Canadian Antiquities Bust: Quebec Dealer Arrested

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More details are emerging about the antiquities bust in Canada in which 20 000 artefacts destined for the North American market were seized from suspected smugglers four years ago in Montreal. In 2007, Canada Border Services Agency officials detained two imports of cultural property sent by mail from Bulgaria, and referred them for assessment to the Canadian heritage department, which called in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to investigate.

The collection of objects, including at least 18,000 coins from the Roman Empire and other ancient civilizations, was described as spanning "more than 2,600 years" of the history of the Balkan nation. The objects encompass aspects of Greek, Roman, Macedonian, Byzantine, Bulgarian and Ottoman cultural heritage, officials said.

Two and a half thousand years of history stolen by the no-questions-asked antiquities trade. The objects seized were diverse, from bronze eagles, rings and belt buckles to spearheads and bone sewing needles — but none of them apparently accompanied by any kind of documentation concerning where they had been dug up how and with what. Dealers and collectors are not interested in context of deposition, such information has no commercial value in today's market. In fact, it's considered better not to ask, bad form to enquire too closely.

Believed to have been excavated illegally and shipped to Canada as part of an international smuggling operation, some of the artifacts were intercepted by customs officials with the Canada Border Services Agency in 2007. A subsequent police investigation led to the search of a home in Quebec and the recovery of many more historical objects, according to RCMP Asst. Commissioner Mike Cabana. But he told Postmedia News that police also learned during their probe that other ancient artifacts illegally imported from Bulgaria had already been sold in Canada. And while a Quebec court ruled earlier this year that the 21,000 seized objects should be returned to Bulgaria, a "person of interest" initially arrested in Quebec in connection with the illegal shipment was eventually released without charges.

Randy Boswell, 'Cultural artifacts seized in Canada returned to grateful owners', Montreal Gazette June 10th 2011.

Photo: Some of the seized objects (Alison Crawford/CBC)


Photo: Department of Canadian Heritage

Since Montreal is in Quebec (province), I presume this means that the arrested dealer lived in the city of that name. Was it anyone we know? Most Canadian dugup antiquity dealers seem to be based in Ottawa.
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Canada: 18 000 Stolen Coins Did Not Make it onto the North American Market as Planned

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This Friday evening at a ceremony at the Canadian Museum of Civilization the Ministry of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages returned the largest ever Canadian seizure of stolen cultural property to the Republic of Bulgaria. Going back were 21,000 coins, pieces of jewellery, and other objects that were illegally exported to Canada and seized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Vezhdi Rashidov, Minister of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria, was present to accept the artefacts from the Government of Canada. Madame Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO, came over for the event. The usual speeches were made.

"The RCMP is pleased with this successful outcome. Our team in Montréal has worked long hours to investigate, locate, and retrieve these Bulgarian artifacts," said Bob Paulson, RCMP Deputy Commissioner.

In 2007, Canada Border Services Agency officials detained two imports of cultural property sent by mail from Bulgaria. These imports were referred to Canadian Heritage for further assessment, and the RCMP was asked to investigate. As a result of its investigation, the RCMP seized about 21,000 ancient coins, pieces of jewellery, and other objects in November 2008. In January 2011, the importer formally abandoned the cultural property, clearing the way for the Court ofQuebec to rule under the Criminal Code for the return of the seized antiquities to the Republic of Bulgaria. These objects, many of which were illegally excavated, cover more than 2600 years of the history of Bulgaria. This collection includes more than 18,000 coins, as well as a number of artifacts including bronze eagles, rings, pendants, belt buckles, arrows and spearheads, and bone sewing needles. They represent a mix of Hellenistic, Roman, Macedonian, Byzantine, Bulgarian, and Ottoman cultural heritage.

The "importer" involved in this attempted smuggling was not named. But there are not too many coin dealers selling this kind of stuff in that part of Canada, are there?

Canada and Bulgaria are signatories to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Cultural Property, under which participating states agree to assist each other in the recovery of illegally exported and stolen cultural property. In Canada, the Convention is implemented through the Cultural Property Export and Import Act [1985], administered by the Department of Canadian Heritage. The Department works closely with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canada Border Services Agency to enforce and administer the Act and combat the illicit traffic of cultural property.

Huge numbers of such artefacts flow through the US market annually. In fact a substantial portion of the market seems to have been initiated by the flow of masses of cheap dugup coins precisely from Bulgaria. The USA and Bulgaria are signatories to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Cultural Property, under which participating states agree to assist each other in the recovery of illegally exported and stolen cultural property. In the United States, the Convention is implemented through the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act 1983, administered by the Department of State (unlike countries like Canada, the USA has no Ministry of American Heritage). Despite this, very few shipments of looted coins and artefacts stripped from archaeological sites by gangs of criminals have ever been stopped at the US border, or investigated, located and retrieved by US law enforcement agencies (DHS, FBI etc).

Lesser, but still substantial numbers of such artefacts flow through the UK market annually and are openly sold alongside (and sometimes masquerading as) local finds obtained by metal detector use according to Britain's all-too-lax laws. The UK and Bulgaria are signatories to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Cultural Property, under which participating states agree to assist each other in the recovery of illegally exported and stolen cultural property. In the United Kingdom, the Convention is implemented through the Dealing in Cultural property (Offences) Act 2003, administered by the Commissioners of Customs and Excise. Despite this, very few shipments of looted coins and artefacts stripped from archaeological sites by gangs of criminals have ever been stopped at the UK border, or investigated, located and retrieved by UK law enforcement agencies.

So well done Canada for doing what neither the UK nor the USA can be bothered to do for fear of upsetting the local collectors and dealers.

Source: Government of Canada Returns Its Largest Ever Seizure of Cultural Property to the Republic of Bulgaria

Vignette: RCMP commemorative coin (8000 minted).

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Thousands of Smuggled Archaeological Artefacts Looted in Bulgaria Being Returned by Canada

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Focus news agency reported on June 8 2011 that about 21 000 smuggled archaeological objects and ancient coins will be returned to Bulgaria by the Canadian department for cultural heritage.

A delegation headed by Bulgarian Culture Minister Vezhdi Rashidov will receive the items at a special ceremony on June 10 at the Museum of Civilization in Otawa. Following a decision of the Canadian court, the archaeological items, proven to be of Bulgarian origin, will be given back to Bulgaria.

That'd probably be something like 30kg of 'partifacts' and coins then. This is probably the same haul as this one reported from 2010:

In August, customs officers in the Canadian city of Montreal seized 21 000 antique objects with Bulgarian origins, in a smuggling attempt. The antiques consist of coins, jewels, metal and glass objects from the Bulgarian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman heritage.

I discussed this on this blog at the time. It is interesting to note that we are nowhere nearer to learning the answer to any of the questions I raised here last year when discussing this, who sent these coins from where, and to where? 'Repatriation' of the artefacts involved alone will do nothing to stop the smuggling and looting. Remaining silent about the source and destination of the illicit artefacts does nothing to help citizens learn about the mechanism of the trade in illicit objects and therefore how they can avoid becoming a participant.

So Canada has stopped just one shipment of contextless artefacts. Big deal. How many items, how many kilogrammes of looted ancient artefacts of Bulgarian or Southeastern European origin have slipped through the net by the same route since (say) 1990? How many will continue to pass through Canadian customs in unmarked or mislabelled packages to dealers and collectors who are not in any way accountable for their transactions involving antiquities?

The USA is even slower to react to the huge numbers of artefacts taken from Bulgarian sites (by looting on an industrial scale at sites like Archar being sold there like potatoes by the kilogramme), to which it seems the recent expansion of the ancient coin trade there owes so much.