Yet again, we see an example, where campaigns to keep items in the area where they were found are praised as a great thing, whereas campaigns for the return of looted artefacts are decried as cultural nationalism.

I have no particular objection to the first part – but if we follow this path, then we must somehow find a way to stop objecting to the second part – there is no reason why the cases should be treated in a completely different way depending on which side of the fence we find ourselves in the argument. M any of the cases like this that crop up are within a country – but this still makes them not much different from the Lewis Chessmen, the Mold Cape, or the Lindisfarne Gospels.

What makes the whole situation even less logical, is that many of the items that have been the subject of cultural regionalism have very little to actually tie them to the region where they were found. Often, they are lose items like coins or jewelry that could have been transported anywhere. We have little idea of who they belonged to, or quite how they ended up where they did. Compare such cases to that of the Parthenon Marbles – purpose designed and carved to be seen in a specific way on a specific building in a specific location. The context in their cases was everything – they were never like a painting or small statue to be moved around, but as much a part of the building as the columns, walls, floor or roof.

From:
Redditch Advertiser

Worcestershire Hoard will come back to the county for good
2:50pm Tuesday 27th November 2012 in News

MUSEUMS Worcestershire is delighted that the appeal to raise funds to acquire the Worcestershire Hoard has been successful and the hoard will now come back to the county where it belongs.

Efforts to raise funds to conserve and display the coins will continue into the New Year.

Just over a year ago Worcestershire hit the headlines with the discovery of the largest haul of treasure ever found in the county, a stash of almost 4,000 Roman coins discovered by two metal detecting enthusiasts, including Jethro Carpenter from Redditch, in the Vale of Evesham on Bredon Hill.
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Something that seems to happen often in Britain today (& i presume many other countries), is that when new artefacts are discovered, great efforts are made to ensure that they are saved for the nation, that they can be kept in the area where they were discovered, and that at all costs, they must not leave the country to a foreign museum or collector. When another country (whose artefacts have ended up in Britain) makes any sort of move to requests their return, this is decried as being a terrible example of “cultural nationalism“.

So – why do we not want to share our own stuff, but enjoy borrowing everyone elses?

From:
Tewkesbury Admag

Evesham Vale
How your coins can keep these coins in county
By Sarah Taylor
6:30pm Tuesday 9th October 2012 in Evesham Vale

A YEAR after a hoard of Roman coins was discovered in Worcestershire, a campaign to ensure the important find stays in the county has raised nearly £9,000.

Museums Worcestershire has been trying to raise £40,000 to acquire, conserve and display the hoard, which was discovered on Bredon Hill last October.
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