France Returns Ancient Coins to Turkey
French customs estimated the total seizure to be worth more than €1.5 million, or about $1.6 million U.S.
France has just returned more than 8,500 ancient coins to Turkey, the coins having been seized as having been illegally imported.
The thought of ancient coins being surrendered to Turkey leaves some collectors numb. Memories of the Decadrachm Hoard and other coins being repatriated to Turkey in the past can leave the false impression the coins will go in the front door of a museum, then out the backdoor. There is always the fear that coins in private collections and museums might be in danger of being repatriated to any of an increasing number of countries that have a Memorandum of Understanding with the United States through which collectible coins might be seized.
What actually happened in this situation is that three years ago, the French National Directorate of the Intelligence and Customs Investigations dismantled an artifact smuggling network. Specific details about the individual coins have not been released, but it is known that 8,597 coins, each attributed to having been struck as early as during the sixth century B.C. in Anatolia, were seized as part of more than 15,000 items smuggled. All objects were seized from “a dwelling in central France.”
According to investigators, the coins were found “In a television cabinet, in freezer bags, in boxes all over the flat.”
The investigator continued, “Generally, the pieces are looted in villages by people in fairly precarious situations. The mafia will provide them with metal detectors so that they can search for treasures in their locality according to the stories they may have heard, and which may have been passed down through the generations.”
“Once these materials have been recovered, collectors will go from village to village to buy these objects at a low price, and certainly not at the European market price.”
In the Western tradition, Anatolia is generally accepted to be the birthplace of coins. Credit is usually given to Lydia as being this birthplace. The invention of coins quickly spread into Persia, with various city-states issuing coins soon after.
French customs estimated the total seizure to be valued at more than €1.5 million or about $1.6 million U.S. The smuggling organization was described as “worthy of drug traffickers.” Arrests were made in France, but the most important arrests were made in Turkey.
Collectors need to understand that coins “from antiquity” are illegal to buy, sell, or possess in Turkey. Other items Turkey defines as antiquities include carpets, colored tiles and ceramics, icons, paintings, sculptures, and statues that are at least one to two centuries old.
According to the website Turkey Travel Planner, “Farmers often come across these items while plowing. They may offer them to tourists for sale, not knowing it’s illegal and that these items must be surrendered to the nearest museum by law.
Don’t buy them! For one thing, you may be buying a fake because there is a brisk trade in fake ancient statuettes, figurines, and coins.”
Turkish Law No. 2863 states that any above-ground and underground cultural property, as set out in Articles 3(a)(1), 6, and 23 of the legislation, “has the quality of state property,” whether the object or archaeological site has been discovered yet.
Any individual or group that finds or has knowledge of the existence of such property must notify the relevant authorities, which must then report the find to the cultural ministry and the regional museum directorate. The finders can keep the cultural property if the artifacts or sites are not determined to be “in need of protection” by the government. The objects can only be kept if they are in the finder’s private collection or museum. The objects cannot be resold. A permit must be obtained from the ministry for this exemption.
According to the Center for Art Law—Turkey, “No sale or donation of movable cultural property can take place abroad, although the Turkish government can allow for temporary exhibitions if the host country can guarantee against the possibility of damage, loss, and other threats to the objects.”
Turkey typically makes formal requests for the return of artifacts, often under the 1970 UNESCO Convention. Turkey, as well as many other source countries, must rely substantially on the willingness of host countries and individuals and institutions within them to negotiate the restitution of what Turkey claims to be its cultural property.
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