An archaeologist claims he found a Roman coin dated 46 B.C. in Egypt. How much should the Louvre Museum pay for the coin?

Answer 1

Archaeologists do not sell the things they find to museums anymore, at least not directly, and in many countries it's considered unethical to do so. Archaeologists may be hired by museums to attempt to find things and bring them back to the museum with the proper permissions, but many archaeologists believe that ancient artifacts especially are part of humanity's collective cultural heritage and therefore cannot and should not be bought and sold for their own personal wealth. The Louvre also probably isn't very interested in buying a Roman coin from 46 B.C.E. anyway as so many coins were minted that year in Rome that they're actually fairly common, as ancient coins go, and they likely already have one or even several of a given type. To an archaeologist, the information about where the coin was found (Egypt), the year it was minted (46 B.C.E.), and its cultural origin (Roman) is far more interesting than what it's worth on the open market.