LONDON: A British auctioneer has pleaded guilty to numerous charges relating to the sale of rare ancient coins, including a hoard discovered by Palestinian fishermen, the BBC reported on Sunday.
Richard Beale, director of auction house Roma Numismatics, is on trial in New York, where he admitted two counts of conspiracy and three counts of criminal possession of stolen property.
Among the coins he has admitted to falsifying the provenance of are silver decadrachms from the Gaza Hoard, discovered in 2017 by Palestinian fisherman and dating back to the era of Alexander the Great. Before the hoard was discovered, only 20 Alexander decadrachms were known to be in existence, but the new find disappeared shortly after its discovery, becoming the focus of a BBC investigation in 2020.“They are in the hands of people who don’t know what these (coins) are, why they are here and what they represent for our country. It’s very painful,” Fadel Alatol, a Gaza-based archaeologist who identified the coins when they were found, told the BBC in 2019.
Months later, at least 19 coins appeared for sale at private auction houses, including 11 sold by Roma Numismatics. One went for $127,300.
The BBC confronted Beale in 2020, who claimed to have been provided with certification confirming the coins’ provenance.
However, he admitted to the New York court this month that he knew the provenances of the decadrachms were false when they were sold, that they had come from the Gaza Hoard, and that he had continued selling them even after the BBC approached him.
Beale also admitted to having agreed in 2015 to sell the Eid Mar, the world’s most expensive coin, despite its unknown origins, in 2015.
He falsified its place of origin to avoid it being confiscated by US customs and, having paid $490,000 to acquire it with an Italian business partner, the coin was sold in the US for $4.19 million in 2020.
Judge Althea Drysdale called Beale’s actions “woefully wrong and illegal.” He is due before New York’s Supreme Court in March 2024 and faces up to 25 years in prison.
