This is crazy, Richard Beale Arrest at NYINC

[Virgil H]

I checked this story out before posting. I wasn't even sure about posting, but it is news and it does affect us. This is some high dollar stuff that isn't being reported literally at all that I can see. That is why I checked to make sure it wasn't BS.

Bottom line: Roma Numismatics' principal Richard Beale, was arrested at NYINC in January on multiple charges of Conspiracy and Grand Larceny

This was over a month ago and I have seen nothing. Until today, on Reddit. Just that this has been non-news is curious.

Couple links below, but the down and dirty:
Roma Numismatics' principal Richard Beale, was arrested at NYINC in January on multiple charges of Conspiracy and Grand Larceny. He is alleged to have fabricated the provenance connected to the a Naxos tetradrachm that sold under the collection of Baron Gustave Charles Ferdinand von Bonstetten, Chamberlain to Ferdinand I, Emperor of Austria. Incidentally, this is the same provenance given to the Eid Mar aureus that in 2020 sold for £2.7M before commission.

Both coins are in the criminal complaint. Glad I don't have this kind of money for coins.

New York State Unified Court System notice: https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/webcrim_attorney/Detail?which=case&docketNumber=yY1xDZ9cEK4QwpkxjBVP_PLUS_g==&countyId=ftUCLXxA/VgUxT4CDSVwBw==&docketId=bbI5Xbl0IVgJ8btvEQGu9g==&docketDseq=o6PDyKIx4BvSfbvyCgDnHw==&defendantName=Beale,+Richard&court=New+York+Criminal+Court&courtType=L&recordType=C&recordNum=Wv8WzRIFOL4jek_PLUS_QRTW74Q==

The nitty gritty: Court documents: https://www.numisforums.com/topic/3703-interesting-thread-on-reddit-about-roma-numismatics-and-the-apparent-arrest-of-richard-beale/#comment-43919

I know a lot of the coins I buy come from places they shouldn't (or maybe they should but laws are idiotic), but never stuff at these values. I am not naive. But, this is just crazy stuff.

Virgil

[Ken W2]

Wow, thanks for sharing that news Virgil. That situation reminds me of the tension between our mantra, “know the coin or know the seller,” and one of my fav Nanci Griffith lines, paraphrasing, “no one ever really knows the heart of anyone else.” ALL transactions between human beings involve risk— we can manage that risk but never avoid it entirely if we are to transact business. Fortunately, I’ll never be playing for the kind of stakes in those reported transactions. There is an Eid Mar denarius coming up for auction I’m watching just out of curiosity.

[Virgil H]

I pretty much agree Ken. What I don't really get is faking provenance. Is that name of the Baron even real? Sounds like a satire name, but I have no idea. But does that actually make the coin more valuable or just make it seem legal? I mean, were those coins actually illegal in the first place? I have no clue. What I haven't seen mentioned is if the coin will be "repossessed" from the buyer and I assume it will be and whoever bought it will just be out of his/her money and have to go after the seller for compensation.

What makes this relevant, in my opinion, is this is another strike for those who hate coin and antiquities collectors. It is "more evidence" that we are all Evil. I used to think The Iditarod Dog Sled Race (1,000 miles from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska) was bad due to media propaganda until my friend informed me and is now three days into his second Iditarod. There are no more healthy and fit dogs on the planet and I have rarely seen people who loved their dogs as much as dog sled drivers and me (LOL). It is part of the wider efforts by some to shut down anyone that disagrees with them. Collectors of ancient things are bad. I will refrain from getting more political, but this is a political move in many ways and, if charges are true (innocent until proven guilty is supposed to be the US system in theory), it is also a real crime. I wish it hadn't happened, both those coins would have fetched big money with or without provanance. I guess I just find it sad all the way around. I have bought coins from that dealer, so it is just weird.

Virgil

[Ken W2]

Hey Virgil: I'm sure you know there are many, many levels to and conflicting views about this subject-- the recovery and disposition of cultural artifacts-- both within our own country and abroad.  To me, like some other things in modern human existence, it reflects that too many people don't have enough to do or worry about.  In many parts of the world we have so mastered our environment and natural resources that it takes really very few of us to provide the necessities of life for all or most of us. The rest of us must find something to do, so we write laws against removing an arrowhead from a river in Alabama unless of course it's not associated with a known cultural site, or regulations against exporting and importing ancient coins, unless of course they left the country of origin "X" number of years ago.           


