[MSN] Coins, Cyprus, and the Coin Dealer Lobby

[Museum Security Network Mailing list]

Cyprus, Coins, and the Coin Dealer Lobby
N. Elkins

In the past few weeks, certain members and officers of
the ancient coin dealer lobby in the United States,
“The Ancient Coin Collectors Guild” (ACCG), have
peppered internet discussion groups, their blogs, and
their website with various messages, articles, and
diatribes denouncing the recent State Department
decision and attacking the professional community. 
These acts no doubt represent their resentment of the
U.S. State Department’s recent decision to include
coins in import restrictions of ancient coins from
Cyprus.

Following a post, applauding the U.S. inclusion of
import restrictions on ancient coins from Cyprus, on
the Museum Security Network List authored by Rick St.
Hilaire, Vice President of SAFE, Dave Welsh
(UNIDROIT-L list owner and an active officer of the
ACCG) posted on the UNIDROIT-L list a ‘commentary’ on
Rick St. Hilaire’s comments. Mr. Welsh begins his
commentary:

“This message (posted to the Museum Security Network
List) highlights the conflict between the archaeology
lobby and the collecting community.  Interests of coin
collectors, championed by the Ancient Coin Collector’s
Guild, have come into direct collision with the goal
of the archaeology lobby that ancient coins shall be
treated as archaeological artifacts of significance,
whose export from nations of origin must be
prohibited, effectively ending the international trade
in ancient coins.  Many leading numismatists believe
that such a development would mean the end of
numismatics as a science.” 

Some members of the ACCG, whether consciously or of
ignorance, frequently distort, exaggerate, or even
fabricate facts in attempting to make their arguments
appear valid.  Such distortion in Dave Welsh’s
statement and throughout his commentary is likewise
present.  First of all, he refers to the “archaeology
lobby” in opposition to the “collecting community.” 
In many of Dave Welsh’s other postings on his blog and
elsewhere, he frequently embraces this verbiage.  In
point of fact, archaeologists in the United States do
not have a lobby.  The premier archaeological groups
in the United States, the Archaeological Institute of
America (AIA) and the American Schools of Oriental
Research (ASOR), are not lobbies and do not have a
registered lobby that participates in or pays for
lobbying efforts.  In fact, the only archaeological
group in the United States that has a lobbyist is the
Society for American Archaeology (SAA), which is an
organization devoted to the archaeology of the
Americas and so we may presume they have very little
interest in legislation with Cyprus.  SAFE is not a
lobby, but a non-profit advocacy group on cultural
property issues and its membership is comprised of
archaeological professionals and individuals from all
walks of life.  Therefore, Mr. Welsh’s continuous use
of the term ‘archaeology lobby’ is merely rhetorical
and bears no factual meaning.  On the other hand, Dave
Welsh never refers to his own efforts or those of the
ACCG as that of a ‘lobby’ (which is clearly stated on
the ACCG website), but rather as representing the
interests of ancient coin collectors.  In fact, Dave
Welsh is an outspoken officer of this lobby and an
ancient coin dealer.  Although the ACCG claims to
represent the interests of coin collectors, its
founder, most of its officers, all of its benefactors,
and most of its patrons are American ancient coin
dealers or auction houses (data from ACCG website). 
The real goal of the ACCG is to protect the vested
financial interests of a relatively small number of
people profiting from the trade in ancient coins, the
majority of which are procured illegally by looters
and frequently smuggled to the United States from
countries with restrictive exportation laws.  

In Mr. Welsh’s commentary, and indeed in many of his
other writings and those of others in the lobby, he
writes as if he and the ACCG were the mouthpieces for
“Numismatists.”  At one point he wrote: “No one in the
numismatic community believes that any credible
evidence has been presented to the effect that Cypriot
coins are, or have ever been, pillaged to any
significant extent.”  By ‘numismatist’ Mr. Welsh must
mean a coin collector/dealer rather than any
individual who studies coins (who are also termed
numismatists), since a great number of numismatic
scholars, including myself, wrote letters to CPAC in
support of Cyprus’ request for import restrictions. 
However, such semantic manipulation is quite common of
the ancient coin dealer lobby, the members of which
continuously attempt to paint themselves as more
responsible and ethical coin-scholars than
archaeologists, which by implication would also
include archaeologists and other professionals who are
also specialists in the study of ancient coins and who
disagree with the ideological tenants of the ancient
coin dealer lobby.

