Labyrinth of Lies

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"Labyrinth of Lies": This seems a pretty good analogy to the no-questions-about-collecting-history part of it in which freshly dug up and smuggled finds are masked by the pretence that there is somehow a huge bulk of unprovenanced but legitimate material floating around outside public collections, and that any artefact emerging from the provenance-losing labyrinth "must be" one of them.

Samantha Sutton and the Labyrinth of Lies

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Samantha Sutton and the Labyrinth of Lies ISBN-13: 978-1402275609
by Jordan Jacobs

"Indiana Jones Meets Harriet the Spy in this action-packed adventure series. Twelve-year-old Samantha Sutton joins her uncle on his archaeological project at the ancient site of Cerro Sechin in Mexico. But when excavated areas, artifacts, and equipment are destroyed, it is up to Samantha to try and solve the mystery of who is responsible. Is it the Legend of Loco seeking revenge? Are locals looting the site? Or maybe one of Uncle Jay's jealous students? Filled with exotic atmosphere and an array of sharply drawn characters, this is an Agatha Christie mystery for tweens".

When I first heard of an archaeologist setting out to write a book for youngsters with a moral and mentioning the antiquities trade, I thought uh-oh... but I found the teaser extract a pleasant surprise, I wish the author (Berkeley, California) success. I have not read the book (yet) but am really hoping that the "labyrinth of lies" of the title refers in part to the antiquities trade. That would be a really good thing to get over to young people reading this book.

 I understand there will be at least one more book in the series on a subject even closer to my heart, I look forward to seeing that too.

UPDATE 6th Nov 2012:
Nice review here 

£31,000 Shortfall in Hoard Reward Stash

A couple of metal detectorists do not look like getting the state handout they were expecting for digging up a hoard on historic Bredon Hill last October ('£9,000 raised for coin hoard', Cotswold Journal 23rd October 2012). A year into fund-raising, a campaign to raise cash so the hoard can be displayed glittering in the local museum has raised nearly £9,000. Museums Worcestershire has to raise the £40,000 needed to acquire, conserve and display the hoard in just two months, or it will be handed back to the finders and the landowner who will have to flog it off on the open market to raise the cash they want for it. that will pleasse coin collectors immensely who are looking forward to more such windfalls as cash-strapped cultural institutions can no longer afford the luxury of financing the metal detectorists' hobby by relatively indiscriminately buying up anything that glitters.  The article goes on to say:

Donations can be made online at charitychoice.co.uk/worcestershire-hoard/ [...]

So, supporting metal detecting has now become a CHARITY in England? Whatever next? I can think of a whole load of better uses for charity money than paying for another tekkie's sunshine holiday or flashy gas-guzzling sports car, or whatever it is they spend the dosh on (another survey the fluffy bunny brigade could do - "what did you spend your treasure reward on"?).

When are we going to put a STOP to this cash-guzzling erosive abuse of the archaeological record?

[And to make matters even more interesting: "Ads by Google" right slap-bang in the middle of that page of the Cotswold Journal of all places when I looked at it was:

Gadoury coins auction
republic[an] and imperial roman coins
sale of aureus denarius sestertius [indeed, multiple examples]
auction.gadoury.com

That's in Monaco. Maybe they'll want to take the Bredon Hill Hoard coins? Not likely, from what they currently have on offer it looks like they prefer coins with no stated collecting history or provenance. I'm hoping at those prices that the several apparent 'soapies' are an artefact of the apallingly bad lighting of some of the photography].

SLAM Belatedly Decides to do the Decent Thing?

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The ever-vigilant Rick St Hilaire is reporting tonight ( SLAM Litigants Move Toward Resolving Ka Nefer Nefer Mummy Mask Case, October 24, 2012) a new and potentially significant development in the ongoing Ka Nefer-Nefer mummy mask scandal:

The St. Louis Art Museum (SLAM), the United States government, and the Republic of Egypt are in talks to settle the contest over title to the mummy mask of Ka Nefer Nefer.

At the same time the US government submitted a motion to the court a week ago requesting the suspension of the legal proceedings and announcing that "the parties believe that continued discussions will be productive and that there is a significant possibility that they will reach a resolution that would obviate the need for the appeal to continue". It is not clear at this stage whether such a settlement envisages that the mask will stay on loan at SLAM, or whether it will be taken back to Egypt. If such a settlement is reached, SLAM is to be congratulated in at last seeing its position had become wholly untenable. Too bad it took them so long, and in the process did a lot of damage to their own reputation, that of US museums generally and the city of St Louis. Let us hope this dirty little chapter will soon be closed.

Dealers in a bid to Overturn Legal Ruling that New York Salerooms MUST Reveal Consignors’ Names to Buyers.

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This one's a cracker: Roland Arkell, 'Shock ruling to reveal names of consignors', Antiques Trade Gazette 23 October 2012. You will probably not see this one on the Lobbyist's "Cultural Property Observer" tonight.

Rejecting the claim that New York's auctioneers follow common practice when preserving the anonymity of their clients, the Supreme Court said last month that a binding auction contract in the state must include the name of both buyer and seller. The shock September 19 ruling delivered by Justice Peter B. Skelos of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division was prompted by an otherwise 'routine' legal action brought by Chester, New York saleroom William J. Jenack against a buyer who declined to pay his bill [...] the case took a less orthodox route when Rabizadeh took the court's decision to appeal and argued that the auction house had lacked the proper documents to demand payment. His argument was based on the letter of the General Obligations Law, the statute covering contracts between buyers and sellers in New York, which says a legally recognised contract must include the names of both parties.