 

[DAVID R4]

I agree the arrest was crazy!  He’s accused of faking the provenance in order to have made it legal to sell. Pre-1971 finds w provenance ”legal. Found coins after 1971”illegal.”  at least that’s my understanding  of the law. But curiously, Greece has claimed selling the Eid Mar coin constitutes “cultural appropriation” and has launched a public relations campaign theorizing an even more dubious provenance.  In conjunction w the arrest, Greek authorities stated the coin, a  holed gold aureus, was likely “dropped” by one of Marc Antony’s “soldiers” as he fled the civil war.  But a holed gold coin? We know as collector/historian that it would have been highly unusual that a “soldier” would have been paid in gold, rather than silver.  More likely it was holed by someone as late as the 19th century who wore it as jewelry.  Maybe even dropped by an Englishwoman on the Grand Tour.  But the authorities won’t let such facts get in the way of a good story.

[Dominic T]

A holed gold aureus ?
DT

[DzikiZdeb]

A holed gold aureus ?

David R4's post sounds as if it was generated by AI :-) He is writing in a thread where there has been no discussion for a long time, he doesn't really know what he is writing about, he can't find basic knowledge about it (for example, that EID MAR denarii and aurei were mined in what is now Greece), but can find the picture. The fact that the piece with the hole he found has nothing to do with the one from Roma Auction doesn't matter to him.


https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9543477

[William S7]

Follow up to this thread: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-66594076

[jskirwin]

For me the details released by the BBC are worse than what came out in March.
As a writer stated elsewhere, what Beale did was dump a pile of excrement onto the lap of the buyer.
"In October 2020, Beale received an email and letter from the baron asking him to withdraw the false provenance. But he proceeded with the sale of the coin and an American buyer paid $4.19m."
The US aggressively investigates and prosecutes cultural property crimes, so it was only a matter of time before the crime would be discovered.

I don't believe in boycotts, and Roma is a minor source for my collection. But crimes such as this impacts all of us in the hobby.

Of course, if the Palestinian Authority (and the neighboring countries) had antiquities laws like the UK which reward the finder, then the entire issue of the "Gaza Hoard" find goes away. Governments are lousy protectors of cultural property - particular that which can fit easily in one's pocket.

[William S7]

Governments are lousy protectors of cultural property - particular that which can fit easily in one's pocket.

To wit : https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66626619

[Kevin D]

For me the details released by the BBC are worse than what came out in March.

"The two men travelled to Munich and paid €450,000 ($490,000; £385,000) in cash for the coin, despite it having no provenance paperwork or any other form of documentation. In August 2020, Beale shipped the coin to the US to be authenticated..."

What if that coin had turned out to be a forgery? I suppose they felt confident that it was genuine, but it seems like a heck of a risk to take.

Also, using the Baron as provenance, when the Baron is still alive...continuing with the sale after the Baron complained about his name being used falsely...it all seems crazy to me and out of control.

As a writer stated elsewhere, what Beale did was dump a pile of excrement onto the lap of the buyer.

I don't believe in boycotts, and Roma is a minor source for my collection. But crimes such as this impacts all of us in the hobby.

Can this have an affect on the sale-ability of coins that have passed through Roma's hands at some point? I would suspect it can. Especially for coins that have changed hands in the recent past, after the signing of MOU's (memorandums of understanding). Maybe the value has to be six figures before there is cause for concern, but I wouldn't bet on that being the case.

[Curtis JJ]

Can this have an affect on the sale-ability of coins that have passed through Roma's hands at some point? I would suspect it can. Especially for coins that have changed hands in the recent past, after the signing of MOU's (memorandums of understanding).

I don't think anyone will go around seizing coins for being ex-Roma or anything. I can't tell if it's hurting their current sales, but it doesn't seem like it.

But, with classical antiquities other than coins, it is true that investigators look for illegally imported items & fake provenances by tracking certain "red flag" dealers. So, if you happen to keep up on the museum & art market news, you'll see headlines all the time: "OBJECT X to be repatriated after it was revealed MUSEUM Y purchased it in 2003 from disgraced DEALER Y" or "...after a photograph of OBJECT X was discovered during a raid of looted antiquities warehouse of DEALER Y."

Personally, I'm a big fan of legally imported coins with interesting provenances. I haven't bought from Roma in maybe 8 or 10 years, but I'm not really worried that those coins have taken a hit to value or will be seized.

[Kevin D]

Can this have an affect on the sale-ability of coins that have passed through Roma's hands at some point? I would suspect it can. Especially for coins that have changed hands in the recent past, after the signing of MOU's (memorandums of understanding).

