Coins

Should there be restrictions on the collection of coins? AIA representative Sebastian Heath believes that import restrictions should be placed on coins. This article brought up some very valid questions: http://www.sys-con.com/node/1193005

Coins were always intended to be mobile. They were made to move from place to place and thus it is probably not unethical for collectors of today to acquire such antiquities.

Archaeologists cannot argue any loss of context or provenance. Coins were meant to move and have distinctive qualities which would help determine where they came from, much like money today. Even though most of Europe is under the EURO and money can move freely between borders, each country has put their own spin on the EURO, putting national symbols on coins and bills.

I suppose one could also argue that if ancient coins were looted from a site, it could diminish any knowledge we could gain about the economy of the site, including trade, war, and the like.

There are many websites on the Internet that sell ancient coins. While I do not believe it is wrong to collect coins, the problem is that coins can tell us SO MUCH about the past. Besides, coins are protected under UNESCO.


(i) property relating to history, including the history of science and technology and military and social history, to the life of national leaders, thinkers, scientists and artist and to events of national importance;

(ii)antiquities more than one hundred years old, such as inscriptions, coins and engraved seals;

However, the Ancient Coin Collector's Guild believe that by collecting coins, they are preserving and educating the public. They believe in the study of coins as well. They are lobbying to keep their right to collect. They do not believe in looting and believe in acquiring only legally obtained coins. So they are they in the wrong if they are following the rules and being diligent about collecting? Archaeologists seem to think so.

The fact of the matter remains that collectors fuel interest in the past. Many of them put their collections up for public display and aid in the study and research of antiquity. However, collecting fuels looting. While most collectors may be ethical when it comes to collecting, there still exists a handful of collectors that would buy from anyone and anywhere, uninterested if the object was obtained legally.

While archaeologist's may be fighting with the collectors, the ACCG has a code of ethics that makes the fighting seem irrelevant and ethical collectors should not be penalised.

ACCG Board Code of Ethics

1. Coin Collectors and Sellers will not knowingly purchase coins illegally removed from scheduled archaeological sites or stolen from museum or personal collections, and will comply with all cultural property laws of their own country.

2. Coin Collectors and Sellers will protect, preserve and share knowledge about coins in their collections.

3. Coin Sellers will not knowingly sell modern forgeries of ancient coins, and all ancient counterfeits or Renaissance type copies will be clearly identified as such.

4. Coin Sellers will disclose all known defects, including tooling, re-engraving or reconstruction of coins they sell.

5. Coin Sellers will not misrepresent the value of coins they buy or sell.