Статья на английском. Если кто переведет литературно - респект и уважуха.
А так в качестве исключения о международной проблеме коллекционирования стринных монет:
The Global War Against Collectors of Ancient Coins
By Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek …. BY INCLUDING ANTIQUITIES WITHIN THE POLITICAL CONSTRUCTION “CULTURAL PROPERTY” NATIONALIST RETENTIONIST CULTURAL POLICIES OFTEN CLAIM ALL ANTIQUITIES FROM BENEATH, OR ON THE SOIL OF LANDS WITHIN THEIR BORDERS AS CULTURAL PROPERTY AND OF IMPORTANCE TO THEIR NATIONAL IDENTITY, AND THEIR CITIZENS’ COLLECTIVE AND INDIVIDUAL IDENTITIES.[1]
THERE IS A GLOBAL WAR against ancient coin collectors. Like so many wars in history, it is largely based on lies.
Rampant looting of archaeological sites around the world has created tragic gaps in our knowledge of human history. But the role of coins in this tragedy is routinely exaggerated to advance the political agendas of those who seek to define all ancient coins outside state control as “stolen property” and to criminalize the private ownership of antiquities.
Collectible antiquities include statues and figurines, weapons and armor, metal, glass and ceramic vessels, panels of sculptured stone, mosaics, painted frescoes, jewelry and many other kinds of artifacts[2]. Ancient coins represent a small and by no means the most valuable fraction of the global antiquities market.
Coins differ from most antiquities in two important respects: they were mass-produced, and they were meant to circulate. Because coins were mass-produced, thousands or even millions of very similar examples exist[3]. Between 330 and 323 BCE, Alexander the Great captured 180,000 talents of silver from the Persian Empire. That would make 270 million tetradrachms (a standard trade coin of about 17 grams.) Most were eventually melted down and recycled. Many others were lost, and millions remain buried, but today many reside in public and private collections both great and small. And since coins were a medium of exchange, they are often found far from their points of origin, sometimes thousands of miles away.
Ancient coin collecting has a long, honorable and scholarly history that stretches back to the Renaissance. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams collected ancient coins. The impending destruction of this hobby is merely collateral damage in a larger struggle pitting collectors, museums and the antiquities trade against academic archaeologists and powerful “cultural patrimony” bureaucrats, whose job security depends on stirring up public outrage over “looting”.
The archaeological lobby and its political allies wants you to believe that collecting ancient coins funds the tomb raiders and professional looters who destroy ancient sites. But collectible coins are seldom found in tombs, and rarely encountered on archaeological sites. Most ancient coins that reach the market are found in hoards. There were no banks in the ancient world; if you wanted to keep your money safe in times of unrest, you buried it in a pot, generally well away from buildings. If no one ever came back to reclaim it, it’s still there.
The 1970 UNESCO Convention
By Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek ….
BY INCLUDING ANTIQUITIES WITHIN THE POLITICAL CONSTRUCTION “CULTURAL PROPERTY” NATIONALIST RETENTIONIST CULTURAL POLICIES OFTEN CLAIM ALL ANTIQUITIES FROM BENEATH, OR ON THE SOIL OF LANDS WITHIN THEIR BORDERS AS CULTURAL PROPERTY AND OF IMPORTANCE TO THEIR NATIONAL IDENTITY, AND THEIR CITIZENS’ COLLECTIVE AND INDIVIDUAL IDENTITIES.[1]
THERE IS A GLOBAL WAR against ancient coin collectors. Like so many wars in history, it is largely based on lies.
Rampant looting of archaeological sites around the world has created tragic gaps in our knowledge of human history. But the role of coins in this tragedy is routinely exaggerated to advance the political agendas of those who seek to define all ancient coins outside state control as “stolen property” and to criminalize the private ownership of antiquities.
Collectible antiquities include statues and figurines, weapons and armor, metal, glass and ceramic vessels, panels of sculptured stone, mosaics, painted frescoes, jewelry and many other kinds of artifacts[2]. Ancient coins represent a small and by no means the most valuable fraction of the global antiquities market.
Coins differ from most antiquities in two important respects: they were mass-produced, and they were meant to circulate. Because coins were mass-produced, thousands or even millions of very similar examples exist[3]. Between 330 and 323 BCE, Alexander the Great captured 180,000 talents of silver from the Persian Empire. That would make 270 million tetradrachms (a standard trade coin of about 17 grams.) Most were eventually melted down and recycled. Many others were lost, and millions remain buried, but today many reside in public and private collections both great and small. And since coins were a medium of exchange, they are often found far from their points of origin, sometimes thousands of miles away.
Ancient coin collecting has a long, honorable and scholarly history that stretches back to the Renaissance. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams collected ancient coins. The impending destruction of this hobby is merely collateral damage in a larger struggle pitting collectors, museums and the antiquities trade against academic archaeologists and powerful “cultural patrimony” bureaucrats, whose job security depends on stirring up public outrage over “looting”.
The archaeological lobby and its political allies wants you to believe that collecting ancient coins funds the tomb raiders and professional looters who destroy ancient sites. But collectible coins are seldom found in tombs, and rarely encountered on archaeological sites. Most ancient coins that reach the market are found in hoards. There were no banks in the ancient world; if you wanted to keep your money safe in times of unrest, you buried it in a pot, generally well away from buildings. If no one ever came back to reclaim it, it’s still there.
The 1970 UNESCO Convention
The Future
ancient_coins_traysEfforts to strangle the coin trade in red tape are not just an American problem. In July 2016 the German Parliament passed the new Cultural Property Protection Act (Kulturgutschutzgesetz), requiring that any antiquity offered for sale be accompanied by a valid export license from the country of origin. Germany has historically been a major player in the ancient coin trade, with many old and internationally respected auction houses. A last minute lobbying campaign by collectors secured an exemption for coins.
“[C]oins are not considered archaeological items if they are available in a great number, if they do not really add to archaeological knowledge and are not placed under protection by any EU member country as customizable individual objects[10].”
In September 2016 a new threat emerged when a bill was introduced into the U.S. Senate (S.3449) to amend the federal Stolen Property Act (originally meant to criminalize interstate car theft). Based on the widely discredited claim that ISIS is funded by looted antiquities, this “Terrorism Art and Antiquity Revenue Prevention Act of 2016” would empower Federal agencies to seize and repatriate artifacts valued at as little as $50, on the assumption that they were illegally removed from Syria or Iraq[11].
Within the boundaries of Iraq and Syria (which did not exist as nations until the 20th century) were many mints of the Persian, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sasanian, Roman, Byzantine, Crusader and Islamic eras.
Every American with even a fraction of European ancestry is almost certainly descended from people who were, at some point, citizens — or foes — of the Roman Empire. Ancient history is not just someone else’s story. It is our story, and our precious “cultural patrimony”, too[12]!