In a press article (Gintautas Dumcius
Boston Public Library takes part in returning nearly 200 ancient Roman coins and other artifacts to government of Italy April 19, 2017) we learn that after the 'intended recipient abandoned the claim to the coins' and determining that the sender was not going to tell where they actually came from (let alone be able to provide documentation), US homeland security officials and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh handed over to the government of Italy for safekeeping in a Wednesday afternoon ceremony. The objects are those that were discussed here earlier: '
HSI Press Release Stupidity in Ohio', PACHI Friday, 31 July 2015. Looking at these coins and guessing the mintmarks from the fuzzy photo supplied, I wonder just what the likihood is that some of them were ever in Italy before. Still, since they have officially been denied entry across US borders, they cannot stay in the UK (still less go to their hapless buyer who did not assure himself before purchase of the dealer's ability to document licit provenance), nor can they be assigned to their country of origin, so passing the problem of what to do with them to Italy is as good a solution as any other.
These are the consequences of buying artefacts which a dealer has divorced from any paper trail of how they arrived on his stockroom. It's like buying a car where the chassis number has been filed off. Buyer, beware such dealers, they are nothing but trouble.
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