Smuggled Cultural Property Returned to Bulgaria from Italy

Daniel Nikolova, 'Stolen cultural artifacts returned to Bulgaria', Standart 6th Feb 2014:

A large collection of illegally trafficked historical artifacts has been seized by the Italian police while in the process of being sold, bTV reports. The collection, consisting mostly of coins and statuettes, will be returned to Bulgaria [...] The valuables were seized by Italian law enforcement agencies in cooperation with Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security (DANS). Both the Bulgarian and Italian sides underscored their satisfaction at their good joint work in the interception of trafficked culture and historical artifacts, said Dimitrov. The returned valuables will be presented at a press conference at the National Museum of History in Sofia in the coming days, he added.

Internationally famous cultural property legal specialist Peter Tompa is believed to be on a plane to Sophia at this moment. "There has been a terrible mistake", he told reporters on the tarmac before he boarded the IAPN-chartered private jet, "the Bulgarians have got the law totally wrong. These coins were not "illicit" but are openly sold in Bulgaria, I'm going to sort them out". A welcoming committee of the Bulgarian Brotherhood of Totally Legal Artefact Procurers is believed to be waiting to greet him.

 

Treasure losses at all-time high

News story

Treasure losses at all-time high 

New headline figures, published today, show that last year (2012) a shocking 998 cases of legally protected Treasure had been hoiked out of their archaeological context in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the highest level of such erosion of the archaeological heritage since statistics were first published 5 years ago.

A detailed break-down of the equivalent figures for 2011, also published today, reveals that in that year a massive 92 per cent of all these losses of such archaeological material was caused by unrestricted artefact huntingwith metal detectors, currently unregulated by any law.

Commenting on these figures, Heritage Minister Ted Fluffy said:

There’s something essentially disturbing about this trend, and my Department is worried  that each year reveals still more cases of this nature. The archaeological record of our country is a precious, but also finite and fragile resource faced with threats from all sides. Deliberately removing these items from their burial context by artefact hunters and collectors on such a massive scale prevents us from using them as archaeological evidence to help us get a fuller picture of how life was lived centuries ago. Also dealing with such finds when reported adds enormously to the financial burden on our already under-resourced heritage sector. There is simply no possibility to raise the resources to professionally investigate each findspot from which such material has been removed to the degree required, still less organize proper analysis and publication. I salute all the responsible members of society that do not yield to the temptation to exploit our nation's precious archaeological heritage in the selfish pursuit of personal entertainment and profit – they are the true heritage heroes - whose patience and unceasing support for real archaeological research do so much to help protect our nation's buried heritage.

Organisation: Department for Culture, Media & Sport

Page history: Published 31 October 2013

Topic: Arts and culture

Minister: Ted Fluffy MP

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Focus on Metal Detecting: Site-Wrecker Depth Detectors, Shh, Pretend You're not Interested

A while ago the metal detecting forums were all agog with details of the tests of the Blisstool LTC64 V3 and how powerful it seems to be. It apparently reaches depths that other machines cannot, while being cheaper than the equivalent Minelab GPX 5000 machines. Nowadays when most of the more accessible "productive" sites have been "hammered" depth has become even more of an obsession amongst detectorists, the easiest way to accumulate a personal collection or artefacts now is to get them from deeper and deeper layers of the searched site (Readers may remember that this is an issue that both this writer and heritage action have been urging that the PAS raise with policy makers, there is no sign that they actually have so). Anyhow Heritage Action have again raised the alarm about the proliferation of cheaper "depth advantage" machines ('A second open letter to the Heritage Forum'). No reaction from the heritage "professionals" but an interesting one from the metal detectorists. Over on the Detecting Wales forum the thread “Blisstool LTC64 V3 The Worlds Deepest Detector?” suddenly disappeared. It turns out that the thread had been  hidden by the site administrator and details can only be exchanged through the forum's private mail system. Just in case somebody's looking eh? Just in case somebody's looking and reach a conclusion about the way artefact hunting is going these days which detectorists would rather keep unsaid. 

Historic Discovery by the PAS, An Unknown Pope

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In their search for objects made of more precious metal, most treasure hunters tend to ignore archaeological artefacts made of lead discovered. Metal detectorist Alun Tussle from Gaer Diffymawr, Gwent was only prevented from putting a small disc of lead in his scrap pouch when he saw two faces peering out of the mud while metal detecting a Roman site in Caerleon near his home. When he got it home and washed it, he realised that it had writing on it and to find out whether he had found something valuable, he took it to his good friends, amateur historians Baran Blackheart and Callan Titwit (world-famous authors of "Britain's True History from Authentic Documents" and discoverers of the Holy Grail, grave of King Arthur and the Ark of the Covenant all within walking distance of their little town in South Wales). Realising at once the true significance of the object and where it was found, the two instructed him to take it to the Potable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) to claim his reward.

