Another Argument for a Free Market in Antiquities

I had written an email to Tyler Cowen of the Volokh Conspiracy supporting the position that there should be a free market in antiquities. His blogging of that email was the spark for the start of this site, so you can thank him or curse him as you prefer depending on how you like this blog.

I'm not the only one that believes that private collectors not only should be allowed to collect ancient artifacts but also that it is a benefit that they do so.

Wayne G. Sales, who regularly writes in the Celator , an excellent magazine for ancient coin collectors, has an excellent article, available online, that highlights the antipathy that the scholarly archeologist / keep everything in museums faction has against private collectors. Mr. Sales' article makes many of the same points I made in my email, and also points out the political machinations of the AIA, the Archaeological Institute of America.