Re: [Ancientartifacts] Re: De Montebello responds

Dave (and anyone else still following the De Montabello thread),

I'm sure you'd concede that the whole POINT of De Montabello's reply to
Opoku WAS the "universal museum" concept which lies behind the collecting
activity (and was his justification for dismissing what the African was
saying), so in posting it here one might legitimately assume that you were
attempting to provoke discussion on it. So its odd you shrink from it when
it is questioned and instead persist on following a speculative side-issue.

In any case, your "explanation" of your earlier comment about the Roman
Catholic Church only confirms what I asserted, that you are persuing
speculations of your own about what the repatriation lobby is saying, and
NOT what Opoku was writing about in the article to which De Montabello was
replying. (Please read it again without preconceptions).

In any case, your speculative projections are just plain wrong.

> This affects the government of Italy inasmuch as it
> is legally responsible for what happens in Italy<
Ummm. The Holy See is not "in" Italy, so the Italian government cannot be
obliged to return cultural property posessed by the Catholic Church as you
had suggested. It was that part of your speculative projection I was
questioning.

Likewise, there is a legal difference between empire, colony and external
sovereign state. In the unlikely event that your projection of "where this
might end" became reality, goods moved two millennia ago within the borders
of the Roman Empire would be unaffected. Pure and simple.

> You are not giving proper consideration to the real
> issue, which is not what the repatriation lobby is
> actually arguing, but what could happen if they
> won the argument. <
No, what is important IS indeed to have clear in one's head what it is they
are arguing and why, and what they are not saying. And give them proper
consideration.

The "what could happen if they won" speculations are transparently
propagated by a handful of activists in order to get collectors up in arms
against such notions, rather than being based in any real facts or proposed
measures. Some collectors on other forums seem to accept this sort of loud
rabble-rousing stuff at face value, I assume many other collectors are wise
enough to see that, when it comes down to it, this is in fact just so much
bluster intended to create a fogscreen and deflect attention (discussion)
away from the very real issues raised and thus ultimately doing their cause
more damage than good.

Paul Barford


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