 The region's Finds Liaison Officer Fionella Sloan-Squarre says "when Mr Tussle showed me what he'd got in his trouser pocket, I was flabbergasted. It is not every day that you see such a valuable item - historically, that is. I immediately phoned my bosses in London to inform them". Mr Tussle was disappointed to learn that despite the value of the find, which is purely historical, because the find is not gold or silver nor a hoard, he is not entitled to a reward. "It's not a about the money", he smiled wryly.

What Mr Tussle had found metal detecting in the southwest corner of the walled Roman town at Caerleon is what is known as a "papal bull". It is a lead seal that was placed on documents issued by the Papal Chancellery in and sent to dignitaries of the early Church. The representations on one side of two saints show St Paul and St Peter with the inscription SPA[ul] SPE[eter]. The reverse bearing the name of the issuer is what excited Blackheart and Titwit . It bears the name of ELEVTHERIVS, followed by the numeral "I" and the title PP [pontifex].

 As Ms Sloan-Squarre explained, reliable historians such as Geoffrey of Monmouth make reference to an early mission to England sent by a Pope Eleutherus to King Lucius of Britain. William of Malmesbury records that he sent SS. Fugatius and Damianus (rather Dumianus or Duvianus) over to Britain. These missionaries baptized King Lucius and many others, and "the Britons enjoyed the light of faith in peace till the reign of Diocletian". Lucius therefore was the first Christian king in Europe.

 The problem is Bede (Hist. l. 1. c. 4) dates the mission to 167 when there was no Pope Eleutherus in Rome. The pontif in that year was Anicetus (150-167) and foreign historians say he was followed by Soter whose short pontificate was followed by that of Saint Eleuterus (Greek: Ελευθέριος), much later than the historical date of the conversion of Lucius. On these grounds, professional historians have attacked the validity of these earliest records of The True British History. Now, this new discovery rewrites history. It seems there were in fact two Popes called Eleutherius, the first of which was the one to whom Lucius had sent his embassy in 167, but he had later been written out of history in an effort to hide The True British History which made Britain the earliest Christian nation in Europe.

What is more, Blackheart and Titwit explain, the findspot shows that the Pope was sending letters to the bishops of Lucius in Caerleon, not London - so probably during the Roman occupation of the eastern parts of the Island, this small town now in Wales was the capital of all of Britain at the time.

Ms Sloan Squarre stresses that it seems once again, in partnership with the PAS, the discovery of an amateur proves the so-called "experts" totally wrong. "In a year when we’re all celebrating what it means to be British, finds like this made by amateur searchers show how they can reveal the hidden events that have shaped our past and made our great nation what we are today".

It is interesting to note that coins or medals of King Lucius were recorded by early collectors, such as one mentioned by Archbishop Usher (Antiq. Britain, c. 3, p. 22. Guthrie, Hist. of England, b. 1. ), and one by the French connoisseur Bouterue. They had been disregarded as fakes by professional historians but the discovery of the Caerleon Eletherius I bull suggests we should look at the issue of their authenticity again. The problem is nobody knows what has happened to these privately-owned items, they never made it down the ages to a public collection. No bulls of (Saint) Eleutherius II have so far been discovered, Mr Tussle is out in the fields of South Wales looking for them now.

UPDATE:
to better understand the context of this text, note that it was posted on April 1st (April Fool's Day). OK, too long and involved to be funny - better luck next year.

Photo: Potable Antiquities Scheme

US Dealer, "Diggers" is an "Educational Programme"

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Dealer Dave the Californian coin shop proprietor, commenting on an article by Keith Kloor which he found in Science Magazine, reckons the fuss about two TV programmes about Treasure hunting in the US is misplaced. Instead of being a "glamorization of looting", he thinks these programmes are

"educational television program depicting recovery of artifacts that would otherwise almost certainly perish"

(it is not explained by what mechanism archaeological evidence preserved for centuries in the ground would suddenly self-destruct in some Apocalyptic Artefactual Rapture). Welsh reckons that artefacts in the ground are necessarily "rotting" there (that does not seem to have been the case with his newest batch of coins offered with no supporting documentation on his shop's website, its not the state of preservation of the coins here that looks "rotten" to me).

On the back of his comments - which basically boil down to "they are on private property so should not be criticised for what they do there", Welsh purports to supply his readers with a translation of what he calls "Archaeologese" which he claims "deceptively masquerades as English" and is the result of a "dogmatic perspective" of archaeologists concerned about the preservation of the archaeological record. He says that the "pervasive reliance upon "doublespeak" that is undisguised propaganda" among archaeologists appals him.

