Metal detecting in Romania without a permit is illegal, so I would say that anyone selling bulk lots of loose Roman coins coming from "Dacia" should also state that they can supply a verifiable copy of that permit to the purchaser. Apparently not all sellers see it that way. In the UK for example "Colin Colyton" (feedback 6088) who has been an eBay member since Oct 24, 2005 has 13 remaining lots of "
20 Assorted Unchecked "as Dug" Roman Bronze Coins (low grade) found in Dacia" (27 sold). He
has other bulk lots for sale too and obviously has good contacts with the middlemen trafficking this type of material as he has been selling these coins and bulk lots for a while now.
The scale of the destruction of archaeological sites in southeastern Europe to feed Mr Colyton's little moneymaking enterprise is enormous. But I guess that does not bother him or his many clients very much. But this is colonial knowledge theft, removing these artefacts from another country's sites and reducing their usability for future archaeological research deprives prevents the citizens of those countries of their historical heritage just as surely as the looters of Benin Bronzes or the Parthenon Marbles.
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