Archive for the ‘Rantings’ Category

Open Access Egyptian Archaeology Class at Michigan State University

Sunday, July 10th, 2011

Via the Cultural Property and Archeology Law Blog I learned of an Open Access class on Egyptian Archeology which is being taught by Professor Ethan Watrall.  This is impressive and I hope that this is a sign of things to come from the world of academia! From the Boing Boing note: Open access classes aren’t Continue reading →

83 Year Old Retiree From Florida Returns to Find That his Home is Foreclosed- by Mistake

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Yet another example of how little security we really enjoy- an 82 year old man from Florida returned home to find his locks changed, home emptied of all his possessions and a “Forclosure” sign on his lawn.  How did this happen?  The showed up at the wrong address.  To add insult to injury, he most Continue reading →

Non-coin rant

Sunday, March 22nd, 2009

Today I will post about something completely off-topic to coins. At 9:45am my 89 year old grandmother was mugged of her purse while waiting at the bus stop (which contained her rent and avon money).  To add insult to injury, when she told the bus driver that she had been robbed, he shrugged and ignored Continue reading →

Numismatic projects and life’s curveballs

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

I have been working on several projects over the past month and have been making some progress with the Ancient Numismatic/Cultural Heritage FAQ as well as the backend “admin” site for the Journal and I have also been editing the next issue (some EXCELLENT submissions, I think that everyone will be pleased with the March Continue reading →

Truth in reporting and Radical Archaeologists

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

Earlier today I read on Paul Barford’s blog an entry entitled “Human body parts – price on request” which stated that Sue McGovern of Sands of Time Ancient Art was selling a “barbarously lopped-off foot of a human cadaver” via her website.  Obviously I was startled that such an item would be sold via an Continue reading →

Cultural property and rights of ownership

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

There is a story buzzing today about an auction to be held in New York where some artifacts that once belonged to Mahatma Gandhi or to be sold at auction.  This whole issue certainly brings up some interesting points. First, the items being auctions are not ancient.  But what is interesting is that many have been calling for Continue reading →

Where do all the coins lost or stolen from the US Mail go?

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

On June 19th 2007 I had a VERY bad day.  I received a package from one of my colleagues that was cataloguing a group of coins for me and it arrived empty.  The thing is, there was supposed to be roughly $15,000 in coins (my cost) in the package. Someone had slit the package, removed Continue reading →

Website project, new inventory

Saturday, February 7th, 2009

The past few days have been spent planning the changes to the Journal website, additions to our http://imperialcoins.com site and dusting off some of the old tools we had.  In particular, we had an excellent “Attribution Assistant” that allowed visitors to search obverse legends of Roman Imperial coins and prior to moving to the new Continue reading →

Outcry Over a Plan by Brandeis to Sell Its Museum’s Holdings – NYTimes.com

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

Outcry Over a Plan by Brandeis to Sell Its Museum’s Holdings – NYTimes.com. This mornings New York Times article clearly illustrates the financial difficulties which museums and other non-profit institutions are facing. The economic difficulties affecting the world are not restricted to the “for profit” world.  Dozens of not-for-profit organizations have been put out of Continue reading →

Ancient Coin Blog

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

This blog is intended for me (Alfredo De La Fe) to post updates concerning the Journal of Ancient Numismatics, post interesting news, links and updates of interest to collectors of Ancient Coins and history as well as posting the occasional rant, viewpoint or other tidbit which you may or may not find interesting. Also, I Continue reading →