What is the Unidroit Convention?
The Unidroit Convention (1995) is an
international agreement for the return of stolen or illegally exported
"cultural objects." It includes among the items defined as "cultural
objects:"
(e) antiquities more than one hundred
years old, such as inscriptions, coins and engraved seals
(i) postage, revenue and similar stamps, singly or in collections
An important provision of this
convention defines any object that has been excavated or otherwise
discovered and not reported to authorities, contrary to the law of the State
in which it is discovered, as "stolen." This goes beyond existing law in
many nations.
Why are stamp, coin and
antiquities dealers and collectors concerned about the Unidroit Convention?
The definitions of stamps, coins and
antiquities are so broadly stated that any collector or institution owning a
stamp, coin or minor antiquity (such as a scarab or oil lamp) more than one hundred years old,
originating in another country
than that in which the collection resides, could be required to return it to
the country of origin in the absence of documentary proof that the object
was legally exported. Moreover, if the collector cannot produce evidence of
provenance, the object could be seized without compensation. |
Description
This list is dedicated to discussing
the effects of the Unidroit Convention and related legislation on trading in
and collecting stamps, coins and antiquities, and in particular, on ancient coin collecting.
The term "stamps" is defined as
including all objects recognized as collectible by stamp collectors, such as
postage, revenue, tax and hunting license stamps, covers, philatelic
postcards, blocks, sheets and all other officially issued stamps of any kind
including embossed stamps on documents and encased stamps used as currency.
The term "coins" is defined as
including all objects recognized as collectible by coin collectors, such as
coins, medals, tokens, coinage related artifacts such as dies, and paper
currency.
Antiquities are defined to be the
products of all ancient cultures prior to the Islamic conquest of Sasanian
Persia (649 a.d.) and also the products of the Byzantine Empire prior
to the fall of Constantinople in 1204 a.d. Although the list particularly
focuses on minor antiquities, all kinds of antiquities including ancient
weapons and ancient art objects are considered to be topical.
Discussion topics may include:
* The intent and scope of Unidroit and related legislation,
* The intentions and motives of those who
advocate this legislation,
* News and events related to this legislation,
* Ways
in which this legislation could be modified/improved,
* Alternative approaches
to dealing with the problems that Unidroit addresses,
* News and events
related to illegal export of stamps, coins and antiquities,
thefts from institutions, forgery, unethical trading
practices, site robbing and anything else
that tends to discredit stamp, coin and antiquities trading or collecting as an avocation.
Basically, anything to do with the law as it applies to trading in and
collecting stamps, coins and ancient artifacts
is on topic. Lively
discussions are encouraged but extended flames, abusive language, rants and
repetitious postings are not. Sales notices and other commercial postings
are not allowed
To contact the moderator directly send an email to:
Unidroit-L-owner@yahoogroups.com
Your moderator (listowner) is Dave Welsh.
Please note that the Yahoogroups server
automatically removes attachments of any kind. This is a safety measure to
ensure that the emails that you receive from the list are virus free.
it also makes it impossible to send images to the list.
However, images can be uploaded to the home page.
List Use and Rules
Language
The language used in all posts, announcements and replies shall be English.
The List Agenda
This
discussion list has an agenda:
To define the impact of the 1995 Unidroit convention on collectors of coins,
stamps and antiquities. The objective is to arrive at an understanding of
the practical effects of the convention, the problems and difficulties (if
any) that it would cause, and whether it would create uncertain or
unfavorable market conditions that would impact collectors and the sale of
collections.
What is allowed?
Almost anything as long as it is related to the law as it
applies to trading in and collecting stamps, coins
and ancient artifacts.
Examples:
* The effects of the Unidroit Convention on
collecting, including legal obligations for collectors.
* The case for the Unidroit Convention - site robbing
and unethical antiquities trading.
* If the Unidroit Convention is adopted, will it be
effective in eliminating site looting?
* Who is behind Unidroit? Who are its active
proponents?
* The case against the Unidroit Convention - its side
effects, the difficulties of collecting under Unidroit.
* The good that collectors do - their
contributions to education, society, science and museums.
* Alternative methods of preventing or discouraging
site looting.
* Alternative approaches to reforming the antiquities
trade to control trade in looted objects.
* Should common
minor antiquities such as coins, seals, scarabs and oil lamps be treated
differently?
What is particularly Encouraged?
* Information and arguments are needed better
explaining the advantages of the 1995 Unidroit convention.
* Legal opinion, from any qualified
source, is needed particularly regarding:
- Legislation involved in
accession to the convention: possibility of exceptions, reservations, etc.