So - without reference to what actually is being discussed in the article - which include the commercial aspects which Dealer Dave sidesteps of course - he offers collector-clients and other dealers his own interpretation into Simple English of the words used in Kloor's article in Science Magazine. The words he redefines include "looting", "archaeological site", "destruction of archaeological sites" and "context". Well, I'd say any of his and Science Magazine's readers would do better to look at one of many archaeology textbooks to find better, fuller (less artefactocentric) and more authoritative definitions of such terms than Dealer Dave's.

But then anyone who regards media offerings such as "Diggers" as an "educational" programme obviously lives in a world all of his own.

Focus on CCPIA: Montana Dreams of European Antiquities Free-for-All?

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Warren Esty, "Professor, Montana State University" claims

"I am the greatest expert in Montana on the scholarly use of ancient coins and I have published numerous professional articles in the most prestigious journals".

In his public comment, he informs the CPAC that his "work could not have happened" if legislation restricting the import into the US of only those coins which had been legally exported from the source country "were on the books". This would, he says, have prevented US museums and collectors "who assemble the material for study" from being able to do so.

He says that [ancient] "coins have regularly been exempt from [...] legislation because they are not uniquely valuable to cultural heritage -- in fact they were produced in many millions and most types are available by the thousands". They are available in their thousands because hundreds thousands of them have been - and are being - dug out of archaeological sites and put on the collectors' market - that being the prime reason they are recovered. The digging out of these coins destroys information from the sites and assemblages they come from which is of unique value to cultural and historical heritage - that is why laws exist to prevent this type of exploitation of the archaeological resource. Coins of course are not exempt from the legislation of any of the source countries which controls their export - such as Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria or Cyprus. The 1970 UNESCO Convention (Art. 1, [c] and [e]) allows its member states to consider coins as falling in the scope of the items protected, and to which articles 3 and 6 therefore applies. The United States is a state party of that Convention, and has been since 1983 (so probably a large part of the period Prof. Esty has been collecting coins).

Professor Esty claims:

No other country restricts its own citizens from importing these types of coins. The entire EU does not.

Well, that is not at all true, all states which are party to the 1970 UNESCO Convention, by acceding to it indicate that they consider "illicit" (Art. 3) all transactions not in accord with the principles it lays down.

What an odd view they apparently have in the mountains of Montana about us 'backward' Yuropeans. A word of warning to Prof. Esty - next time he goes to Greece not to pack his suitcases with dugup antiquities if he plans to travel from there to another EU country instead of returning to his 'anything-goes- USA'. He may end up staying in that other EU country rather longer than he'd initially been planning, because unless he has the required export paperwork, he runs the risk of being arrested by the countries he claims do not control the movement of antiquities (both ways) across their borders.

How can anyone say that within Europe there is no requirement to pay any attention to export licences for antiquities (or anything else, maybe)? The newspapers and blogs are full of mentions of people who have run into trouble with alleged infringements of this legislation through the unauthorised movement of antiquities across international borders. Ayman Dikman arrested in Munich is an obvious example, then there is the reported case of Edip Telli ("Blind Edip"). One might mention the guy apparently arrested, or not, in Bulgaria a while back in connection with some Egyptian antiquities (you know who I mean), in the same context the arrest and trial in the UK of Jonathan Tokely-Parry, still in Great Britain the hapless Malcolm Hay (we never found out what happened in this case), then we have the Macedonians reportedly arrested in Greece earlier this year, the Bulgarians reportedly arrested last year, then there were the men arrested at Heathrow over an EidMar coin (which Prof. Esty should have known about, surely).

The truth is that, although few are caught, few arrests are made (fewer arrests than there are confiscations), these laws do exist, it is illegal to import illegally exported goods of all kinds across borders within the EU. It is not at all true for a mathematician in far-off Montana to tell the CPAC that despite international cultural conventions and EU ones too there is an unlicensed antiquities free-for-all in the EU (with the implied implication that there 'should be' in the US too?). I guess there might be more than one American who thinks that "Yurope is a [single] country".

According to Prof. Esty's online bibliography, "numerous professional articles" on numismatics is 16 (mostly on the statistics of die-linkage). I wonder whether his other (more numerous) papers are based on data which he would have to admit publicly could not have been compiled if certain legislation had been "on the books" at the time he was gathering them? What would we call the kind of scholarship which obtains data from illicit sources? Now this legislation is "on the books", will Prof. Esty still be boasting about this research and his data gathering methods?

The guy sells dugup coins - including a group of barb rads "from England" I am sure it is just due to a lack of space that he does not mention the PAS numbers or details of the UK export licence he has for them ($189).
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