One day, the police find a package. It is unusually heavy. Inside the package are the 400 money coins that most likely originate from an illegal metal search in Latvia. The package of coins is then sent from Viken county to a small department at the University of Oslo. Where do the coins actually come from? – We see that coins are being traded in England that may have been smuggled in from another country, says Håkon Roland, professor of archeology. Last year, Norway returned more than 600 cultural objects. Håkon Roland worked with many of these. It is him the police and the Customs contact when they find coins that lack an export permit and may have left their home country illegally. Police are wondering if the coins are genuine and if they may have been stolen. Greek coin from the island of Thasos. The 2,500-year-old silver coin was purchased in Bulgaria. Photo: Museum of Cultural History England is one of the countries where you can legally sell cultural objects originating from other countries. Most other countries require permission to send out the cultural monument. And this permission is difficult to obtain. – Almost no historical coins that are sold and bought have any information about where they were found or how they came out on the market, Roland says. – This destroys the value they have as cultural-historical sources, he adds. Norway lacks an overview of how many coins are taken by the police. But the Customs has captured about 20 mail items in a few weeks. These contained coins and other art from antiquity. How they smuggle If you buy coins from the UK, Switzerland or Austria, it is usually legal, even if the coins are found in another country. GOLD: Here is one of many British websites that Norwegians buy from. The most expensive was sold for 181,000 kroner. This is because the countries have a law that makes it possible to sell other countries’ coins and art, as long as they are not found on their land. – Therefore, the coin may, for example, originate from illegal metal mining in Turkey. It is then sold to an online store in England that can resell them to Norwegians for sky-high prices, completely “legally”, Roland explains. Many historical coins and cultural objects sold online are actually to be delivered to a museum. As long as you are allowed to export the country that sells the coin, you are allowed to order it to Norway. Many of these purchases and battles, Roland believes, are a major problem that raises a number of ethical questions. This is the penalty It is difficult to get permission from other countries to buy a historical coin from them. If you buy a historical coin from a country without having the paperwork for import in order, you will be reported to the police. – But the punishment is actually very low, reveals police superintendent Kenneth Didriksen in Økokrim. He works with art and cultural heritage crime, including cases where people in Norway buy coins from abroad. The police know this: The threats against the theft of cultural heritage are increasing every year. Most cases of illegal importation of cultural monuments concern coins. In Europe, most cultural monuments are stolen from private homes. The police seized 567,465 cultural objects in Europe in 2020. Source: Økokrim / Interpol In Interpol’s survey on cultural heritage crime, the data collected from Europe show that thefts are changing. Ten years ago, most thefts in museums took place during opening hours while people were visiting. But today, museums have better security systems, and art thieves have therefore changed pastures to other people’s houses and apartments. So thefts of art are not eradicated, but instead they are moved to places where security is lowest. Here you see where most cultural monuments are stolen from. Graphics: Environmental crime The data also show criminal networks often collaborate with a professional expert. These experts act as intermediaries and decide what should be stolen and from where. They also make agreements with various collectors abroad. They know the market – We do not know how many coins come in. Many coins are introduced because they can be easily sent and hidden. There is a large market for the sale of coins, and it is always the demand in the market that attracts thieves. The thieves smuggle cultural monuments in three different ways: Hides them in the suitcase Uses fake documents for shipping Hides them in other items such as food and clothing In addition, there is a giant market for counterfeits. The coin shop answers One of the largest Norwegian buyers of coins is the online shop Samlerhuset.no. – Many fall for the temptation to trade internationally. Unfortunately, many people are not aware of the complexity of importing coins and are tempted by cheap offers, says Ole Bjørn Fause, head of Samlerhuset. Ole Bjørn Fausa’s first historical coin was by Pontius Pilate, the emperor who helped to crucify Jesus. Photo: Martin Johnson / Samlerhuset The store avoids importing from 90 percent of the countries in the world. This is because the countries are not allowed to sell cultural monuments, or the process takes too long. They claim that they follow the rules for import and export from the countries they buy from and have experts they discuss purchases with. – But I think there are many serious dealers in Norway who have unknowingly bought coins that have been taken out of a country illegally, he says. Still, he highlights what he calls the beautiful side of the hobby of collecting coins: – Imagine the feeling that you are buying a coin for a hundred kroner that has been circulating in Jesus’ time. It may have belonged to a Roman soldier who served the emperor or who was used in a trading post thousands of years ago.
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Historical coins smuggled to Norway – can be 2500 years old – news Culture and entertainment
