Are these raids changing the debate on cultural property protection?

A pattern has emerged. Robbers break into museums, steal cultural artefacts made of gold and precious stones, destroy them to get at the valuable raw materials, and sell them – relatively safely – to the nearest jeweller or gold dealer. It is an old pattern that we had almost forgotten.

A terrible coin robbery in 1831

This was precisely how the burglars proceeded when they robbed the Paris Cabinet des Médailles on the night of 5 to 6 November 1831. They stole gold and silver exhibits weighing 80 kilograms(!), including the ‘Treasure of Childerich’ with the royal signet ring. They also stole jewellery and around 2,000 gold coins, including numerous unique pieces as well as Roman aurei, solidi and multipla. Vidocq, legendary head of the Paris Sureté, deduced who was involved from the method used. He succeeded in identifying them. In fact, all the thieves were convicted and the entire cultural property was recovered. In the form of 75 gold and silver bars. Only a tiny fraction of the treasures escaped being melted down.

The terrible coin robbery of Manching

Does this story sound familiar? Exactly the same thing happened to the Celtic coins from Manching. It happened with the Canadian 100-kilogram gold coin, which was wheelbarrowed out of the Bode Museum. The jewels stolen from the Louvre would have suffered the same fate if politicians had not made the search for the criminals a top priority. Hopefully, the massive police presence will prevent the worst from happening. But let’s be honest: if it hadn’t been the Louvre, if the objects hadn’t been associated with famous names such as Napoleon and Empress Eugénie, the matter would have been swept under the carpet. We’ll see if the coins stolen in Langres ever turn up again!

Coins are made of precious metals

And that brings us to the root of the problem: coins are usually made of gold and silver. Melting them down is child’s play. The necessary tools can be ordered online, and once melted down, no jeweller can tell which gold a bar is made of.

Coins have always been made of gold and silver. Before there were collectors and coin dealers, they were taken to the mint or goldsmith to be melted down. It didn’t matter whether it was an aureus of Pertinax in FDC or a worn aureus of Nero. After all, both coins consist of a good 7 grams of gold. And gold was and is valuable.

The problem is not the art market, but society

And so all the raids of recent years illustrate a fact that collectors have repeatedly brought up in the debate on cultural property protection. However, no politician wanted to hear this argument: the end of the art market will not lead to the end of looting. It will only ensure that coins end up back in the melting pots of local goldsmiths, as they regularly did in the 1950s and 1960s.

Coin dealers such as Pierre Strauss have saved hundreds of Seleucid coins by regularly visiting the bazaars of Damascus or Aleppo, where they pick out numismatic treasures from the melted goods.

For there are people in Syria, Afghanistan and probably also in Sicily who have neither work nor hope, who are indifferent to what happens to cultural assets as long as it secures them the meal they need to survive.

Can you blame these people for searching for old coins, which they then sell to a local dealer for a fraction of their value?

The art market as a good excuse for doing nothing

Countries that care about their cultural treasures must protect them locally. But there is a lack of political will to do so. Preserving national heritage costs money, work and effort. Politicians prefer to invest in more prestigious projects. And no, this is not a dig at the big new museum at the foot of the pyramids. (Well, maybe a little.) It is the failure of governments that leads to the plundering of their national cultural assets. Blaming the art market for this is a cheap excuse that has been repeated so often and with such authority that the media and, with them, the public have come to believe it.

It is tragic that our archaeological institutes around the world are dependent on the goodwill of these very governments. They need their excavation permits if they do not want to lose their raison d’être. Thus, scientific beacons such as the DAI became the accomplices of foreign governments and spread the myth that the art market alone was to blame for the sell-off of foreign cultural assets.

No, collectors do not want illegal excavations!

Please understand me correctly: I certainly do not want a return to the conditions of the 1950s and 1960s. Like most other collectors, I want illicit excavations to stop. I want to help with my limited resources. But I also want a debate on equal terms, in which we all talk about how we can better protect cultural assets. No one should be pilloried in this debate. Instead, we should discuss problems and possible solutions openly and on equal terms.

Education as a key

Yes, of course, a lot of money needs to be invested to better protect cultural assets. But other measures also need to be discussed. In my view, education is central to preserving cultural assets. Those who don’t care about the Celts, who have no connection to Napoleon, have no qualms about destroying their relics. It is telling how smugly highly educated numismatists commented on the melting down of the Canadian 100-kilogram gold coin. For them, it was not a testament to our history, but merely ‘just another modern coin’. In their eyes, the melting pot was exactly the right place for it. None of them considered the technical masterpiece behind its production. Not to mention its historical significance for the history of the gold trade. The consternation when only a few bars remained of the Celtic staters of Manching was quite different.

If we numismatists are already discussing what is important cultural heritage and what can be discarded, what must it be like in other countries? What will it be like here if history lessons are cut back even further, museums mainly spread political messages and the fascination with the object dwindles more and more?

Profit as a solution

I am still firmly convinced that the solution to the problem lies in human profit-seeking. A fair reward gives those who find coins a reason to cooperate with the archaeologists responsible. Yes, this is where the British Portable Antiquities Scheme comes in, which does an excellent job of connecting the public and the scientific world.
However, experiences from African tourism also come into play. Rangers who earn a secure salary for guiding tourists through a wildlife park have a different relationship with poachers. Involving the local population is a recipe for success. Those who benefit from cultural assets become multipliers and ambassadors for the cause.
I know that these are all bold and, above all, uncomfortable theories. Archaeologists and politicians would have to rethink their enemy stereotypes and their own behaviour. That is exhausting and painful. But in the end, it would lead to a better future in which we work together and not against each other to preserve cultural assets.

Text and images: Ursula Kampmann