Marxist) English teacher"), he really needs to buy (and learn to use) a better dictionary. One that will give him a proper definition of "Marxism".

Anyhow, like most dealers, the words wash right over him and one of the founder members of the ACCG (who apparently still heads its International Affairs Committee) announces that when it comes to ancient coins imported into the US from foreign lands he is unconcerned:

I shall accordingly go on offering unprovenanced, decontextualized ancient coins to collectors 

That will be good news for his clients which no doubt include many who are equally unconcerned about where the freshly surfaced material which ACCG dealers offer actually come from. Responsible collectors however will know to seek elsewhere and question the motivation of the ACCG ("promoting free and independent collecting of ancient coins") and the dealers that support it.

Vignette: Dictionary for dullard wordsmiths.