Ancient Coin Seizures Gain Attention

A word of wisdom to collectors of ancient coins—don’t only ensure you know the provenance of your coins. Verify that the provenance of your coins is genuine.

Ancient coins have once more been in the headlines of the general press for all the wrong reasons. On June 21, well-known coin dealer Italo Vecchi was arraigned in a Manhattan court, charged with one count of grand larceny in the first degree, two counts of conspiracy in the fourth degree, and second degree criminal possession of stolen property, among other charges. The District Attorney’s office agreed to Vecchi’s release on his own recognizance.

British coin dealer Richard Beale and Vecchi (Vecchi is an Italian citizen living in the United Kingdom) have been charged with the fraudulent sale of a 42 B.C. Roman gold coin celebrating the assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March two years earlier. The Eid Mar aureus as the coin is known was sold by Beale for $4.1 million in October 2020 as well as was a 430 B.C. Sicily Naxos that according to the complaint filed, is the “rarest and most prized ancient coins in the world.”

While the Eid Mar coin may celebrate Caesar’s assassination Beale and Vecchi have nothing to celebrate. Vecchi is charged with selling illegal coins for decades. Beale allegedly falsified the Roman coin’s ownership history documents.

Vecchi was detained in 1992 by United States customs officials for attempting to smuggle undeclared ancient Greek coins into the United States in his briefcase. In 2012 Vecchi allegedly falsified provenance for a 4th B.C. silver decadrachm from Acragas which was being sold for one million dollars at the annual New York International Numismatics Convention.

Trafficking in illicitly obtained ancient coins and antiquities is a crime and should never be condoned by anyone. On the other hand, are coins being seized either due to smuggling or due to being declared a nation’s cultural patrimony of “priceless” value?

It doesn’t appear the very officials charged with seizing and returning “priceless” coins to their so-called country of origin always have a clue if the coins have collector value or not.

Following the June 20 formal return of what the publication The Hill called “a treasure trove of ancient coins to Greece,” U.S. Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge R. Sean Fitzgerald said, “It is often extremely difficult to put a specific monetary value on an ancient historical coin. That notwithstanding, as tokens of the world’s oldest democracy, Greece’s cultural property — in HSI’s view — is considered priceless.”

Are the coins priceless, or is HSI clueless? There are numerous museum curators, coin dealers, and coin collectors who could help value any coins seized by HSI—if they were to ask.

While some individuals may be falsifying provenance records, Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and some foreign governments still make it challenging for collectors to purchase ancient coins without the fear of the coins being seized at some later date.

At the June 20 ancient coin return event Ambassador of Greece to the United States Alexandra Papadopoulou, Consul General Emmanuel Koubarakis said, “As these coins get back to Greece where they belong, I’m sure it will make an exciting, powerful display as part of our culture, as part of our shared identity and as part of our close relationship with the United States.”

A 2022 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime found increased international cooperation, and high-profile cultural property returns exposing major players in the global trade.

According to the UNODC report, “Many returns have stemmed from multi-national operations that have ensnared prominent art collectors and dealers accused of looting and running trafficking rings in plain sight from luxury addresses in major capitals.”

The report continues, “Investigations into cultural property trafficking, some spurred by large-scale leaks of financial documents including the FinCen files and Pandora Papers, have embroiled some of the art world elite and its foremost cultural institutions.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported returning cultural artifacts ranging from prehistoric fossils to artwork stolen from Jews during the Holocaust to more than 15 countries on 20 occasions in 2022 as part of its Cultural Property, Art and Antiquities Program.

The most expensive ancient coin and the the largest collection of coins its kind to be intercepted and repatriated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection may be making headlines, but collectors should be careful to ensure they won’t be next.