Christie's Fouled in Web of Lies

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Christie's not only employs smarmy sarcastic types in their public relations department, but also cannot always check out the stories about the origins of the objects it sells at such a glorious profit (Martin Bailey, 'Head sold at Christie’s stolen from Libya', ArtNewspaper 31 Oct 11). According to this, the Italian buyer of a head of a women with piggy eyes has voluntarily relinquished the work because it turned out after the sale on 14 April that it had been stolen in Libya in 1990.

It was bought at auction by an Italian for £91,250 and has now been recovered in Italy by the carabinieri.[...] At the time of the sale, an archaeologist contacted Christie’s to warn that lot 261 was the head of a statue at the Sabratha Museum, west of Tripoli; it had been detached and stolen in 1990.[...] A Christie’s spokesman said: “Additional information was brought to our attention after the auction. We subsequently cancelled the sale and are assisting all relevant bodies with the return of this object.”

The provenance was given as “private collection, Switzerland, circa 1975; acquired by the present owner in Switzerland in 1988”. In other words, the recent seller claims to have owned it two years before it was stolen. So I would say Christie's would be helping with more than merely the "return" of the object to the Museum, but the investigation of the crime of its theft, where an obvious first step would be establishing where the seller got it from and why they lied about the date he acquired it.

The Italian buyer voluntarily relinquished the head and is being reimbursed by Christie’s.

and why not the seller? If the surrender was 'voluntary', why were the carabinieri involved?

David Gill reflects:

Why is Christie's appearing so frequently in such cases? Perhaps those in senior positions in the auction house should start to ask some searching questions about their department of ancient art.

Personally, I'd suggest they have a look at certain aspects of the public relations department too.

The Comedy of Errors Continues

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The Coiney webplaces are announcing glad tidings. The ACCG's 57 page appeal brief is now available for your perusal and entertainment. Ancient Coin Collectors' Guild mouthpiece dealer Dave Welsh cannot contain his excitement:

This brief is a very important document, both because of the significance of this test case, and also because it is virtually a legal textbook on the subject of the State Department's biased maladministration of the 1983 CCPIA. Peter Tompa has done a superb job in creating this masterful exposition of the law and the many complex and thorny issues involved. His expertise and wisdom have never appeared to better advantage than in this brief. Clearly, his heart was really in this effort. Perhaps its most significant virtue (apart from completeness and accuracy) is its impressive clarity and readability.

I do not share his starry-eyed adulation of either this text or its author's abilities. The arguments used here differ in no substantial manner from the sad distorted statements which Peter Tompa has been pumping out through his blog. It is therefore not a particularly "masterful" exposition of the law. There are several places where it says things which are quite simply untrue, and I hope the appeal court will pull them up on that. This brief also still misses out the one thing that would save their case if they'd stepped back and looked at it at all intelligently (which I will of course have the greatest of pleasure sharing with the ACCG, but only the minute after they have definitively lost this case with no possibility to return to it). The ACCG is just completely losing touch with reality here. I'll expand on that at length when I have more time - and am less likely to get very, very angry than today. What an utter farce! Why can't these people just accept that they cannot go on collecting illegally exported coins from any country that takes their fancy, and that they need to start looking for more legitimate sources?

Vignette: The Masks are still on in this long-running Comedy of Errors.

Numismatic News Nonsense on Bulgaria

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Mark Fox ('Bulgaria Seeks Import Restrictions', Numismatic News/Numismaster October 31, 2011) writes about the Bulgaria bilateral cultural property agreement request. I cannot say it is a very impressive summary:

Several prominent coin dealers and auction houses, including Classical Numismatic Group (CNG) and Harlan J. Berk, Ltd., have already alerted their customers about Bulgaria’s request for an MOU with the U.S. and its possible implications on the hobby if implemented. Use of this public venue to influence the outcome of the upcoming deliberations is also supported and urged by the American Numismatic Association. Without proper records tracing their chain of ownership to before the dates the MOUs were implemented, ancient Cypriot and Chinese coins, including some issues of medieval Chinese, as well as ancient coins of “Italian type,” are all subject to possible confiscation if imported into the US. In practice, it matters little if, for example, a collection of ancient Cypriot coins assembled a century ago in Germany are shipped to the U.S. If there is no paperwork to prove that they had left Cyprus before July 16, 2007, (the date the latest MOU with Cyprus went into effect), then the coins are vulnerable to seizure.