- Application of the convention
to collectors of coins, stamps and antiquities
- Value or importance threshold
for minor objects such as coins and stamps
- Documentation of provenance:
what would be legally acceptable
- Due diligence investigations:
are they required for all objects?
Commercial Postings
Commercial postings of any kind are prohibited, but
posters may include a link identifying their commercial website in
their signature block provided that no advertising language accompanies this
link.
What is NOT allowed?
* Political commentaries or diatribes.
* Profane or abusive language, personal attacks against Listmembers
or anyone else.
* Ad hominem arguments of any kind. It is
appropriate to criticize ideas, but never individuals.
* Flame wars.
What is Discouraged?
* Repetition. Once a point has been made, there is
no need to keep repeating it.
* Red herrings. Discussions should
either provide general information of interest or advance the agenda.
Members of Unidroit-L
are required to behave
responsibly towards the list and each other. The moderator reserves
the right to exercise censorship.
The list focuses on a subject where opinions are strongly
held on both sides of the issues, and it is essential that the rules of
civility be observed. Arguments do not become more effective by being
presented in a discourteous or abusive manner.
Moderation and Expulsion
The moderator reserves the right to place users under moderation (messages
will be approved by the moderator before
distribution to the list) or in cases of
flagrant abuse, to expel
users, permanently or temporarily. Profane or
abusive language will be grounds for immediate and permanent expulsion from
the list.
Mediation
The moderator, at discretion, may mediate ongoing
disputes or disagreements.
Contributing to the list
The reply-to default for the
list is to the sender only. If you want to reply to a message and have it go
to the group at large, you will have to either use a 'reply to all option'
or add Unidroit-L@yahoogroups.com to the email
address list in your message.
There are no foolish questions on this list. If there is something you
don't understand, please ask.
Contributions from all points of view are desired. The intention is to have
a balanced discussion of issues. Whether you are a
collector or a dealer concerned about the practical problems involved in
complying with the Unidroit Convention, or a museum curator or archaeologist
concerned about the destruction of information and artifacts from site
looting, your opinion is valued.
Subscribing, unsubscribing and options
To unsubscribe via email
Send a blank email to:
Unidroit-L-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe via email
Send a blank email to:
Unidroit-L-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Your subscription options
DIGEST - Receive a single email per day with all of the days messages. Good
for those with a daily email limit. The downside is that it is difficult to
reply to a specific message.
To change to digest mode via email
Send a blank email to:
Unidroit-L-digest@yahoogroups.com
NORMAL - Use the Normal option to take your subscription out of Digest mode.
To change to normal (individual email) mode via email
Send a blank email to:
Unidroit-L-normal@yahoogroups.com
NO MAIL - Going away on vacation? You can suspend your subscription without
canceling it by using No Mail. When you come back, simply change back to
normal mode.
To change to no mail mode via email
Send a blank email to:
Unidroit-L-nomail@yahoogroups.com
Using your options via email
To turn on DIGEST mode, simply send a blank email to
Unidroit-L-digest@yahoogroups.com
To return to NORMAL mode, send another blank email to
Unidroit-L-normal@yahoogroups.com
Using your options via the web
To change your options, go to the Yahoogroups web site, at
www.yahoogroups.com/group/Unidroit-L, on the
left is a menu.
Please note: To access your settings via the web you
must log in to Yahoogroups with your email address and a password.
This password is for the Yahoogroups site only and
has no impact on
Unidroit-L membership.
Other options
Calendar
If you have an event or know of one that may interest other list
members, feel free to post it on our Calendar. The calendar is open to all
members. You will have to go to
www.yahoogroups.com, and select the User Center to access it.
Shared disk space
Yahoogroups graciously provides up
to 5 megabytes of disk space that may be used for shared images
and other uploaded files. New listmembers should
review uploaded files since they contain valuable information.
You can upload an image or
other file to our Yahoogroups
'shared' space for all to see. Instructions on doing this can be found at:
http://www.yahoogroups.com/help/topfaq.html#10 .
Please keep file sizes as small as
possible since we only
have 5 megabytes available.
Files may be purged at the discretion of the
moderator if deemed inappropriate or after 30 days (less if
the shared space is very active).
Message Archive
Every message that has been posted to the
list is stored in the message archive. The archive can be searched for
topics of interest. New listmembers should review the message archive before
posting messages.
Disclaimers
Since messages to this list are
not moderated unless a listmember has just joined (to prevent spamming) or
gives reason for moderation, the list owner of
Unidroit-L does not warrant or otherwise take
responsibility for any message included in the list.
Please exercise the same caution as you would
approaching anything available on the Internet. Parents are strongly urged
to monitor their children's usage. |
