The rescue of five ancient silver coins

It is always a pleasure to read good news. The Archaeology News Network has a great article about five rare coins rescued from being auctioned off in Munich and Zurich but now returned to Greece. The article includes a very detailed picture of each item, which by itself is a pure pleasure for the eyes.

The three coins that were discovered in Munich have found their rightful place in the Numismatic Museum of Athens:

- a stater from Lindos, Rhodes, dating from the first half of the 5^th century BC

- a stater from Elis, a region in the northwestern corner of the Peloponnese from around 328 BC

- an octadrachm of Getas, king of the Thracian Edonian tribe, from 480-460 BC

The other two silver coins were caught in Zurich:

- a tetradrachm from Athens dated 136 BC

- a tetradrachm of Ptolemy IV Philopator from about the end of the 3^rd century BC, minted in Sidon. He may be depicted here with his wife, Arsinoe III of Egypt.

These precious items have been appropriately handed over to the Archaeological Museum of Patras.

Criminals keep on hunting in the hope to sell their booty for lots of money on the black market abroad. There is no limit to the looting and coins, in particular, are easy to smuggle out of sight of the authorities. Inside Greece, it appears that over the 2,000 coins have been confiscated. Germany, on the other hand, returned some 600 ancient coins and other antiquities, beside 33 vessels from the Mycenaean era that were looted and illegally brought into the country.

Although it is praiseworthy that so many artifacts find their way home, it remains very regrettable that the objects have been taken out of their context forever, losing much of their historical value.

[The pictures of the coins are evidently from the Archaeology News Network]