The auction house had only included the informtion that the seller was the number "428" (a number they assigned themselves which they claim is "is common practice"). The judge disagreed.

While it may be true that auction houses commonly withhold the names of consignors, this court is governed not by the practice in the trade, but by the relevant statute.... In that regard, the statute clearly and unambiguously requires that the 'name of the person on whose account the sale was made'... be provided in the memorandum."

This ruling has some pretty important wider implications for the whole no-questions-asked antiquities market. It means auction houses will no longer be able to keep the names of consignors secret. This in turn means that the old argument that the collecting history has been lost can no longer be believed by those who want to shut their eyes to freshly "surfaced" (from "underground") material, in future, the documentation would be there or the transaction would have been illegal. So, as Roland Arkell drily remarks,...

The potential effects of the ruling were not lost on Christie's, who have joined Jenack in the appeal process to have the ruling overturned. Christie's declined to comment on the matter at this stage. 

Well, after all, what could they say? The ACCG are very quiet about it too.

But of course this does not apply just to New York auction houses, does it?

Hat tip to Kyri with thanks.

Sayles: Dealing With the Devil

Wayne Sayles has a blog article  ('Candi Dunlap Arrest' October 23, 2012) mainly one feels to advertise the fact that he's spoken to a journalist writing about the Dunlap case. The main subject of his post however is that the Macedonian News Agency article mentioning the Dunlap story has some generic stock photos of coins rather than a photo of the several hundred coins the woman reportedly had in her baggage as she left the country. He calls the article "blatantly false" and attributes that to the ill will of the Macedonian people. But then his accusation is based on his interpretation "the reader might naturally assume that they represent two of the coins seized from Candi Dunlap". It is not clear why he comes to that conclusion when the rest of us can see that the article in question discusses TWO separate recent cases both involving Americans. 

Sayles calls Mrs Dunlap's attempt to leave the country with a series of ancient dugup objects (256 ancient coins, two pendants and two pots) a "faux pas", but the Macdonians "malicious" and "heartless" for daring to hold her accountable for her activities. He alleges that the foreign border controls are done "in the interest of nationalist government control" (not like border controls in the US which obviously he regards as in the interest of... something else presumably). Sayles asserts that the artefacts which were seized as Dunlap tried to take them out of the country are "merely ubiquitous utilitarian objects":

The tedious claim of myopic cultural property nationalists that everything old is a precious resource does not stand up very well in the light of day [...]    It is entirely possible that Candi Dunlap is an unwitting and unfortunate victim in the ever growing cultural property war. 

No, she is a victim of an entirely arrogant approach to the laws of the country in which she was a guest. Checking the regulations about what she can take into and out of the country and do while she is there are her responsibility. That she quite clearly and irresponsibly did not do that is puttng a lot of people to a great deal of trouble.

Sayles is always among the first to criticise "corrupt" foreign governments, so I am sure he'd not really want to see the young Macedonian Post-Communist democracy applying the law one way for one person, but another for somebody else who happens to have influential people behind her. That is the very definition of a corrupt system. Dura lex sed lex, unless yermerkin?   Sayles concludes:

One would hope that justice will prevail and the tribulations already endured by Candi Dunlap will be sufficient redress for what can hardly be classified as a great crime against the people of Macedonia. 

As a dealer he contests the notion that the coins are considered of considerable value by those from whom Mrs Dunlap was intending to take them. As a dealer he sees them as worth only a few dollars apiece. But then, is everything measured in money? 

Finally in what he writes, Sayles is entirely inconsistent to the vision of the world the ACCG portrays - according to this, the US Department of State is the willing instrument of the World Conspiracy against collectors, the very den of the Devil, pandering to the whims and dictates of the Radical Archaeologists ["hisss"]. In that case, why is he not predicting that the State Department is going to stand by the principles of the "cultural property nationalism" he accuses them of supporting and do nothing to obtain the release of Cindi Dunlap? He says nothing of the kind, which suggests to me that he does not really believe the junk-arguments the ACCG puts out to rile-up dullard, gullible and receptive coin collectors.

There is of course an interesting possibility which Sayles does not mention. The archaeological sites of Macedonia are frequently heavily damaged by looting (pillage). Was the offer of a favourable reception of an application for a cultural property MOU with Macedonia on the table in order to secure this lady's homecoming? If so, it will be interesting to see how the ACCG react to that. A goodly lot of ancient coins were minted and used in ancient Macedonia.

 

Skopje Antiquity Case - Dunlap Sentenced

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The verdict in the case of an American woman who as earlier discussedon this blog was reportedly caught trying to leave Macedonia with a bunch of dugup antiquities in her luggage:

A judge in Skopje, Macedonia ruled early today that Dunlap, accused of trying to smuggle 256 coins out of that country considered historical artifacts by the government, will be released, but that she’s banned from entering Macedonia for 10 years, said Adam Buckalew, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper, R-Miss. Dunlap also must serve a two-year parole from Macedonia in the United States, Buckalew said.[...] Dunlap also must pay a small fine equivalent to about $300 in the United States, Buckalew said.

The journalist apparently does not consider that ancient coins and personal ornaments and two complete pots (grave goods?) are historical artefacts, not by small-town-US standards.

Meanwhile God is being praised on the “Prayers for Candi” Facebook page for speaking to the judge (through the Department of State) and securing this good Christian woman's release.  Neither Obama nor the use of drones were needed.

If the traveller had turned up at a US airport and ICE had found the illicitly exported coins and artefacts in her baggage, what sentence would she get?

Ruth Ingram, 'Meridian medical missionary coming home tonight after being jailed in Macedonia', Clarion Ledger, Oct 24, 2012.