What the Dealers will not Admit About the Source of their "Minor Antiquities"

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I suggested readers might like to assess the remarks of coin dealer Sayles in the post above. Let us also remember previous attempts by coin dealers like Dave Welsh to claim that the coins that are sold on the US market do not come from archaeological sites at all. Before people accept that, I'd like them to think about some real examples of the antiquity trade in action. I'd like them to look at dealers like Empire Danny in Cordova, TN United States. I've discussed him before (here, here, here and here) , and since that time he has been busily selling off his stuff, week after week.

[Now the material obviously of Balkan origin is mixed with a much greater number of "Viking" artefacts coming from around the Gulf of Finland/Ladoga area than earlier. (He is obviously strengthening his contacts with the gentlemen from the former Soviet Union - but the question is "which gentlemen", gentlemen from St Petersburg ones?)]

So this dealer has job lots of metal detected stuff alongside the material sorted into categories such as rings (sold individually as they are most often found whole) and other collectable items.

Here's what's left over after sorting:
Metal Detector Finds - HUGE LOT OF ARTIFACTS 6701 US $119.00 ("These artifacts are guaranteed to be an authentic ground dug artifacts dating from Roman to possibly modern times, 100 to 1500 years old or older. These items are being sold UNCLEANED in "as found" condition. These items were found in the Balkans with a metal detector").
Metal Detector Finds - HUGE LOT OF ARTIFACTS 6702 $116.29 ("These artifacts are guaranteed to be an authentic ground dug artifacts dating from Roman to possibly modern times, 100 to 1500 years old or older. These items are being sold UNCLEANED in "as found" condition. These items were found in the Balkans with a metal detector. I have viewed these items under a microscope to aid in authentication") Whoopee.
Metal Detector Finds - HUGE LOT OF ARTIFACTS 6704 US $119.00
Metal Detector Finds - HUGE LOT OF ARTIFACTS 6236 US $119.00
Metal Detector Finds - HUGE LOT OF ARTIFACTS 1679 US $129.00 ("These items are being sold UNCLEANED in "as found" condition This item was found in the Balkans with a metal detector").
Metal Detector Finds - HUGE LOT OF ARTIFACTS 6237 US $119.00


Metal Detector Finds - HUGE LOT OF ARTIFACTS 6706 US $119.00 ("These items were found in the Balkans with a metal detector").


Metal Detector Finds - HUGE LOT OF ARTIFACTS 6703 US $119.00 ("These artifacts are guaranteed to be an authentic ground dug artifacts dating from Roman to possibly modern times, 100 to 1500 years old or older. These items are being sold UNCLEANED in "as found" condition. These items were found in the Balkans with a metal detector. I have viewed these items under a microscope to aid in authentication").






Here's a turn-up for the books, the detectorists even collected metal-working waste and it got sent top the US and the dealer is flogging it off: METAL DETECTOR SILVER SLAG FINDS 3976 US $99.00 though with the proviso - should a collector decide to cash it in as bullion - "This artifact is guaranteed to be an authentic ground dug artifact. This lot weighs over 125 grams. I have not had any of these items tested for silver content. I am not sure that they are all silver, in fact, odds are some of them are not. This item was found in the Balkans. I have viewed this item under a microscope to aid in authentication".

Then another category Mr Danny and his business partners have been busily sorting out from the general run of partifacts are fibulae - categorised by whether they have pins preserved (or restored?) or broken. There's a price difference:
30 UNCLEANED ANCIENT FIBULAE FIBULA WITH PINS 5155 US $599.00 ("These fibulae were found in the Balkans").
LOT of 10 Ancient ROMAN FIBULAE FIBULA 4987 US $39.00 ("This item was found with a metal detector in the Balkans").
LOT of 75 UNCLEANED ANCIENT ROMAN FIBULAE FIBULA 5122 US $279.00


