The Operation "Sesterzio" is an investigation aimed at monitoring and protecting the numismatic market and collecting.

In April 2008 the investigation services gathered information on a famous art dealer in the field of numismatics, active in Rome, who had carried out over the years activities for the purpose of dissimulating the illicit origin of ancient coins purchased from illegal excavators and had transferred abroad huge quantities of these objects without the necessary authorizations provided for by the law. All these operations were conducted also using companies located abroad and connected with him.

The analysis of the administrative and accounting documents seized during a search of premises conducted against this person as well as the judicial police activities carried out, made it possible to better examine and confirm the substantial evidence gathered. More specifically, the subject – who was reported for violation of the articles provided for by the Urbani Code - turned out to be the mastermind of a complex criminal and elusive strategy aimed at circumventing the provisions of the law concerning the protection of the National Artistic Heritage, through the use of an English company related to him.

In fact, enquiries revealed that the person under investigation tried to evade criminal responsibility and to dissimulate – through forged documents drawn up for this very purpose – his illicit activity consisting in finding ancient coins. In particular, the invoices discovered and seized during judicial police operations showed how he used his professional knowledge and his position in the London collectors circles for the purpose of declaring, at the local customs offices, the legal possession of huge quantities of coins of archaeological interest illicitly purchased.

The administrative and accounting documents - showed by the subject during his questioning – and the expert examinations - carried out on the seized coins - revealed completely contradictory. This was confirmed by the opinion expressed by archaeologists of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities expert in numismatics who, on the basis of their expertise and the particular investigative methods used, proved that the coins had been stolen from an illegal excavation including coins, valuables and denarii of the Republican and Imperial periods. Thanks to his proven and undeniable ability as an art dealer, this person succeeded in persuading his clients/collectors not to worry about the invoicing methods used for the goods purchased by them, in order to make the coins illicitly bought completely untraceable.

Providing that the law in force on the export of cultural goods establishes modalities for the transfer of items outside the State territory, it should be pointed out that an Italian subject (either a private person or a company), who gives or sells coins to a foreign company on the national territory, is not under the obligation provided for by article 68 of the Urbani Code since it is not the seller but the foreign subject who is considered the holder and the possessor of the coins which will be subsequently exported abroad.

This helps explain the real purposes of the foreign company - located in England and related to the person under investigation - that were to transfer abroad coins illegally acquired by producing forged documents and not making the necessary declarations to the competent offices empowered to issue the export licence.

In fact, when examining the coins for which the export license was requested, these offices could have denied this authorization even issuing a special decree (aimed at preserving the items considered as goods belonging to the State) and asking for all the documentation proving their origin.

According to the prosecuting judicial authority, the aforesaid trade operations concealed laundering activities aimed at creating illegal funds to be used in order to obtain other coins of illicit origin.

This hypothesis was confirmed by the fact that, during the years 2005-2006, investigations ascertained that the London-based company had purchased coins of the Vatican City State for an amount exceeding one million Euros.

The declarations made by the collectors, indicated in the administrative documents produced by the art dealer under investigation, proved that they had never been in possession of such kinds of coins and that, sometimes, they had never had contacts with the aforesaid company for the purchase and the sale of coins.

In fact, this was a modus operandi aimed at hiding the purchase of archaeological items coming from illegal excavations.