What's New at Classical Coins
Dave Welsh
February 11, 2009
It has been five months since we last sent out a newsletter about
developments at Classical Coins.
Since the last newsletter:
Many coins have been added to our online inventory
Significant developments in the Cultural Property War
Coins Added
With this issue of "What's New" listing of 43 new ancient coins to the
Classical Coins website, www.classicalcoins.com , is announced. To quickly
review these new listings, vist http://www.classicalcoins.com/new.html .
This group includes Greek silver and bronze coins, Roman Provincial coins,
and a selection of Roman Imperial issues. The majority are from the Daniel
Friedenberg and Robert Bernobich collections. A gold stater of Koson, a
drachm of the Brettian League in fine style and an attractive Syracusan
tetradrachm are included. There are several other rare and scarce coins in
this listing.
Many collectors don't seem to realize that there is much more to Classical
Coins than what appears on our New Listings and Premier Coins pages. We
encourage you to explore the entire site, where hundreds of other attractive
coins await your perusal. We have been so busy that previous listings have
not been repriced to the current market, and many bargains remain to be
found. If a coin you are searching for is not listed, that does not mean
that we don't have it. We always have a large inventory of coins and
numismatic literature not yet listed for sale, and will gladly help
customers fill want lists, or locate difficult to find coins. For
assistance, telephone us at 805-562-8619 or send an email to
ser...@classicalcoins.com .
Don't forget to visit our VCoins store, located at
http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/classicalcoins/store , where you will find a
different stock of fine ancient coins.
Readers should also be aware that we sell numismatic literature. These
listings may be found at http://www.classicalcoins.com/usedbooks.html
Readers interested in coin jewelry will find several examples of this art
form at our new Classical Creations division:
http://www.trocadero.com/stores/classicalcreations/.
The Cultural Property War
The State Department recently announced import restrictions on a wide array
of Chinese cultural artifacts, including some coins. The Chinese
restrictions specifically cover archaeological materials representing China'
s cultural heritage from the Paleolithic Period (c. 75,000 B.C.) through the
end of the Tang Period (A.D. 907) and irreplaceable monumental sculpture and
wall art at least 250 years old. The restrictions are not as extensive as
China's original request which sought restrictions on artifacts made as
recently as 1911.
Restricted artifacts must be accompanied upon entry into the US with either
a valid Chinese export certificate or certifications indicating that the
artifact in question left China before the effective date of the
restrictions, January 16, 2009.
The coin types impacted are:
Tool-shaped Coins: bronze spades, bronze knives, and cowrie shells. During
the 6th century BC, flat, simplified, and standardized cast bronze versions
of spades became China's first coins. Other coin shapes appear in bronze
including knives and cowrie shells.
Later disc-shaped coins were also cast in bronze and marked with
inscriptions. These coins have a central round or square hole.
The ACCG continues to seek information about the Chinese import restrictions
decision in its ongoing Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the State
Department. Based on materials received to date, there remains a serious
question whether China actually asked for coins to be included in the
request, or whether bureaucrats within the State Department's "Cultural
Heritage Center" added them on their own or at the behest of American
archaeologists.
The Ancient Coin Collectors Guild is the only organization actively
defending the rights of collectors against the steady and insidious
encroachment of legislation and regulations aimed at restricting and perhaps
eventually banning private collecting. This is an expensive process, both in
terms of the time donated by our volunteer staff and the funds required to
pursue legal action. I urge every reader to join the ACCG (
http://www.accg.us/ ) and to contribute generously toward this worthy cause.
You may also wish to visit my blog: http://classicalcoins.blogspot.com/ .
Much of its content relates to cultural property law.
eBay Cancels Auctions of Ancient Coins
Several German dealers returning to their business from the World Money Fair
in Berlin were surprised to find that while they were away at the show, eBay
had cancelled their ancient coin listings because of policies regarding
selling archaeological objects on eBay. One major dealer found that listings
for about 200 ancient coins had been deleted, including some which had just
been acquired from the NYINC sales and old collections.
This very well established dealer made the following angry comment:
"There is no law in Germany prohibiting selling or collecting ancient coins,
however a few police and hardline archaeologists are taking the law in their
own hands and are obviously threatening the ignorant staff of eBay with
false accusations. Goodbye eBay, because they do not protect their clients
from false accusations and give their addresses to the police, including
those of collectors all over the world. So far in Germany hundreds of houses
have been searched, many collections have been confiscated and their
rightful owners have been accused of "Hehlerei" (fencing). The Fourth Reich
has arrived and we have to defend the free market in Germany against these
self-proclaimed "Führers".
"I am very upset and very sad, because I moved to a then liberal Germany
more than ... years ago. This reminds of the predicament of our colleagues
in 1933."
A number of European countries, including the United Kingdom and Germany,
are now systematically monitoring listings on eBay (and other online auction
venues) in search of antiquities listings, including ancient coins, which do
not comply with their cultural property laws. eBay has provided full
cooperation, including identifying those who have purchased suspect items.
Such systematic monitoring of eBay has not yet begun in the US, although
authorities do investigate certain transactions that have come to their
attention.
State of The Market
Classical Coins had its best holiday season ever during 2008. So many coins
were ordered that updating our database to record these sales was not
completed until last week.
The market for US coins is slowing, and effects of the worldwide economic
crisis are now being felt. There have recently been reports that several
major dealers have lost their credit lines and are being forced to scale
back their operations.
The market for ancient coins continues to be very strong, with good table
traffic at shows and record prices at major auctions.
Dave Welsh
Classical Coins
Ian
Ian
Dave Welsh
There are a lot of nice looking coins offered in this listing, and I do
presently have a good selection of Parthian drachms available.
Best,
Dave Welsh
dwel...@cox.net
"Ian" <I...@somewhereovertherainbow.com> wrote in message
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