LOT of 75 UNCLEANED ANCIENT ROMAN FIBULAE FIBULA 5119 US $279.00

LOT of 75 UNCLEANED ANCIENT ROMAN FIBULAE FIBULA 5117 US $279.00


LOT of 75 UNCLEANED ANCIENT ROMAN FIBULAE FIBULA 5124 US $279.00
30 UNCLEANED ANCIENT FIBULAE FIBULA WITH PINS 5154 US $599.00 ("These fibulae were found in the Balkans. These fibulae are GUARANTEED to be AUTHENTIC ANCIENT ARTIFACTS").
30 UNCLEANED ANCIENT FIBULAE FIBULA WITH PINS 5160 US $599.00
30 UNCLEANED ANCIENT FIBULAE FIBULA WITH PINS 5159 US $599.00
LOT of 75 UNCLEANED ANCIENT ROMAN FIBULAE FIBULA 5118 US $279.00
LOT of 75 UNCLEANED ANCIENT ROMAN FIBULAE FIBULA 5120 US $279.00
LOT of 75 UNCLEANED ANCIENT ROMAN FIBULAE FIBULA 5116 US $279.00

Then there are collectors of ancient weapons in the States, so the bulk material received from "Balkan" contacts has been searched to make up a:
Lot of 100 Authentic ANCIENT MEDIEVAL ARROWHEADS 5016 US $399.00

there are lots of rings on sale, usually picked out intact. Metal Detector Find - Lot of 15 "SILVER" RINGS 5392 $392.70

Or they can be sold in larger bulk lots for sorting by the purchaser: UNOPENED lot of 150 UNCLEANED ANCIENT FINGER RINGS 4832 $959.59 (note the number on the bag): The same seller has also loads of coins on sale, singly if they are nice, or bulk lots of several hundred "uncleaned". Here's something for everyone:
a lucky dip, packages of coins packed in opaque plastic bags:
250 UNOPENED UNCLEANED HIGHEST QUALITY ROMAN COINS $934.01
1000 UNOPENED UNCLEANED ANCIENT ROMAN COINS $884.80


Then some bags were opened and sorted:
500 HIGH QUALITY UNCLEANED ANCIENT ROMAN COINS 6292
US $799.00. "These coins are HIGH (middle) quality coins. I have tens of thousands of Roman coins in my store so check it out if you want a different (better) quality than these".
500 LOWER QUALITY UNCLEANED ANCIENT ROMAN COINS 4316 $294.28
474 LOWER QUALITY UNCLEANED ANCIENT ROMAN COINS 4318 $280.50

Then some individual items picked out for separate sale, such as: Authentic ANCIENT Bronze GREEK COIN AE10 OWL ? 4630 $38.38
Bronze GREEK COIN AE36 PTOLEMY II Philadelphos 5458 $126.96
6 LARGE As / Dupondius Sized Ancient Roman Coins 6690 Buy It Now" $48.23

It just goes on and on. This seller has 2526 lots of antiquities on sale today. Some of them individually, some as job lots. Obviously the latter are amenable to purchase for the purpose of sorting, cleaning and restoring to put on the market again in smaller lots. So a lot of the minor artefacts sold through internet venues probably come one way or another from precisely such assemblages of material. And where do they come from?

To my mind, this illustrates very well how the minor market in antiquities functions. A bulk lot created by the removal of metal artefacts from the topsoil (where?) on an industrial scale with metal detectors is bought, perhaps direct from source, or perhaps through middlemen (such as German or Swiss intermediaries). It is then sorted through. In some of Empire Danny's photos the objects are shown on a table with a metal grid behind. One can imagine the items spread out on the latter, hosed and then dried before sorting. Numismatic items can be picked out, different artefacts that can be sold individually too. That leaves a whole load of partifacts which are also sold in bulk lots to those who like to puzzle out what the fragments came from. I imagine there were also a lot of shapeless pieces, some of which are included in the partifact lots, I imagine many more going for scrap.
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