But, the CCPIA states very clearly what paperwork is needed to enable this without a hitch. Dealer Dave Welsh says it cannot be "blue crayon on the back of an envelope", but what is needed is not much more sophisticated than that. More to the point, Fox points out that:

"The area of what now is Bulgaria was home to numerous ancient peoples who struck coinage under the direction of early Greek cities (such as Apollonia Pontika, Mesambria, and Odessus), Thracian tribes (as in the Derroni and Orreski) and kings (Kotys I, Seuthes III, Lysimachus, etc.), various Roman emperors, and later by Byzantine and other medieval rulers. For many new collectors, the first ancient coins in their collections were likely unearthed in Bulgaria, whether they were coins of Lysimachus, Roman provincial issues struck for the city of Marcianopolis, Nicopolis ad Istrum, Serdica, or Philippopolis, or Roman imperial bronzes minted during the time of Constantine or later.

And it is precisely the scale of the looting and smuggling which has led to this proliferation of these coins in foreign markets which is the source of this concern. How many of them were excavated and exported in accordance with the law of the country they were dug up in? Fox admits the aim of the MOU is laudable, but "to hinder important numismatic research afforded by coin collecting is a hard pill to swallow for most". This serious research surely can be carried out on the hundreds of thousands of freshly dugup coins that have already entered the US market (or are they all useless for research purposes, if so, why?) or those that enter it from legitimate, documented sources. What other "serious research" relies on data of illegal origin?

Coineyistic Squirrelling in Bulgaria?

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There is a fragment of the text by Mark Fox ('Bulgaria Seeks Import Restrictions', Numismatic News/Numismaster October 31, 2011) about the Bulgaria bilateral cultural property agreement request discussed in the post above which deserves some attention. Fox reports that "one Bulgarian numismatist" gave him an account of "what recently happened" in Bulgaria:

This recent MOU-request of the Bulgarian government is directly linked with the new 'Antiquities Act' in Bulgaria-enforced since 10th April 2009 (published in 'State Gazette', no.19, of 13 March 2009; full text here: http://www.lex.bg/bg/laws/ldoc/2135623662- in Bulgarian, Google it). It was harshly criticized and much debated on all sides and parties; there were a couple of great public disputes; nobody liked it, but it was finally accepted by the previous government (dominated by BSP-the former communists). More recently (in July 2011) two to three minor amendments of that law were passed by the National Assembly, but in effect it is enabled un-changed, however useless and incomplete it is.

According to its regulations, everything found in the lands of modern Bulgaria dating from the Neolithic period to the early 1900s is defined as "national cultural values" equal "antiquity" belongs to the state and cannot be exported (without a special permission by the Ministry of Culture [very hard, nearly impossible to get in fact]).

But all was not darkness and gloom for collectors, one could register collections to legitimise thee ownership of the objects in them (I wrote about this at the time as I recall, this was the situation we had in Poland as a result of the 1962 cultural property law). Sadly Bulgarian collectors did not like this idea any more than western ones:

The law also obliged all collectors to declare all their possessions within a some six- to nine-month period (with an expensive and very slow bureaucratic procedure). Do you know what happened in reality? Of the some 50,000 coin collectors in this country (enlisted in the early 1990s at the numismatic clubs), only around 150-200 collections were de facto declared by this law. The rest simply vanished, buried in bank safes, hidden in the ground, etc. The owners just did not want to bother. Much of it will be exported/smuggled and will finally reach the market, no doubt.

This is supposed to be reason NOT to prevent illegally exported material into the United States? It will all be "up for grabs" to anyone willing to buy illegally exported material, and the US dealers and collectors don't want to miss out?

Fifty thousand members of "numismatic clubs" in the Bulgaria of the early 1990s before the law was changed does not equal 50 000 collectors of illegally dugup ancient coins of course.