Personally, I'm a big fan of legally imported coins with interesting provenances.

You and me both Curtis!

I've not yet ever bought a coin outside the US (likely never will), and I only buy from US based dealers I feel confident are fulfilling all US government paperwork requirements (without falsifications). As well, my purchases are of low enough value that if there ever is an issue, the chances are good that my dealer will 'make me whole'.

I find myself feeling sorry for all involved in the legal case, which is the subject of this thread; the dealers and the buyers. I know the dealers broke the law, and yet I still feel sorry for them. I recognize they are talented numismatists, fallen victim to their human desires. Because of the sums involved in this case, I don't know if these buyers will ever be 'made whole'.

This 19 page PDF by the ACCG gives US MOU dates and Designated Lists by country (as of 2021):
https://accguild.org/resources/Documents/Import%20Restrictions%20on%20Ancient%20Coins%20and%20Declarations%20for%20Legal%20Import%20040721.pdf

Not in the above linked PDF is the US MOU with Turkey (signed January 2021, entered into force March 2021):
https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/21-324-Turkey-Cultural-Property-Import-Restrictions.pdf

[Serendipity]

I have to be honest with everyone that I'm having serious regrets purchasing a scarce Byzantine gold coin last year which passed through Roma's hands because of its suspicious catch-all "ex-European Collection" provenance. A BBC news article seven days ago mentions very specifically the provenance of Roma's stolen coins listed as either "from a private Canadian collection" or "ex-private European collection".

[Callimachus]

"ex-European Collection"
 "from a private Canadian collection"
"ex-private European collection".

Phrases like this are a red flag telling me to stay away from the coin and/or seller. 
They indicate the seller knows a coin has a shady history (looted, counterfeit, stolen, etc).

[Virgil H]

One thing I have noticed is that these types of phrases are used far more in Europe (and perhaps UK) than in the US. Many also have dates, such as "collection made prior to 2021" and so on. I believe the phrases are in response to laws in place in the EU or specific countries. Their absence from US listings does not really make me feel better. Honestly, I have no real idea where 80% of my coins really came from in the trade. In many cases, no one does. That said, if the US had ancient coins to be found, it would be the same. It is the same for Native American artifacts in the US. These laws encourage looting and illegal transfers across borders.

Virgil

[Serendipity]

"ex-European Collection"
 "from a private Canadian collection"
"ex-private European collection".

Phrases like this are a red flag telling me to stay away from the coin and/or seller. 
They indicate the seller knows a coin has a shady history (looted, counterfeit, stolen, etc).

Unfortunately, I've got to add the "ex-inventory of a UK dealer" to that disreputable list because of an Antoninus Pius denarius from Roma in my collection. The stock term is also used indiscriminately like the others on most of their ancient coins. I strongly advise collectors to learn from my mistakes and purchase their coins from a reputable dealer such as the Forum with a fund of expertise at their disposal which you won't find anywhere else. I've been let down too many times by dealers, but never by the Forum!

[djmacdo]

I recently bought a small, not expensive bronze coin from a Roma auction.  It took weeks to get through customs, and when it finally arrived, there was a note that the package had been opened and inspected by Homeland Security!  I wounder what they were expecting?

[JamesC11]

May I add a point or two to this discussion?  First, these coins were never anyone's "precious cultural heritage."  They were currency, provided to facilitate trade, commerce,  bribery, wages, or merely an enjoyable holiday for subjects, family members.  Sometimes they were even employed in electioneering.  There is nothing sacred about them.  In recent centuries collectors have made them a way to shift wealth from haves to have-nots.  Is that bad?  Second, I have grave doubts about the motives of our self-chosen cultural protectors.  Government officials, museum personnel, archaeologists, academic philosophers on the subject of coinage or economics all have a useful place to fill; their purposes are as subject to scrutiny as any numismatist's.  Ordinary or extraordinary coins which lie for decades in a museum drawer only to be deaccessioned because too few paid keepers are available to catalogue or even allow access to them are not of benefit to society even as cumshaw. 

[DAVID R4]

My earlier post on this thread was not generated by AI. My local newspaper contained a photo of a holed gold Eid mar connection w the story of the arrest in January,  so I was admittedly mistaken when I referenced it as “ holed” in my post.  The point of my post is that the Greek “ “official” quoted at the time of the arrest that the coin was probably dropped by a soldier in Greece seemed to me to be unlikely if it was holed.  I keep reading that it was “looted” from Greece. Does anyone know the true story?  I’d like to hear it.