Dave Welsh also asserts: “Numismatics is a much older
science than archaeology, which has made many
important contributions to the historical record and
whose teachings (to which archaeology has contributed
very little) are used by archaeologists as a
stratigraphic dating tool.  It is ironic that this
venerable and beneficial field of study is now
threatened by a discipline that could hardly be said
to exist until the twentieth century, and really began
to take shape only after the end of WWII.  There are
very few (if any) archaeologists who have any
knowledge of numismatics, its accomplishments or its
importance.”

This statement demonstrates either Mr. Welsh’s
ignorance in the subject of serious numismatic
research or his brazen willingness to make false
statements.  In addition to pretending as if
‘collecting coins = coin scholarship,’ he disregards
the fact that a great number of the world’s leading
numismatic professionals are archaeologists. Just a
few names that immediately come to mind include John
Creighton, Jack Kroll, Peter van Alfen, Maria
R.-Alföldi, David Wigg-Wolf, Hans-Markus von Kaenel,
Hans-Cristoph Noeske, and Donald Ariel (Although these
individuals are archaeologists and numismatists, I do
not claim to know each of their positions on the
issues nor do I claim to speak for them).  Although
many dealers and collectors have contributed, and
continue to contribute, to serious numismatic
scholarship, the vast majority of articles in
scholarly numismatic journals and in other scholarly
publications are authored by degreed academics of the
sort that the ACCG deplores.  Furthermore, centers for
the study of ancient coins in archaeological contexts
do exist and one such center is at Frankfurt
University.  Here, Fundmünzen der Antike has been
publishing inventories of coin finds from
archaeological contexts in Germany since 1960 and its
important work has elicited similar projects in other
European countries.  It supports a monograph series,
Studien zu Fundmünzen der Antike (SFMA) (Studies on
Coin Finds from Antiquity), which publishes studies on
coin finds from archaeological contexts.  Apparently,
despite evidence to the contrary, Dave Welsh would
like us to believe that archaeologists don’t know
anything about coins and that archaeologists know
nothing about numismatic accomplishments – a perverse
and completely false notion.  

The rest of Mr. Welsh’s commentary merits little
discussion.  Despite the flaws and fabrications in
numerous discourses authored by Dave Welsh and others
affiliated with the dealer lobby - who frequently
champion their cause through alarmist tactics and the
propagation of mistruths - the ACCG has proven itself
as a lobby which can effectively gain the support of
U.S. lawmakers and stir action in the ancient
coin-collecting community.  It was reported on the
Moneta-L list earlier this year that 1,069 faxes alone
were sent from the fax wizard on the ACCG’s website to
CPAC opposing import restrictions.  The ACCG has
already lobbied the support of the following
congressmen and senators: Congressmen: Mark Green
(formerly, R-WI), Tom Petri (R-WI), Paul Ryan (R-WI),
John Culberson (R-TX), Senators: ‘Kit’ Bond (R-MO) and
Chuck Schumer (D-NY).  

Through the use of such deceptive tactics, the ACCG
paints itself as the protector of numismatic
scholarship in order to protect the vested financial
interest of its constituency. Any legitimate and
ethical scholar, however, would not distort evidence
or make blatant fabrications as is frequently done by
members and officers of the ACCG, who claim to support
serious numismatic scholarship.  To an uninformed
reader, who might take disinformation disseminated by
Dave Welsh and others as fact, the ACCG would appear
to be an organization that is truly protecting
‘numismatic scholarship,’ though nothing could be
further from the truth.

Earlier this year, while attempting some dialogue on
the Moneta-L list, I found myself the object of harsh
criticism on the list and received a number of
abrasive and caustic personal emails.  As I came to
understand the ACCG and the tactics of many of its
members, I felt it necessary to do what I can to see
to it that American lawmakers and the general public
are not hearing just one very slanted side of the
story.  It is for these reasons that I joined SAFE in
order to network with similarly motivated individuals
in order to begin participating in the increasing
debate on the trade in ancient coins and the looting
that results in order to fill the inventories of
undiscerning ancient coin dealers.  I would urge
numismatists and others who are concerned about the
ancient coin dealer lobby’s influence and its
underhanded tactics to stay abreast of its activities
and current cultural property issues.  

In the next few weeks, a web article will appear on
the SAFE website that discusses the importance of
coins as archaeological objects and the sort of
information that can be learned when they are found in
context (not just as a means for stratigraphic
dating).  The article will also address the scale of
the trade in undocumented coins in North America as
well as the illegal prospecting for ancient coins and
subsequent smuggling from source countries.  In
addition to this web article, I am preparing two more
substantial papers for printed publication.  

Until the web article is published, I refer the reader
to the AIA’s new page on “Coins and Archaeology” for
the value of coin finds in archaeological contexts:
http://www.archaeological.org/webinfo.php?page=10438



       
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