So, rather than legitimise their collections, the unregistered Bulgarian collectors have buried their coins "in the ground"? That seems rather atavistic behaviour... Like squirrels.

Coiney: Anarchy for the USA!

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Coiney Dave Welsh moans that the CPAC is not going to listen to US coiney moans about "unfair treatment" of US collectors who want to buy illicitly exported items from Bulgaria and other "source countries". He says:

I can see no alternative to a long-term legislative campaign to repeal US accession to the 1970 UNESCO Convention. We have recently seen the clearest possible evidence that UNESCO is an organization inherently opposed to and relentlessly working to undermine essential principles and aspects of US foreign policy, notably US support for the continued existence of Israel and a secure Jewish homeland within the historical borders of ancient Palestine. It is time to send a clear and unmistakeable message to the UN and to all who seek to use that pernicious organization as a tool for promoting corrosive anti-American goals. The United States should now permanently withdraw from UNESCO, in the process denouncing and repealing US accession to all UNESCO conventions, particularly the unjustly and unfairly administered 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Cultural Property.

Yes, I am sure the US will be only too happy to withdraw from some of them. There are a lot connected with that touchy subject "educashun" and not a few on nasty radical tree-hugging "consavashun" and "prezervashun" so hated by the gas-guzzling political right in the US:

International Convention against Doping in Sport
Paris, 19 October 2005 More

Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions Paris, 20 October 2005 More

Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Paris, 17 October 2003 More

Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage Paris, 2 November 2001 More

Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region Lisbon, 11 April 1997 More

Convention on Technical and Vocational Education Paris, 10 November 1989 More

Regional Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Degrees in Higher Education in Asia and the Pacific Bangkok, 16 December 1983 More

Regional Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Certificates, Diplomas, Degrees and other Academic Qualifications in Higher Education in the African States Arusha, 5 December 1981 More

Multilateral Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation of Copyright Royalties, with model bilateral agreement and additional Protocol. Madrid, 13 December 1979 More

Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Degrees concerning Higher Education in the States belonging to the Europe Region Paris, 21 December 1979 More

Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Degrees in Higher Education in the Arab States Paris, 22 December 1978 More

Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Degrees in Higher Education in the Arab and European States Bordering on the Mediterranean Nice, 17 December 1976 More

Convention relating to the Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite Brussels, 21 May 1974 More

Regional Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Degrees in Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean Mexico City, 19 July 1974 More

Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage Paris, 16 November 1972 More

Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms against Unauthorized Duplication of their Phonograms Geneva, 29 October 1971 More

Universal Copyright Convention as revised at Paris on 24 July 1971, with Appendix Declaration relating to Article XVII and Resolution concerning Article XI Paris, 24 July 1971 -Protocol 1 -Protocol 2 More

Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat Ramsar, 2 February 1971 -Protocol, Paris, 3 December 1982 More

Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property Paris, 14 November 1970 More

Protocol Instituting a Conciliation and Good offices Commission to be Responsible for Seeking the settlement of any Disputes which may Arise between States Parties to the Convention against Discrimination in Education. Paris, 10 December 1962 More

International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations Rome, 26 October 1961 More

Convention against Discrimination in Education Paris, 14 December 1960 More

Convention concerning the International Exchange of Publications Paris, 3 December 1958 More

Convention concerning the Exchange of Official Publications and Government Documents between States Paris, 3 December 1958 More

Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict with Regulations for the Execution of the Convention The Hague, 14 May 1954 -First Protocol, The Hague 14 May 1954 -Second Protocol, The Hague, 26 March 1999 More

Universal Copyright Convention, with Appendix Declaration relating to Articles XVII and Resolution concerning Article XI Geneva, 6 September 1952 -Protocol 1 -Protocol 2 -Protocol 3 More

Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials, with Annexes A to E and Protocol annexed Florence, 17 June 1950 -Protocol, Nairobi, 26 November 1976 More

Agreement For Facilitating the International Circulation of Visual and Auditory Materials of an Educational, Scientific and Cultural character with Protocol of Signature and model form of certificate provided for in Article IV of the above-mentioned Agreement Beirut, 10 December 1948 More

UNESCO is a body which has delegates from over 170 states, yesterday those delegates voted to support a motion the US does not support. Nevertheless 107 member states do. Not "UNESCO", but the member states in UNESCO. If the US does not believe that these member states have the right to take a democratic decision and they should submit to US bully-tactics, then yes, yes the US should jolly well get out of UNESCO. it can take its pathetic sites off the World Cultural Heritage list, it can withdraw from all the above conventions. On the other hand, it could decide that it is a member of the international community and accept that other members of that international community have other opinions than those America would like to dictate.

