Codes of Ethics vs. the Financial Interest

It is curious that some groups of antiquities dealers have adopted "Codes of Ethics," which do not seem to be rigorously enforced or acknowledged in practice. One group of ancient coin dealers that claims to advocate for cultural preservation, while opposing any legislative efforts designed to curb looting and the trade in illicit antiquities that also affect the unregulated trade ancient coins (routinely found in archaeological contexts), has adopted such a code. The Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (ACCG) has adopted a “Code of Ethics” for its members, which states: “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.” VCoins, an online “coin show” hosting multiple dealer inventories, also has a similar statement in its “Code of Ethics.” The careful wording of the ACCG “Code of Ethics” seemingly allows the dealer lobby and its members to skirt the actual problem of provenance by stating that they will not trade in coins that come from “scheduled archaeological sites.” Does this mean they can feel free to trade in coins robbed from historical sites that are not currently being excavated?

The vast majority of ancient coins imported by dealers and subsequently sold have no recorded find spot or an old pedigree, so where do they come from anyway? Who knows! Additionally, the statement that the ACCG “will comply with all cultural property laws of their own country,” along with the relative lack of enforcement, allows for the potential to import illegally excavated and exported material with a clean conscience since the U.S. does not have import restrictions on ancient coins with many foreign nations (except Iraq and, recently, Cyprus), although it is illegal prospect for or to export coins from most source countries without a permit - especially important source countries like those in the Balkans.

Generally, among the North American ancient coin dealing community, there appears to be a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in effect regarding their participation in the trade of undocumented and potentially illegally excavated/exported material: import and sell the material, just “don’t ask and don’t tell” where it came from (for example see some dealer suggestions to circumvent legal issues with illicitly imported coins in David Gill's blog entry, "Cyprus, eBay and the Coin Lobby"). Should American citizens and coin collectors expect or even accept such unscrupulous activity from sellers? It is documented that similar practices amongst dealers of other sorts of antiquities exist (see Cook 1991, 533-534; cf. Karich 2006). Dealers of uncleaned ancient coins have also adopted a "Code of Ethics," which deals only with selling practices and does not make any presumption to prohibit the import of coins that were illegally exported or excavated.

A number of the ACCG’s donating ‘patrons’ actively import ancient coins in bulk and often sell them in bulk without any record of provenance. In fact, one ancient coin dealer and patron of the ACCG is also, curiously, the president of a customs clearing company in New York and is one of the more important suppliers of bulk lots of uncleaned coins in the U.S. This individual also deals in other types of antiquities, many of which appear to be of Balkan origin and has online storefronts on VCoins.

Despite the rhetoric and token “Codes of Ethics” subscribed to by some groups of antiquities dealers, it is clear that antiquities and ancient coins are being systematically looted from historical and archaeological sites at an alarming rate in order to supply for market demand. This activity is destroying valuable contextual and historical information in the process, harming not only archaeological and historical inquiry, but also - in the case of ancient coins - the "science of numismatics" (for further discussion see the article “Why Coins Matter…,” which should be made available on the SAFE website within a week).

REFS:

Cook, B.F. 1991. "The Archaeologist and the Art Market: Policies and Practice," Antiquity 65.248: 533-537.

Karich, S. 2006. “Der Bundesverband Deutscher Kunstversteigerer hat einen neuen Verhaltenskodex für seine Mitglieder aufgestellt. Transparenz ist bisher nicht immer vorhande,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 180 (05 Aug.): 47.

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