Here is a song for all that think like Dave Welsh, Anarchy in the UK by Johnny Rotten ... (I did not link to the more topical Megadeath cover, because in my opinion it is not a patch on the original, but here it is Anarchy in the USA).



"Destroy!!"...

PS: What ARE the essential principles and aspects of US foreign policy when they are not bombing everyone or assassinating people which UNESCO "undermines"?

My Bulgarian Comment

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Having moaned about everybody else's I thought it was time to put my money where my mouth is and write my comment to the CPAC on Bulgaria and Belize. It turns out that the limit of "2000 characters" is "2000 characters and spaces" so what got sent had to be scrunched-up version of what I'd drafted earlier this morning.

So here's what I'd intended to write, it is a bit abrupt and does not mention everything I wanted to say but it will do. It did not quite come out the same way on the website either, but no matter, the coineys are sure nobody actually reads them.

I support the request from Bulgaria to do as much as possible to curb the movement of illicit antiquities across US borders by increased scrutiny of imports as per Art. 3 of the 1970 UNESCO Convention and the CCPIA.

Bulgaria’s rich archaeological heritage is seriously threatened by looters who, in defiance of antiquity preservation laws, are systematically and clandestinely stripping sites (particularly Thracian and Roman ones, as well as the Greek colonies on the coast) of collectable items many of which are destined for sale on foreign markets. US sellers for almost two decades have been openly offering „minor antiquities” stripped by metal detector and bulldozer from sites like this (and even candidly identified as such) in huge quantities. The artefacts are sold in the US in bulk-lot bags (coins) or by the kilogramme (fragments of artefacts) which are then sorted and sold on individually. A whole sector of the „minor antiquities” trade in the US and the dug-up ancient coin trade in particular, have been founded on the amount of fresh material entering the market from these sources. Despite the vehement protests of those involved in this trade and supplied by it, it is time for the US to get tough with this abuse taking place across its borders to help make international controls on the movement of illicit artefacts more effective.

Bulgaria applies the measures envisaged in the Convention to combat this looting. While it is true that the efforts of the authorities to prevent the destruction of the heritage are seriously hindered by economic, socio-demographic and political factors, this is no reason for the international community to turn its back on a plea for help. The seizure of illicitly-exported material of this type at the US borders would not only be in accord with the measures envisaged by the 1970 Convention, but the consequent investigation of those at source and destination of each instance of attempted illicit activity will obviously be of potential assistance in unravelling chains of international criminal activity.

Closer scrutiny of archaeological and ethnographic material of Bulgarian origin crossing US borders is a non-drastic means of providing this help and respecting the obligations of the USA and other states parties under the 1970 UNESCO Convention.

Well, let us sit back and see what happens.

The Belize one (apparently it is code 80f644db) was shorter but in much the same vein, without the 'criminal' theme...

Gentle reader, you have but a few hours to make your thoughts known to the CPAC.

US cuts UNESCO funding after Palestine vote

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Here's a selection of online reports of the withdrawal of US funds from UNESCO in response to the representatives of the world's governments taking a democratic vote the results of which the US does not like.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland says Monday's vote triggers a long-standing congressional restriction on funding to U.N. bodies that recognize Palestine as a state before an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is reached. Nuland says UNESCO's decision was "regrettable, premature and undermines our shared goal to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace'' between Israelis and Palestinians.She says the U.S. would refrain from making a $60 million payment it planned to make in November. But Nuland said the U.S. would maintain membership in the body.

Disgraceful.